A. God, the Origin of All Things
1. What does it mean that God «created» the world?
That everything that exists—visible and invisible, material and spiritual—receives its very being from God. Creating is not assembling or manufacturing: a carpenter makes a table out of preexisting wood; God brings into existence that which did not exist at all, «out of nothing» (*creatio ex nihilo*). And this is not merely an initial event in the past: God preserves all things in existence at every single moment. If God were to stop thinking the world, the world would instantly cease to exist.
2. Why is creation described as the work of the Holy Trinity?
Because all three Divine Persons act together: the Father creates through the Son (the Word «through whom all things were made») and in the Holy Spirit («the Lord and Giver of life»). Everything has been brought into being out of love and with purpose, not by blind chance (Trinity).
3. Can human reason come to know the Creator?
In part, yes. The grandeur, beauty, and order of the universe prompt the human mind to seek its ultimate origin and to perceive God, just as a master painting speaks of its painter (God). For this reason, the wonder of creation is an excellent common ground for dialogue with non-believers and with members of other religious traditions.
B. Creation and Science
4. Are creation and evolution mutually opposed?
No, because they answer fundamentally different questions. Science investigates how physical things transform and develop within the cosmos; faith proclaims why the universe, matter, and natural laws exist in the first place. That biological species evolve through secondary causes in no way diminishes the reality that the entire cosmic process depends upon God, just as describing the biological development of an embryo does not eliminate the mother. The Christian vision is not static: creation is dynamic and «in statu viae»—on a journey toward its ultimate fulfillment (evolutionism, big bang).
5. Can faith and genuine science contradict each other?
Fundamentally, no, because both originate in God: the same divine Reason that created the order of the cosmos illumines the human intellect. Whenever an apparent conflict arises, it almost always stems from trespass beyond proper boundaries: seeking religious answers from empirical science, or demanding scientific explanations from theological revelation.
6. Should the Book of Genesis be read as a scientific report?
No. Its sacred narratives do not intend to describe the material “how” of cosmic cosmology, but to reveal essential theological truths: that God is the sovereign source of all things, that the entire created order is good, and that the human person holds a unique, transcendent dignity. It conveys these realities through inspired imagery and religious symbols proper to its literary genre (Bible).
C. Why Were We Created?
7. Why did God create the world?
«For His glory»—which is not divine vanity: God lacks nothing, nor does He create to gain anything for Himself, but solely to communicate His infinite goodness. His glory consists in His creatures participating in His eternal love and beatitude. As the early Church Fathers declared, «The glory of God is man fully alive».
8. Is the material world good, or should Christians mistrust it?
It is intrinsically good: «And God saw that it was good», Genesis repeats like a joyful refrain. Christianity does not despise the material realm or the human body; it receives them with gratitude as divine gifts. This is why Saint Josemaría encouraged Christians to «love the world passionately», discovering God in the ordinary realities of daily life (work, ecology).
9. What attitudes define someone who recognizes himself as a creature?
- Gratitude: nothing of what I am and have originates from myself alone.
- Adoration and humility: recognizing that God is God, and I am not.
- Stewardship and responsibility: the earth was entrusted to us to cultivate and care for, not to exploit or destroy.
- Filial trust: the same loving Father who sustains the vast universe tenderly watches over my concrete daily life (Providence, divine filiation).