Bad Cavalry Apologetics - Part 1: Creatio Ex Nihilo

A little over two years ago when I started the Mormon Myths page, I was admittedly unaware of the latest wave of bizarre arguments coming from the likes of the Cavalry's admin/moderator roster.

As time went on, more missionaries from that group would occasionally comment on my posts & send me messages parroting them. It eventually became clear to that these young men were getting these quips from someone/somewhere, and eventually I would pinpoint their origin with the help of one of those missionaries in particular. (Thanks Preston)

Since then, I have had a lot of time to do reflection & study. Investigating whether they had any merit, and whether I was simply behind the times and needed to catch up. In this series, I'm going to seek to tackle the most frequent arguments I've heard/seen online from Cavalry members and Cavalry-adjacent Mormon apologists who use them in their discussions and respond from a historic Christian perspective with the necessary disclaimer: I do not hold to the view that Patristics are on par with Scripture, but are fallible, and are subservient to the Scriptures

Argument:
"We don't believe in Creatio Ex Nihilo, the Bible doesn't teach that!"

Response: 
Such a claim is not only a gross oversimplification of the topic, but it also doesn't appropriately contextualize the Biblical texts themselves, nor the subsequent formal doctrinal development & it's articulation throughout church history. In order to do a responsible entry level evaluation, here is a list of strong examples from the scriptures that the Patristics directly commented on for your consideration...

Old Testament 

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." - Genesis 1:1 

"You made heaven and earth not out of yourself, for then they would have been equal to your only begotten Son... You made them out of nothing." - Augustine, Confessions 12.7 (NPNF 1.1:178) 

"The initial creation of the heaven and the earth was made out of nothing." - Basil, Hexaemeron 2.2 (NPNF 2.8:61)

"By the word of the LORD the heavens were made... For he spoke, and it was done" - Psalm 33:6,9

"And first, they taught us with one consent that God made all things out of nothing; for nothing was coeval with God." - Theophilus of Antioch, Ad Autolycum 2.13 (ANF 2:99) 

"For when he spoke, they were made without any interval of time." - Augustine, City of God 11.21 (NPNF 2.2:215)

"They are to praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created" - Psalm 148:5

"He brought all things into being out of nothing, creating them just as He desired." - John of Damascus, Orthodox Faith 2.2 (NPNF 2.9:18)

"Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, He who is your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb: 'I, the LORD, am the maker of all things...'" - Isaiah 44:24 

"While men, indeed, cannot make anything out of nothing, but only out of existing material, yet God is in this point preeminently superior to men, that He Himself called into being the substance of His creation, when previously it had no existence." - Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2.10.4 (ANF 1:370) 

New Testament

"...God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that do not exist." - Romans 4:17b 

"For as it is the same thing to raise the dead and to create out of nothing... He declares this to be a far greater thing than making out of existing materials." - John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 8 (NPNF 1.11:379)

"For God is good, or rather is essentially the source of goodness... By His own Word He created all things out of nothing." - Athanasius, On the Incarnation 3 (NPNF 2.4:36)

"By faith we understand that the world has been created by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things that are visible." - Hebrews 11:3 

"For by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God... the things that are seen were not made of things which do appear." - Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 5.14 (ANF 2:466)

"Things which are seen were not made of things which appear." - Tertullian, Against Hermogenes 45 (ANF 3:494)

"All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being." - John 1:3 

"All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made... indicating that all things were made out of nothing." - Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.8.3 (ANF 1:422)

"Through Him all things came into being from non-being." - Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John 1.3 (LFC 43:51)

"For by him all things were created... all things have been created through Him and for him" - Colossians 1:16-17 

"By Him were all things created... He brought the non-existent into being." - Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius 2.6 (NPNF 2.5:109)

"God, who created all things out of nothing through His Word." - Ambrose, Hexaemeron 1.4 (NPNF 2.10:37)

To summarize, one can assert that the doctrine is not found in the Scriptures. However, it does not demonstrate an accurate reflection of the texts themselves, church history, or how theology is done in the Christian tradition.