The Creator before the Creature

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When you say to a child, “Give me a glass,” he knows what you are talking about. The word “glass” is associated in his mind with an object. Philosophers like Kant tell us that before we have the phenomenon, i.e., that which can be seen or felt by the senses, we have the noumenon, i.e., that which is conceived of by intellectual intuition. In other words, the object’s image is first formed in the mind, and then it is produced as an object. We see a table. It is beautiful. We admire it, but more than that, we accept the fact that behind that object there was a concept in the mind of someone. Or consider the Empire State Building. Before it was erected, it took form in the mind of an architect who transferred his thoughts to paper as a blueprint. Only then could the building be put up for everybody to see. John tells us that Jesus Christ existed before the beginning of the world. The Creator was before the creature.

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