Changes

'''nature''': the fundamental qualities or characteristics that together define the identity of something; essential character; ''sometimes capitalized as'' Nature, the overall pattern or system of natural objects, existences, forces, events, etc.; also the principle or power that appears to guide it; the entire material universe and its phenomena.

'''nature''': the fundamental qualities or characteristics that together define the identity of something; essential character; ''sometimes capitalized as'' Nature, the overall pattern or system of natural objects, existences, forces, events, etc.; also the principle or power that appears to guide it; the entire material universe and its phenomena.

<br/>[< OF (from Old French) < L (from Latin) ''natura'' < ''natus'', pp. (past participle) of ''nasci'' to be born]

<br/>[< OF (from Old French) < L (from Latin) ''natura'' < ''natus'', pp. (past participle) of ''nasci'' to be born]

:Philosophical naturalists understand the word "Nature" to mean "Existence".

:Philosophical naturalists understand the word "Nature" to mean "Existence". By this understanding, if God exists, God is natural, either as part of nature or as nature itself, and potentially the natural cause of all that is natural and of all nature itself, the whole universe in its entirety as the natural foundation of nature and the [[ground of being]], [[pantheism]].

:Christians understand the word "Nature" to mean "the physical [[spacetime]] Universe" created by [[God]], the Lord of all existence, the fundamental [[ground of being]].

:Christians understand the word "Nature" to mean "the physical [[spacetime]] Universe" created by [[God]], the Lord of all existence, the fundamental [[ground of being]].

'''cause''': The agent or force producing an effect; a person, occasion, condition, etc. giving rise to a result or action; contrasted to ''effect''.

'''cause''': The agent or force producing an effect; a person, occasion, condition, etc. giving rise to a result or action; contrasted to ''effect''.

<br/>[< MF (Middle French) ''causatif'' < L ''causativus'' < ''causa'' cause]

<br/>[< MF (Middle French) ''causatif'' < L ''causativus'' < ''causa'' cause]

:Philosophical naturalism asserts that the [[Dynamics|dynamic]] nature of the physical universe is the universal cause of all that exists.

:Philosophical naturalism asserts that the [[Dynamics (physics)|dynamic]] nature of the physical universe is the universal cause of all that exists.

:Christian doctrine [[Postulate|posits]] [[God]] as the eternally existing "uncaused cause" of all else that exists, self-existing and self-caused, without beginning, without end, "who was and is and ever shall be."

:Christian doctrine [[Postulate|posits]] [[God]] as the eternally existing "uncaused cause" of all else that exists, self-existing and self-caused, without beginning, without end, "who was and is and ever shall be."