Welcome to Defenders, the teaching class of Dr. William Lane Craig. Today, the Doctrine of Creation,

Part 6. For more information and resources from Dr. Craig, go to reasonable faith.org.

Today we want to consider objections to the doctrine of Creatio X. Nehilo. Now, objections to the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo. Now objections to this doctrine may take the form of

either objections to the ex nihilo part of the formula or to the creatio part of the formula.

Objections to the

XNiolo part say that creation cannot be XNiolo. It is impossible to create

something ex nihilo, while objections to the creatio part of the formula contend that coming into being Echnilo is easy,

and therefore there's no need for Creatio.

So these objections are polar opposites, and yet you find both of them pressed against creatio etchnihilo.

Now, before we look at these objections, I want to clear up a possible

misunderstanding that was evident on our reasonable faith Facebook page this past week in response to

last week's lesson. One person objected that the doctrine of Creatio XNilo is incompatible with the principle that out of nothing, nothing comes.

If out of nothing, nothing comes, then you can't have a Creatio X Nilo.

And what this fails to understand is the meaning of the principle ex nihilo,

nihil feet. X. Nihilo, Nihil feet is the Latin for out of nothing, nothing comes. Out of nothing,

nothing comes. What this principle means is that something cannot come into being uncaused.

Being only comes from being.

And therefore it's impossible for something to come into being from non-being,

to come into being without a cause.

And of course, that doesn't contradict Creatio Xenilo,

because Criotio Xenilo precisely affirms that there is a cause,

which brings something into being from nothing, like the universe.

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