(Morgan Freeman playing God)
If you believe the biblical account in seven days God created everything; well actually in 6 days and took the 7th day off.
But where did God come from? I mean what was he doing before he decided to create everything; or where was he before he decided to start creating stuff; and if he wasn't just hanging around waiting to create something - who created God?
So anyway I asked this question on Twitter and got thrown a few Bible quotes:
"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;" (KJV Titus 1:2)
"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began," (KJV 2Timothy 1:9)
Neither really helped answer the question; other than both seemed to suggest that God was around before creation. Well, that is a start - God existed before he created. But if God existed before the Heavens and Earth were created what he doing? And still more to the point who, if anyone, or anything, created God?
A quick phone call to the local Catholic priest was of no use. In actual fact it was of no help either; it went like this:
(After the usual hello and all that.)
Me: So I have a question for you.
Priest: Sure, what is it?
Me: Who created God?
Priest: Oh my. Have you got all day?
Me: Not really. Any chance you can keep it brief?
Priest: The brief version is nobody created God; he just existed.
Me: So what did he do before he started creating everything?
Priest: Nothing and everything. Really, nobody knows.
Me: So he just decided to start creating one day?
Priest: Well not really like that. But he may have thought about it.
Me: You are telling me God just happened to exist; and then thought for a while and decided to create the universe and everything in it?
Priest: You did one the brief version; so yes. God is eternal.
Me: But where did God come from?
Priest: Nowhere. Psalm 90 says it all.
So that was it. According to the local priest God was not created by anyone or anything and he merely existed. As for where God came from allegedly Psalm 90 holds the answer.
"A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." (KJV Psalm 90:1-2)
That is the answer? No wonder religion confuses the hell out of people. According to Psalm 90 God was around before the world was created; and will last forever because he is God.
I moved on, to the New Testament to see what said in there. Jesus, the alleged son of God, should know where his father was.
"And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." (KJV Matthew 16:17)
Jesus claims his father is in heaven. Which really doesn't help when the book of Genesis claims:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (KJV Genesis 1:1)
God, by the time Jesus was talking, was in heaven. But according to Genesis, who the scholars say was written by Moses, God created heaven. No answer to where God was before that though.
A quick look through the whole 4 gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) the only time Jesus mentions God is always that God is heaven.
Then the most unlikely source came up with a plausible answer. I got a direct message on Twitter; saying to look at 2Corinthians 12:2. So I did.
"I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven." (KJV 2Corinthians 12:2)
A third heaven? Perhaps God was in one heaven when he created another heaven. So I answered the direct message saying it made no sense to me; other than there was a third heaven. Rather than answering the question it opened another - how many heavens are there?
I got back with the person; and asked them to explain it further. The answer I got was:
"The third heaven is the kingdom of GOD which Paul saw.The second heaven is the abode of principalities and powers in high places which was spoken of in Ephesians chapter 6.The prince of Persia was part of the principalities and powers that hindered angel Gabriel when he was delivering answers to Daniel's prayers in Daniel chapter 11.They are in charge of nations in the world today.They are largely responsible for the chaos in different parts of the world today.The first heaven is the region that contains the sun, moon and stars."
The answer it would seem is that God was in a heaven and created another; that Christians call heaven.
Not the greatest of answers. But it does at least give some sort of answer as to what God did before creation. But nothing with regards to the original question of "who created God?". It seems the general Christian opinion to that is that God is the beginning and the end and before him there was nothing.
As far as I can gather from the little that I looked into it the basic version is this: God just happened to be and created Heaven; well another Heaven possibly.
I don't really understand... why here "God" is like a human... Are you sure there is such a God in the universe... I think you don't really mean it. You can't just set a pre-condition that, God is a humanlike creator... with personality or "will". But even so, you still restrict the God in this article as a "being". so you confused me. I think you write this article just for fun. For some "brain training". You don't really ask and don't really want the answer. you may even don't believe this God.
ReplyDeleteyes you don't believe this God. You want write to show "his" ridiculousness. Do you?
To think positive, I guess that... this humanlike God is somebody created for "educating" people... for leading or mental control people... it was very helpful in ancient time I think at that time "moral" is a rare thing and nobody respect it. It was a jungle so that ... for a better world... wise person created some ideas and stories... now they looks like fairy tales but at that age, it worked very good.... we have to put all in history context... to see it's reason... right?
Now more and more people start to accept a "god" or "law" conceptual type.. Or just a very basic one, "moral principle"... anyway... "God" is just a basket that you can put anything inside. And its contents, can change by time... by human's spiritual developing. No need be cynical... Boy. :D
Cheetah, I asked purely from the sake of wondering. I wonder things sometimes and to me I was just curious if God existed what did he do before he created everything.
ReplyDeleteIt was just a question I thought of and looked at; albeit briefly. I have these questions hit me. Next time I might be wondering why every meat that shouldn't be eaten tastes like chicken (such as human flesh allegedly).
It's just the way I am. I think of something look at it and forget it the next week.
I just mean, if you ask what god did before he created everything, you already set a precondition that, this "god" is also a "thing", an existence, to have some "want" such like "make a universe" as his childhood dream that have to fulfill when he grow up. :D But it's an interesting question. I think under this precondition, then, God must has his own "higher" God... because a thing has to be made; a life has to be born... maybe before he create everything as his own territory, he was playing in his God's garden and learn the skill and law of creation from our grand-god?
ReplyDeleteSorry that I misunderstood your intention to give the question here.
and thinking further, if there are a series Gods behind our God as rosary... then your question meant the first God... where "he" come from and start his work... what Einstein Called "the first move"... Can we think that this first mover no start no end no will but only have some law... you may ask where the law come from... a law can be just there, right? Any"thing" has to hold a law to be being... so a law is not a creature... it's the "spirit" of all creature. Because we live (exist) by same law, we are one spirit dwelling in different beings. This One law can't be cut to pieces. It is everywhere. Now I guess, we don't even need those little Gods anymore... I don't really understand what I am talking about... frankly say it's too abstract to me.