The “Egg Nebula” (NASA, W. Sparks (STScI) and R. Sahai (JPL) more)
If God Created the Universe, Who Created God?
Where Did God Come From?
Many atheists pose the following question, “If God created the universe, who created God?” By posing this kind of question, atheists challenge the claim of Christians that belief in God is a logical belief:
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Christians often maintain God’s existence is the most compelling explanatory cause for the existence of the universe. But, if everything in existence requires a cause then Christians must explain the cause for God’s being in existence! |
As discussed in the One Minute Brief below, Christian apologists respond that atheists who raise these kinds of questions misunderstand or misstate the Law of Causality. The Law of Causality only requires a cause for things that come into existence, not something that exists eternally like the God described in the Bible. In the Christian worldview, God is the logical first uncaused cause of everything else which has come into existence.
ONE MINUTE BRIEF
Issue: If God created the universe, who created God? Skip to the “Bottom Line” quick answer
(BY DAVID SHANKBONE MORE)
In The God Delusion, world renowned atheist and Oxford professor Richard Dawkins (who regularly speaks to large audiences of college students) launched an all-out intellectual assault against people who believe in God by contending they are mentally deluded. In support of his attack on theistic religions, and specifically Christianity, Dawkins raises the following “first cause” questions:
- If God created the universe, who created God?
- If God designed the universe, who designed the Designer?
By posing such questions, atheists like Dawkins attempt to force Christians to choose between what the atheist considers to be two intellectually unsatisfactory alternatives:
- On the one hand, if a Christian responds that no one created God (the Designer), the atheist retorts that if no one had to create God for God to exist, then no one had to create the universe for the universe to exist; therefore, God is unnecessary.
- On the other hand, if a Christian responds by offering a cause for God existing, the atheist will ask who created the cause that created God, then who created that cause, then who created that cause and so on, thereby demonstrating the Christian’s response leads to an endless regress of causes which never explains anything.
Are atheists like Dawkins right? Is there no intellectually satisfying answer to this proposed dilemma for people who believe in God? Not according to Christian philosophers and theologians who respond that atheists who propose such a quandary demonstrate a faulty understanding of the Law of Causality.
As deduced by mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Leibniz, everything that exists (including God) can logically have only one of the following two explanations for its existence: 1) It necessarily exists by its own nature (i.e., it’s very nature requires it to exist such that it is impossible for it not to exist) or 2) It was caused to come into existence by something else.
The Law of Causality only states that things which come into existence need a cause for their coming into existence. Since science and logic teach the universe came into existence a finite time ago (more>>), the Law of Causality does require an explanation for the universe coming into existence. However, since the self-existent, eternal God described in the Bible never came into existence (i.e., God is described as an eternal being who has always existed and will always exist), the Law of Causality does not require a cause for God’s coming into existence because He never did come into existence. Because God’s very nature requires Him to exist, it is impossible for Him not to exist.
Bottom Line: Because the universe came into existence a finite time ago, the Law of Causality requires a cause to explain its coming into existence. Contrarily, since the God of the Bible is described as a self-existing, eternal being whose very nature is to exist, God never did come into existence; consequently, the Law of Causality does not require a cause to explain God’s coming into — He never did come into existence. God is the first uncaused cause who brought the universe and everything in the universe into existence.
For further discussion on this issue and related issues, read the full article entitled “If God Created the Universe, Who Created God?” here.
KNOW WHAT YOU BELIEVE and WHY YOU BELIEVE IT!
DO YOU BELIEVE GOD EXISTS? WHY DO YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE? Browse through the articles on the www.FactsandFaith.com website and consider some of the REASONS Christian philosophers and theologians give for contending that belief in the God of the Bible is a very rational belief, if not the most rational belief possible given what scientists and philosophers have determined to be true about the universe.
Visit Facts & Faith on Facebook and “Like” and “Share” this ONE MINUTE BRIEF with others so they may consider the reasons Christians have for believing in the God of the Bible.
Have a good and prosperous day. Let your light shine before men so they notice your moral excellence as well as your good and noble deeds and, thereby, recognize and glorify your Father in heaven. (See, Matt. 5:16, Amplified Bible).
© 2012 by Andrina G. Hanson
Published: June 14, 2013
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“[W]e do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.”— 2 Corinthians 4:2
IMAGE CREDITS & LICENSING
Slideshow Photo of the “Egg Nebula”: The Egg Nebula (aka RAFGL 2688 and CRL 2688) is a symmetric bi-lobed appearing located approximately 3,000 light-years away from Earth. This image, which is in the public domain, was downloaded from www.nasa.org which credits the image as follows: NASA, W. Sparks (STScI) and R. Sahai (JPL).
Photo of Richard Dawkins: This photo of Richard Dawkins was taken by David Shankbone in 2010 in New York City. The image was downloaded from www.wikimedia.org which states the image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC-BY-SA-3.0)
Tags: Bible, Christian, Christianity, come into existence, endless regress, Eternal, everything requires a cause, God, God is eternal, God never came into existence, John Stewart Mill, R.C. Sproul, Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, transcendent, uncaused cause, universe, where did God come from, who created God, who designed the designer
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