Ok, perhaps this thread does not belong in this section of the forums but I need help really quickly! Alright I have been talking with a fellow believer who has been struggling I'm the faith recently. He has come across the question, "how does God exist? He can't just magically appear at the beginning of the world." how do I answer this? I honestly don't know how!
God's existance
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Lloren
Christian Gamers Alliance Forums Administrator
You can't and he doesn't get to know.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+29:29&version=NIV
Lloren
Christian Gamers Alliance Forums Administrator
That being said there are some great apologetic books written by some men gifted by God concerning these subjects.
Can Man Live Without God.
http://www.amazon.com/Can-Man-Live-without-God/dp/0849939437
Again, no one can answer the questions that only God can answer, but we can answer some of our doubts and questions about God from the general revelation He has given through creation, books, knowledge, history, etc.
Brydon
Legacy of Elijah Officer
Hey Target,
It seems that what's unclear to your friend is the Christian claim that God precedes ALL of the natural world. His question carries the assumption that God is part of the world.
Instead, God is described repeatedly as "the Maker of Heaven and Earth" and calls himself "I AM." It says that "through him all things were made." The Christian belief is that God always was and always will be, without anything prior.
If he emanated from nature (as some believe) nature would be the ultimate thing... Instead we believe that nature emanated from him and HE is the ultimate thing.
Some would complain that that's magical thinking or unscientific. That's okay. All that means is that God is the creator of physical rules, not subject to them... In the same way that the Milton Bradley company prints the rules to Monopoly, but doesn't have to run their company by them.
It's fair to say that that's hard to believe... It's hard even to IMAGINE. But that's what we do in fact believe.
This may not help your friend's faith, but he has to at least start by clarifying what he has faith IN. Good luck.
Brydon
It seems that what's unclear to your friend is the Christian claim that God precedes ALL of the natural world. His question carries the assumption that God is part of the world.
Instead, God is described repeatedly as "the Maker of Heaven and Earth" and calls himself "I AM." It says that "through him all things were made." The Christian belief is that God always was and always will be, without anything prior.
If he emanated from nature (as some believe) nature would be the ultimate thing... Instead we believe that nature emanated from him and HE is the ultimate thing.
Some would complain that that's magical thinking or unscientific. That's okay. All that means is that God is the creator of physical rules, not subject to them... In the same way that the Milton Bradley company prints the rules to Monopoly, but doesn't have to run their company by them.
It's fair to say that that's hard to believe... It's hard even to IMAGINE. But that's what we do in fact believe.
This may not help your friend's faith, but he has to at least start by clarifying what he has faith IN. Good luck.
Brydon
Pelagrin
Member
The others have provided detailed answers. I have a quick comment based on this one sentence.
Time is a human concept. We use time basically to measure our existence.
So God didn't magically appear at the beginning of the world. The world magically appeared when God spoke it into existence. God was already there. He is eternal and exists outside of our concept of time. He was and is and is to come.
Patriot
Active Member
Credit where credit is due:
Genesis 1:14-15
And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.
Time is part of God's creation.