Why is it when light shines in a dark world it is still dark? Part VIII

Any answers from realism cannot be trusted because they are based on the deception of natural realism. Therefore, moderns are forced to turn to the ancients, or to those who have continued to consult and learn from them. (from Part VII)

Nearly all ancient civilizations believed there was one supreme God over all others. Most believed this God was the chief architect and builder of the heavens and the earth. This is true of Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Mayans, Asians, Africans, and Jews. Ancient Jews may have been the only truly monotheists, but they were not the only people who believed the Supreme God created the world. How many knew God created the universe as a speech act is doubtful. That the Hebrews knew is beyond question. Genesis cosmology affirms it. Writings of their sages do as well. The writer of Psalms 33 sings his stanza: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts.” Then we have the sage who wrote Proverbs 8 personifying the creative word as a wise master workman. (vv. 22-31) Second Temple Jews still believed it was true. For example, the author of the Book of Jubilees wrote, “ Worship the God of heaven” who “has created everything by His word, and all life is from before His face.” (12:4) Other ancient authors like the penmen of Sirach and 4 Ezra wrote about the creation as the work of God’s word. (Sir. 42:15; 4 Ezra 6:43) Followers of Jesus also believed it. For example, Simon b. Jonah, also called Peter, affirms it when he wrote, “By the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water.” (2 Pet. 3:5) Later, St. Augustine wrote that God created the world by his word. (Confessions, Book XI, chapters 5-8) During the dark medieval era, the Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides arose to address the theological and philosophical issues threatening an assimilated end to the remnant of Jewish civilization. Following Moses Maimonides’ philosophy, we see its was an act of God’s will that created the energy and word which became the universe and all forms of life in it. (Guide for the Perplexed, ‘God Spake,’ pp. 96-98) Even today, as it was in the beginning, guiding the perplexed is the word of God. As the author of the Johannine gospel wrote, “In the beginning was the word… All things came into being through him…. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehended it.” (1:1-3, 5)

See also Part VII, Part VI, Part V, Part IV, Part III, Part II, and Part I.