Traditional/conventional Christianity envisages man as a creature existing within God’s being. Existing outside of, beyond, or sans God’s being—inside Creation or sans Creation—is a metaphysical impossibility because nothing can exist outside of, beyond, or sans the omni-God.
As a creature created from nothing, man’s only state of being is the one omni-God provides via Creation. No alternative is possible because omni-God is not merely a Being but being itself, as Bishop Robert Barron--that impeccable master of discernment and defender of the essentialness of Mass—explains in the clip below:
As a creature created from nothing, man’s only state of being is the one omni-God provides via Creation. No alternative is possible because omni-God is not merely a Being but being itself, as Bishop Robert Barron--that impeccable master of discernment and defender of the essentialness of Mass—explains in the clip below:
God is certainly not an object in the world, but proclaiming God to be prior thought, prior to being, and that upon which the categorical realm depends is, at best, a partial truth, one that has obscured and obstructed the intrinsic direction of divine Creation since the beginnings of “official” Christianity.
We are not creatures within God’s being. We are Beings within God’s Creation. In this sense, God is prior to thought and being within Creation but not prior to thought and being before or sans Creation. Put another way, man is a Being within Creation, yet man was also a being prior to Creation. The same applies to every other Being in Creation.
The purpose, motive, and direction of Creation is not the provision of being. "Creatures” possessed being before Creation. Creation allows Beings to work toward a greater mode or form of “being” in terms of expanded freedom, love, and creativity.
Seen from this perspective, evil could be defined as the direct, willful, and prolonged opposition to the purpose, motive, and direction of Creation, not a direct, willful, and prolonged opposition to being itself, which can only be conceptualized as God’s being since no other mode of being is either accessible or possible.
As beings within God’s Creation, we can choose to oppose Creation, but we cannot oppose being because, in some form or other, we, as Beings, will always “be.”
Being opposed to Creation is not only possible; it is also rational. That is not to say that such opposition is optimal, admirable, or meaningful, but it remains rational. Beings can oppose Creation and, ultimately, reject Creation and, subsequently, Jesus’ Second Creation. Such Beings will then continue to exist outwith God’s creative motives and purposes, likely in the same manner or mode they existed before Creation.
Beings can oppose Creation but not being itself, not because God is being but because being is being itself.
God is prior to Creation but it is metaphysically impossible for God to be prior to being.
We are not creatures within God’s being. We are Beings within God’s Creation. In this sense, God is prior to thought and being within Creation but not prior to thought and being before or sans Creation. Put another way, man is a Being within Creation, yet man was also a being prior to Creation. The same applies to every other Being in Creation.
The purpose, motive, and direction of Creation is not the provision of being. "Creatures” possessed being before Creation. Creation allows Beings to work toward a greater mode or form of “being” in terms of expanded freedom, love, and creativity.
Seen from this perspective, evil could be defined as the direct, willful, and prolonged opposition to the purpose, motive, and direction of Creation, not a direct, willful, and prolonged opposition to being itself, which can only be conceptualized as God’s being since no other mode of being is either accessible or possible.
As beings within God’s Creation, we can choose to oppose Creation, but we cannot oppose being because, in some form or other, we, as Beings, will always “be.”
Being opposed to Creation is not only possible; it is also rational. That is not to say that such opposition is optimal, admirable, or meaningful, but it remains rational. Beings can oppose Creation and, ultimately, reject Creation and, subsequently, Jesus’ Second Creation. Such Beings will then continue to exist outwith God’s creative motives and purposes, likely in the same manner or mode they existed before Creation.
Beings can oppose Creation but not being itself, not because God is being but because being is being itself.
God is prior to Creation but it is metaphysically impossible for God to be prior to being.
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