If I may offer my own simple understanding: When you hear the "out of nothing, nothing comes" line used within the argument for "creation" out of nothing, chances are the theist is, innocently, conflating propositions which comes from reason and propositions which come from articles of faith.
As Christians, "out of nothing, nothing comes" is a philosophical claim which, as this thread has shown, is more or less reasonable. If there were indeed nothing at some point, (i.e. no god, no matter, no energy, no space, no time, no potentiality, etc.), then the fact that, today, there exists something, demands a pretty elegant explanation, if not an impossible one.
The concept of "creation out of nothing" is a claim of revealed Christian faith (as well as Judaism and Islam) because inherent in the claim is an act (i.e. creation ex nihilo) which must come from an agent (which is implicitly understood to be God).
The former "out of nothing, nothing comes" is a premise which serves to conclude the NECESSARY existence of at least one thing in any existing universe, viz. existence itself.
The latter creation ex nihilo is a revealed explanation of how our universe came to exist. Even Thomas Aquinas admitted that creation ex nihilo is known by faith alone, whereas the former principle he recognized as self-evident.
As Christians, "out of nothing, nothing comes" is a philosophical claim which, as this thread has shown, is more or less reasonable. If there were indeed nothing at some point, (i.e. no god, no matter, no energy, no space, no time, no potentiality, etc.), then the fact that, today, there exists something, demands a pretty elegant explanation, if not an impossible one.
The concept of "creation out of nothing" is a claim of revealed Christian faith (as well as Judaism and Islam) because inherent in the claim is an act (i.e. creation ex nihilo) which must come from an agent (which is implicitly understood to be God).
The former "out of nothing, nothing comes" is a premise which serves to conclude the NECESSARY existence of at least one thing in any existing universe, viz. existence itself.
The latter creation ex nihilo is a revealed explanation of how our universe came to exist. Even Thomas Aquinas admitted that creation ex nihilo is known by faith alone, whereas the former principle he recognized as self-evident.
