Attributes of Allah – The Creator

It was delivered by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III and deals with the meaning of God as Creator, explaining the difference between creator and maker, and clarifying that God’s creation from nothing is evidence of His divinity. The lecture highlights God’s unlimited power, His wisdom in ordering creation, and God’s love which overflowed in giving and creation.

Main idea

• Creation with God is different: God creates from nothing, while a maker manufactures from existing material.

• God’s creation came from spiritual motives: humility (showing His love by bringing other beings into existence), and generosity and bounty to grant life to creatures.

• Creation is comprehensive: inanimate things, plants, animals, heavenly spirits (like angels), and beings of multiple ranks and forms.

• The ordering of creation is wise and chronological: water before plant, plant before animal, and then man after everything necessary for him was prepared.

Spiritual and educational dimension (from a Coptic Orthodox perspective)

• Creation reveals the attributes of God: power, beauty, order, wisdom and humility.

• Contemplation of nature is an invitation to praise and thanksgiving, because every creation has wisdom and benefit even phenomena we consider simple or dark.

• The creation of small and lowly creatures is evidence of God’s universal compassion and care for every creature without exception.

Practical and spiritual exhortation

• Contemplation of the universe’s order and the precision of the human and animal creation calls for humility and true worship.

• Science does not negate faith: what we know is a small part of the mysteries of creation, and we must pursue knowledge with humility.

• Preserving order and calmness in our lives teaches us from the Creator’s work, and acknowledging that everything has purpose and benefit.

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