In my continuing series of honest questions for Christians, I present you with question number 4
Where does God come from?
Some say God always existed. Atheists debate that one could easily say the same thing about our universe. If God is a being rather then an environment then God would need to exist in an environment. Typically this is Heaven. But if God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, where did he exist before that?
God just always was. He isn’t really a being nor an environment… he just… is, and being the creator of all things, and for lack of a better term, THE God, he just was… there was no need for him to have any sort of atmosphere. He doesn’t need to rely on his creation to exist.
Here.
Have you heard of the Kalaam argument? I suggest you look into it. The First Cause needs no cause- it just creates effects.
According to most of the physic theories I have looked at. Time is not what we think it is. Time is not liner at all, the past and future just exist. They are related to the universe itself, to matter and space, time is not independent of them. Time did not exists before the universe. “Always existed” is even a misconception of what time is. But that is how we see it, it is mentally all we can handle outside of the arcane worlds of theology and physics. And do they really even understand the words and numbers they play with? Time may not be want we see it as, but we are stuck in it, just as we are trapped where we are in the universe.
God on the other hand is not trapped in it, he outside of this universe.
The above comments are all good. We simply can’t grasp the idea of something not having a beginning or end. Everything we know has an origin but G-D is the exception to this because he created everything.He NEEDS no origin/beginning. He has always been. The answer to this question is simply beyond our finite minds and limited experiences.
There is no “before” or “after” God. Time is the 4th dimension, and as such is a part of creation. God created the heavens, the earth, and time, and is therefore not bound by it. Check out the Kalaam argument.
Have you ever considered that if the past is infinite, we could not arrive at the present? So, something needs to exist outside of our universe and time in order for us to arrive at the present.
@musterion99 – Interesting concept. Can you explain your logic in greater detail?
@trunthepaige – @PastorSZ – Genesis says that God created the Heavens and the earth in six days. Why would God choose to create the heavens and the earth on a timeline? This would assume then that God created time (and space) before creating the Heavens and Earth.
@TheGreatBout – Why do you type God as G-D? Letter are letters and words are words, they have no power unless they have meaning behind them. If the meaning is the same, the spelling doesn’t matter. So why deviate?
@PreciousOnyx – I have looked into it briefly based on your suggestion. A friend of mine also told me to check out some skeptics guide take on the argument. I have yet to look into that.
@roxics– Since it’s not logically possible that if the past is infinite, that we could arrive at the present, that leads us to believe that something, maybe God or something else, has had to eternally exist outside of our universe and time. In order for us to arrive at the present, there must be a beginning to time and our universe.
@musterion99 – Is it possible for something to begin and then stretch on for infinity going forward?
@roxics – Yes, but it cannot ever reach the end because it doesn’t exist.
@trunthepaige – I kind of disagree. I think it would have been an easier explanation. It would have went something like this. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”. No further explanation required.
Then the debates between YEC and Evolutionists would have perhaps been shorter. Saying “6 days” just complicates things.
@roxics – Try telling that story without using a time line. It is hard enough to think in terms of time as not what we see now. Imagine trying to explain it when this was all first told. After the first day what we call times exited it was created with the universe.
And speaking of the seventh day it was called gods rest
Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
Controversial but some think we are still in the seventh day. God’s rest
@roxics – The order was important
@trunthepaige – Can you explain why?
@roxics – It does tell the story far more completely. Making things all the more the vague would give people less to take about, I am not sure why that be would a good idea
@roxics – It’s based off an old Jewish practice (not embraced by all) of leaving out certain letters of G-D’s names (even though G-D is a title) or substituting his name with others (such as Adonai or Hashem). It is practiced to implement reverence and to remember that I’m speaking of the name above all names. It reminds me who I’m speaking about and how important/powerful he is. I’s hald tradition and half old superstition but I like it and it’s helpful for me.
@roxics – Space and time are contingent on one another, and were created prior to the “7 days.” Genesis tells us that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth… and the Earth was without form and void, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters of the Earth.” All of this predates the 7 days of creation, so time would have already existed. As for the 6 days of creation and one day of rest in their own right, they are an excellent example of Hebrew poetry, and they are written to establish some very specific things. In the days of Moses (when Genesis was written according to tradition), people were worshipping different gods. Some worshipped the heavens, and some the Earth. Some praised the Sea god, while others worshipped the god of the land. The Sun, the Moon, stars, animals, plants, and men were all gods in one culture or another. The underlying implication of the Creation Narrative is “You worship the Sun, but I worship the God who made the Sun,” and so forth. Genesis 1 makes far more sense as a theological narrative than it does as a Science textbook.
But anyway, very little of that has to do with the question of whether God predates time. that question is answered in Genesis 1:1- “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.” In other words, God formed everything that exists, and so there is nothing that came before Him.