Who Created God?
By John Clayton
It is easy to make an argument for God’s
existence from a cosmological standpoint. As
the years have gone by, a growing amount of
scientific data has accumulated which negates
atheistic assumptions about how matter and
the cosmos came into existence and how it has
arrived at its present condition. As a science
teacher and public lecturer on the compatibility
of belief in God and science, I have, been
impressed with an increasing awareness on
the part of many scientists and theologians
that science and religion are symbiotic
disciplines.
One question which inevitably comes up
in a discussion of this nature is what is the
origin of God? If God created matter/energy,
and designed the systems that have propelled
matter into its present arrangement, who or
what accomplished that for God? Why is it any
more reasonable to believe that God has always
“been” than it is to say that matter has always
“been”? As Carl Sagan has said, “If we say
that God has always been, why not save a step
and conclude that the universe has always
been?” (Cosmos, p. 257).
From a purely scientific standpoint, it is
easy to demonstrate that matter cannot be
eternal in nature. The universe is expanding
from what appears to be a beginning point in
space/time, which appears to be a one time
event. Hydrogen is the basic fuel of the cosmos,
powering all stars and other energy sources in
space. If the fuel of the universe has been used
eternally, that fuel will eventually be depleted,
but the evidence is that the cosmological gas
gauge, while moving toward “empty,” is yet a
long way from being there—a condition
incompatible with an eternal universe. The
second law of thermodynamics insists that the
cosmos is moving toward a condition of
disorder, sometimes referred to as “heat
death.” Even in an oscillating universe, things
ultimately run out of energy and “die.” All of
these evidences, and several others we have not
made reference to, show that matter cannot be
eternal, as Dr. Sagan and his associates would
like to believe. However, this does not mean
that we automatically accept the hypothesis
that God is the Creator. Why is it not equally
invalid to suggest that God has always been?
The problem here is that many people
have a mistaken concept of God. If we conceive
of God as physical, anthropomorphic (like
man) being, the question of God’s origin is
valid. However, such a concept of God is alien
to the Bible and to common sense. Consider
the following descriptions of God from the
Bible:
John 4: 24
God is a Spirit:...
Matthew 16:17
...for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it
unto thee, but my
father which is in
heaven.
Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that
He should...;
Obviously, the descriptions and concepts of God
given in these passages are that God is a
spiritual entity. He exists outside of the three-dimensional, physical world in which we live.
The Bible further supports this concept of God
in the following passages:
Jeremiah 23:23-24
Am I a God at hand,
saith the Lord, and not
a God afar off? ...Do
not I fill heaven and
earth? saith the Lord.
2 Chronicles 2:6
But who is able to
build a house, seeing
the heaven and
heaven of heavens
cannot contain
Him?...
Acts 17:28
For in Him we live,
and move, and have
our being;...
Not only is God described as being
outside space, but He is also described as being
outside of time. Consider the following:
2 Peter 3:8
But, beloved, be not
ignorant of this one
thing, that one day is
with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a
thousand years as one
day.
Psalm 90:4
For a thousand years
in thy sight are but as
yesterday when it is
past, and as a watch
in the night.
Psalm 102:27
But thou art the same,
and thy years shall
have no end.
Acts 1:7
...It is not for you to
know the times or the
seasons, which the
Father hath put in His
power.
If God is a being that is unlimited in time, and
if He has access to every piece of time as if it
were now, the question of who created God is
an invalid question. The problem is like asking
a student to draw a four-sided triangle. The
terminology is self-contradictory.
When asked “Who or what created
God?,” we are making the assumption that
God was created. If God exists outside of time
and space, and if He is the Creator of time and
space, He obviously was not created! God
began the beginning! This is why He says, “I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end, the first and the last.”
God created time. The statement of
Genesis, “In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth,” is making reference to
the creation of time. The reason that things
like heat death, the expansion of the universe,
and the depletion of hydrogen do not apply to
God is because He is outside of time. God has
always been. He not only began time; He will
also end it. When time ends, all matter and all
mankind will enter eternity—a timeless
condition free of the negative things that time
brings upon us now.
2 Peter 3:10-11
But the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in
the night; in the
which the heavens
shall pass away with a
great noise, and the
elements shall melt
with fervent heat, the
earth also and the
works that are therein
shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all
these things shall be
dissolved, what
manner of persons
ought ye to be in all
holy conversation and
godliness,...
Revelation 21:4
And God shall wipe
away all tears from
their eyes; and there
shall be no more
death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither
shall there be any
more pain: for the
former things are
passed away.
The agnostic position that there is
nothing that can be said to support God’s
existence that cannot be said against that
existence cannot, in the opinion of the author,
stand in the face of this evidence.
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