**Note** The following article addresses a question I raised as an undergraduate in a philosophy class: “If God always existed, does that mean that he is infinitely old? And if God is infinitely old, how did we arrive at the present time since an infinity is by definition endless?” The following answer to this seemingly impossible question is so axiomatic and elegant that it almost has to be true. Furthermore, to the best of my knowledge, this answer compliments the entirety of philosophy, science and Scripture without contradiction. As humans we can never know the entirety of heavenly realities with complete certainty. Thus I welcome and heavily consider all feedback. Thank You!
The Improbability of Life Forming without a Creator and the Impossibility of a Creator Making Itself
God could not create himself, so if God created the universe, then who or what made or created God? Why does anything exist? Why is there something? Why not nothing? And given the fact that there is something, why does it seem that all life, even the most “simple,” is so perplexingly complex? The chances of forming a short functional protein by chance alone has been estimated at one in one hundred thousand trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion. This is just one protein. The simplest of cells would require a minimum of 300 to 500 proteins. This minimally complex cell would need to develop in 100 million years, the supposed amount of time between the cooling of the earth and the appearance of the first cells.1 Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe calculated the odds that all the functional proteins necessary for life would form in one place at one chance in 1040000. There are only 1080 subatomic particles in the known universe. Therefore, they concluded that even if the whole universe were an organic soup, the probability of forming all these proteins in one place is “outrageously small.”2
Romans 1:20 states, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Because life is so complex, it might therefore seem logical that God must have created the universe, right? The next logical question might then be, “If God created the universe, then who or what created God?” Then one might ask, “Who created the being that created the being that created God?”
Who Created the God that Created God? Infinitely Impossible
An actual infinity cannot exist in the natural world. This point is easy to illustrate. What happens when you add one to infinity? You get infinity. What happens when you add two to infinity? You get infinity again. What happens when you divide infinity by three? Again, you get infinity. No matter what you add to, subtract from, or multiply by infinity, the number never changes. This is a logical impossibility; hence, an actual infinity cannot exist. Therefore, an infinite regression of creators is impossible.
Did Nothing Make or Create God? Is God Infinitely Old?
If an infinite sequence of creators is impossible, the question is still left unanswered. Who created God? The standard response is nothing. Most Christians believe that God never had a beginning and thus does not require a creator. If God always existed and never had a beginning, does this then mean that God is infinitely old? And given the fact that an actual infinity is impossible, does this prove that God cannot exist?
Was God Ever Created? Does Einstein have the Answer?
The answer to this question lies, in part, in Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. According to this theory, time is linked to space and matter. Time, space and matter are all linked and cannot exist apart from one another. So in the absence of space and matter, there is no time.3 This means that before the creation of the universe, time did not exist. We now know that time began the moment the universe was created. According to John 4:24, God is a spirit. And as a spirit it would seem that God does not consist of matter and therefore does not occupy space. If God is a spirit that does not have mass or occupy space, then God must exist in a state of timelessness. Therefore, God stands outside of time and cannot be said to be infinitely old because he does not exist in time.
How was God Made? The Eureka Answer
Not only did time begin at the start of creation, physicists also believe that the laws of physics also began at this time. This fact leads into the next point. If the laws of physics did not exist before creation, does this mean that prior to creation there was chaos? Interestingly, this is exactly how the Greek gods came into being. According to Theogony, the gods emerged from Chaos.4 The primary meaning of the Greek word chaos is an opening or gap. Chaos is a void of space, darkness and unformed matter. It is the watery waste of Nun in Egyptian mythology and the abyss of Genesis. This watery void is a very common concept in ancient myths throughout the world. With a name like Chaos, it would seem that this realm is a dimension of lawlessness and disorder. Since an actual infinity is impossible, the world we live in with all its natural and physical laws could not have existed forever. If that is the case, then prior to this realm of order, there must have been a state of disorder; because in the absence of order, there is chaos. It would seem that before there were physical laws and natural order, there was a state of nothingness so complete that there were no natural laws of any kind—including the law of cause and effect. Perhaps in this realm of complete emptiness and disorder something can and did emerge from nothing, since there are no natural laws of any kind to prevent such a thing from happening? Perhaps God emerged out of this dimension of disorder and created this realm of existence together with time and the natural laws of physics and cause and effect?
“God Could Not Create Himself, so Who or What Made or Created God?”
- Lee Strobel, The Case for a Creator, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004), 229.
- Fred Heeren, Show Me God: What the Message from Space Is Telling Us About God, (Wheeling, IL: Day Star Publications, 1997), 209.
- Ken Ham, Jonathan Sarfati, Carl Wieland, The Revised and Expanded Answers Book: The 20 Most-Asked Questions About Creation, Evolution, and the Book of Genesis, Answered! (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, Inc., 2004) 24.
- Hesiod Theogony 116-145.