Pages

Friday, October 24, 2008

Summary Point # 15

The ex nihilo creation of the universe is not a suitable example for men to imitate in their weekly work pattern, because men cannot create anything ex nihilo. Therefore, it is reasonable that God's six-day example was limited to "making" or working on preexisting materials--like man does in his daily labor.

This work, on the already existing planet, is recorded for us beginning with the first earth day. Exodus 20:11 does not refer to anything that God created ex nihilo before there were any earth days, namely the universe of stars, planets, and angels. The fourth commandment is not even primarily a passage on origins. It is much wiser to build a cosmogony from passages specifically centering on that subject.