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According to the biblical description, on the third day of the act of creation, God created the earth. And in seven days he created the whole world and man. This act is one of the fundamental tenets of the Jewish and Christian faith.
The story of how God created the earth and heaven is found in the first book of the Bible, which is called Genesis. But the interpretations of it among believers and non-believers are very different from each other. About this, and also in detail about how many days God created the earth, man and the world, we will talk further in the article.
On the error of literal reading
The one who reads the Holy Scriptures without thinking much about its essence, that is, trying to perceive it in literally, can be very perplexing. John Chrysostom wrote about this. This is what the clergy say today.
They warn that it is necessary to analyze biblical texts, taking into account the fact that the Bible is not a textbook and does not present scientific truths. It has a religious look, as well as an allegorical aspect.
Taking into account these remarks, we will try to consider chapter 1 of the biblical book "Genesis", which tells how much God created the earth, sky, man, plants and animals. Although the narrative is quite simple in form, its content is not always easy to understand.
Creation: the first three days
The first chapter of Genesis begins by saying that God first created the earth and the heavens. And this picture looked like this: the Earth was empty and waterless, there was darkness over the abyss, and the Spirit of God was flying over the water. Then the following happened.
On the 1st day, God willed that there be light, and it appeared. This pleased the Almighty, and he divided the light and the darkness. He called the light day and the darkness he called night.
On the 2nd day, God commanded that a firmament be formed in the middle of the expanse of water, and it separated the water that was above the firmament from that that was under it. And the firmament was in the middle of the water, and was called heaven.
The story of the third day of creation tells how God created the earth. The water that was under the heavens flowed in one place, and dry land appeared, which God called earth. Then the Creator issued a command that the earth should grow all kinds of greenery and grass, yielding seed according to its kind and likeness, as well as fruitful trees. And all this happened.
Creation of luminaries and animals
On the 4th day, the Lord created luminaries in the firmament of heaven, so that they would illuminate the earth. And also to separate day from night, produce signs, mark times, days and years.
On the fifth day, at the direction of the Lord, the water produced reptiles, birds that flew above the earth, along the firmament. Then God created big fish and all sorts of animals.
Having considered what the Scriptures say about how God created the earth, the sky, the stars and planets, birds and animals, let's move on to
In the image and likeness
And God decided to create man in his own image and likeness. And made him lord over marine fish and over the birds of the sky. And also over beasts, cattle, over all the earth and creeping reptiles on it. And the Almighty created a man and a woman and, having blessed them, commanded that they be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and rule over the animal world.
After six days, the Almighty looked at everything he had created and decided that it was very good. At the beginning of the second chapter of Genesis, it is said that on the seventh day the Creator rested, that is, he rested from his work. He blessed the seventh day by making it holy.
Having outlined the biblical events that tell how God created the earth and the world around it, as well as man and animals, let's move on to the question of interpreting the act of creation.
Creation from nothing
When reading the ancient narrative, at a first approximation it may seem that it contradicts modern ideas related to science. But, as already mentioned, the Bible is not a textbook on any natural science discipline. And it does not describe how God created the earth from a physical, scientific point of view.
But, as the fathers of the Christian church note, it contains one of the important religious truths, which says that it was God who created the world and he did it out of nothing. Understand this truth human consciousness coming from one's life experience is very difficult, because creation is beyond our experience.
Even among the ancient philosophers, there were opinions that the Creator and his creation are one and the same, and the world is an emanation of God. He "poured out" into this world, thus forming physical reality. Thus, God is everywhere - this is the opinion of the pantheists.
Other philosophers - dualists - believed that God and matter existed in parallel, and the Creator created the world from eternal matter. Atheists deny the existence of God in principle, they argue that there is only matter.
We will consider the explanation of the supporters of the first of the above versions.
1 day is like 1000 years
According to the story of the Holy Scriptures, God created the earth, the whole world, the Universe from nothing. He did this through his Word, Almighty power and Divine will. The act of creation is not instantaneous, one-time, it proceeds in time. Although the Bible we are talking about 7 days of creation, a day here is not equal to 24 hours, our earthly days. Here we are talking about other time periods. After all, as mentioned above, the luminaries appeared only on the fourth day.
In the second cathedral of Peter it is said that the Word of God proclaims to us that the Lord has 1 day as 1000 years, and 1000 years as 1 day. That is, God is outside our understanding of time, so it is not possible to judge how long the act of creation took.
However, the following is clear from the biblical texts. In the Lord himself says: "Behold, I make all things new." That is, the act of creation is not finished yet, it continues in an invisible and incomprehensible way for us. God maintains with his energy the structure of the Universe in a state of balance and vitality.
Don Baten
This question is not logical.
"So who created God?" This question is one of the main arguments put forward by atheists to justify their unbelief. Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), famous British philosopher, in his highly influential essay titled " Why am I not a Christian put forward this question as his first argument. Modern atheists echo this argument - including Richard Dawkins (" Illusion of God”), as well as the Australian scientist Philip Adams, who in 2010 on World Congress atheists in Melbourne, Australia, declared:
“The biggest argument in favor of the existence of God is that there was some Creation, a beginning ... But it is easy to refute this argument. If God was in the beginning, then who gave rise to God?”
Photo from the collection ©StockPhoto.com/LuisPortugal
If it is necessary to prove that the Creator God was created by another creator, then another creator who created the creator will also be needed - and this gives rise to the effect of an endlessly falling domino.
The universe had a beginning, practically no one argues with this, since the laws of thermodynamics require it: the universe is depleted, but it could not always be depleted, after all, in this case, by now it would have been depleted completely. The stars would not radiate their energy and we would not be here.
Some have suggested that one universe gives birth to another, but again, there cannot be an endless series of such births and deaths, since for each such cycle there must be less and less energy available for work, and if this continued forever, the death of everything would have come long ago.
The beginning should have been
One of the proven principles of logic/science/reality is the principle of causality: everything that has a beginning must have proper cause. This principle does not say that "everything has a reason". Bertrand Russell mispronounced it. No, the principle is: "Everything that has a beginning there must be a proper reason". And just a minute of reflection will confirm this conclusion - that which has no beginning does not need a reason. Moreover, the reason must be proper or adequate. The words "You were found in the cabbage" are not a proper explanation for your existence.
This principle of causality is so fundamental that if I said that the chair you are sitting in must have had a beginning, but appeared for no reason, you would probably think that I need psychiatric help.
Modern atheists, who love to use the words "rational", "justified" and "scientific" to describe their beliefs, believe that the greatest of all beginnings - the beginning of the universe - had no reason! Some of them admit that there is some problem with this, but argue that the explanation "God made her" does not explain anything, because God himself must be explained. However, how justified is this argument?
What could have been the origin of the universe?
The cause of the universe had to be non-material, because if this cause were material/natural, it would be subject to destruction, like the universe itself. This means that the beginning would have to lie in itself, and here you face the same problem as in the theory with the cycles of births and deaths of the universes. So, the cause of the beginning of the universe had to be supernatural, i.e. non-material, spiritual - the reason that is abroad space-matter-time. Such a cause should not be subject to the law of decay/smoldering, and therefore it should not have a beginning. So, the reason should have been eternal in spirit.
Moreover, the cause of the universe would have to be incredibly powerful; huge scale and energy, which we observe in the universe, and this reason should have been proper/sufficient.
To me, all these descriptions are reminiscent of the God of the Bible. The Bible describes God the Creator of the universe as:
- eternal
Before the mountains were born, and You formed the earth and the universe, and from everlasting to everlasting You are God. (Psalm 89:3) - omnipotent
Yours, O Lord, is the majesty, and the might, and the glory, and the victory, and the magnificence, and everything [that] is in heaven and on earth, [is Yours]: Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom, and You are above all, as the Sovereign. And wealth and glory are from Your presence, and You have dominion over everything, and in Your hand is strength and might, and it is in Your power to magnify and strengthen everything. (1 Chronicles 29:11-12) - spiritual (intangible)
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)
Note that the Bible says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Here God created time itself. It could only be created by the One who is beyond time, who is not subject to time or eternal.
So asking who created God or where did this Eternal God, who has no beginning, come from is like asking "Who is this bachelor married to?". This question is irrational. The Bible corresponds to reality, and this is not surprising if you think about the fact that the Bible was given to us by the Creator Himself.
Two"great beginnings" for no reason!
People who deny the existence of a Creator are not only forced to believe that matter appeared for no reason, but also in the fact that she herself life arose for no good reason. Even the simplest single-celled organism is incredibly complex. A simple bacterium is full of incredibly complex nano-mechanisms that it needs to maintain life. A single cell needs more than 400 different proteins for the functioning of mechanisms that are absolutely necessary for its life. How could these protein-based mechanisms have arisen by themselves, even with all the necessary components (20 different amino acids, each of which is presented in large quantities)? For every protein to function, the amino acids, which often number in the thousands, need to be linked together in the right order.
Just think about the one major mechanism that copies pieces of DNA to create each of the proteins. Let's take just one protein component of this mechanism, which is less than 10%. This protein consists of 329 amino acids. What is the probability that this protein came about by chance, even assuming that all the necessary and only correct ingredients were available? Let's calculate it like this: 1/20 x 1/20 x 1/20 ... and multiply by 329!6 The probability is 1 in 10428 ... that's one followed by 428 zeros! Even if every atom in the universe (1080 is a number with 80 zeros) were an experiment for every possible molecular vibration (1012 per second) over the estimated evolutionary age of the universe (14 billion years = 1018 seconds), that would allow "everything » for 10110 experiments - and this is much less than the amount required for there to be at least a small chance for the formation of this single protein - they no longer talk about the other 400 proteins necessary for this process.
We admire the scientists who are discovering nano-technologies in living things - and this is really an amazing branch of science. But what then should we say about the One who created all this? How big is He in His mind?
Not surprisingly, Richard Dawkins acknowledges that scientists may never know how life could have come about through natural processes. However, he rejects the creation theory for the erroneous reason discussed above.
What is the proper reason for explaining the origin of life? This reason must be incredibly reasonable - far beyond our understanding of the mind. We admire the scientists who are discovering nano-technologies in living things - and this is really an amazing branch of science. But what then should we say about the One who created all this? How big is he in his mind? And this question reminds me of another characteristic of God that the Bible says He is omniscient. Cm. Psalm 139:2-6, Isaiah 40:13-14.
Looking at God's creations, we know enough about the Creator to be "unanswerable". Romans 1:18-22 says:
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth with unrighteousness. For what can be known about God is clear to them, because God has shown them. For His invisible, His eternal power and Divinity, from the creation of the world through the consideration of creations are visible, so that they are unanswerable. But how, having known God, they did not glorify Him as God, and did not give thanks, but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened; professing to be wise, they became fools."
And here in the Bible it is explained why people chose to believe in impossible things - that first the universe, and then life on it, arose without any adequate reason. They decided, without any logic, to accept that their two "great beginnings" had no good reason, instead of recognizing and glorifying their Creator.
The question is abstract, and the answer will be the same. In the sense - "Any physical theory ... is just a hypothesis that cannot be proven." Art. Hawking. So, here is my theory, not everything, but only the answers to your questions. Being, as a way of existence of the world, cannot be created, as well as God - they are absolute, i.e. not dependent on anything, are a thing in itself. Our Universe is a different matter, and its existence can be called recursion, i.e. this phenomenon is constantly created, initiated just by God. "The Big Bang can be considered the beginning of time, in the sense that earlier times are simply... undefined." Art. Hawking. I believe that B.V. it's just a convention, a metaphor for the next "creation" of our world. How it really is, we will never know. And our world is created each time with a specific purpose, "under the mind", it is conditioned by this and there can be no other, but this is already a moot point. And because of recursion, our world cannot have the crazy dimensions that we attribute to it. We observe all the wonders of deep space on the borders of our world, in the zone of formation of its matter. Well, the observed must be named and defined somehow, hence all these fairy tales about Black holes, singularities and so on.
"The final work of the late theoretical physicist (St. Hawking) states that the expansion process outer space obviously stopped, and the Universe reached its maximum size. AT last years life, the researcher was convinced of the existence of a boundary beyond which the universe ends. And beyond this border, they say, there is absolute emptiness, in which there is neither light, nor matter, nor space, nor even time. " Here he was mistaken, emptiness cannot be absolute, outside our Universe ABSOLUTE Being (whatever you want to call it, ether , apeiron, nothing changes from this. I call it "primary matter"). So God is the FUNCTION of this absolute thing, it is not an object, not a subject, much less a thinking being. This is one of the PROPERTIES of the absolute. Which constantly creates our world. Perhaps this is a necessary condition for the absoluteness of the World, one can fantasize here. "Alas, the human mind is not able to fully comprehend the concept of such emptiness, but we can put forward assumptions about what it is and what laws it obeys."
"The scientist suggested that there were a great many Big Bangs, they all happened at the same time, and each of them gave rise to a separate world." - here Hawking is also mistaken, and specifically that the infinity of separate worlds "occurred simultaneously." We can think so, but, given the properties of the absolute (hypothetical) - the absence of time - for us, the time between the creation of universes may seem like an instant, or maybe billions of years, the absolute does not care. In general, my theory is set out in the book "The Theory of Everything That Is Not", it is in the networks, everything is detailed there. (By the way, with its help you can explain almost all the mysteries of our world) ...
Who is God the Father is still a topic of discussion among theologians around the world. He is considered the Creator of the world and man, the Absolute and at the same time triune in the Holy Trinity. These dogmas, together with an understanding of the essence of the Universe, deserve more detailed attention and analysis.
God the Father - who is he?
People knew about the existence of a single God-Father long before Christmas, an example of this is the Indian Upanishads, which were created one and a half thousand years BC. e. It says that in the beginning there was nothing but the Great Brahman. The peoples of Africa mention Olorun, who turned water Chaos into heaven and earth, and on the 5th day created people. In many ancient cultures there is an image “the higher mind is God the Father”, but in Christianity there is a main difference - God is triune. To put this concept into the minds of those who worship pagan deities, a trinity appeared: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
God the Father in Christianity is the first hypostasis, He is revered as the Creator of the world and man. The theologians of Greece called God the Father the basis of the integrity of the Trinity, who is known through His Son. Much later, philosophers called Him the original definition of the highest idea, God the Father Absolute - the fundamental principle of the world and the beginning of existence. Among the names of God the Father:
- Sabaoth - Lord of Hosts, mentioned in Old Testament and in the psalms.
- Yahweh. Described in the story of Moses.
What does God the Father look like?
What does God, the Father of Jesus, look like? There is still no answer to this question. The Bible mentions that God spoke to people in the form of a burning bush and a pillar of fire, and no one can ever see Him with their own eyes. He sends angels instead of himself, because a person cannot see Him and stay alive. Philosophers and theologians are sure: God the Father exists outside of time, therefore he cannot change.
Since God the Father was never shown to people, the Stoglavy Cathedral in 1551 imposed a ban on His images. The only acceptable canon was the image of Andrei Rublev "Trinity". But today there is also the "God the Father" icon, created much later, where the Lord is depicted as a gray-haired Elder. It can be seen in many churches: at the very top of the iconostasis and on the domes.
How did God the Father appear?
Another question, to which there is also no clear answer: “Where did God the Father come from?” There was only one option: God has always existed as the Creator of the Universe. Therefore, theologians and philosophers give two explanations for this position:
- God could not appear, because then there was no concept of time. He created it, along with space.
- To understand where God came from, you need to think outside the universe, outside of time and space. Man is not yet capable of this.
God the Father in Orthodoxy
In the Old Testament, there is no appeal to God from people "Father", and not because they have not heard about the Holy Trinity. It's just that the position in relation to the Lord was different, after the sin of Adam, people were expelled from paradise, and they went over to the camp of God's enemies. God the Father in the Old Testament is described as a formidable force that punishes people for disobedience. In the New Testament, He is already the Father of all who believe in Him. The unity of the two texts is that in both for the salvation of mankind the same God speaks and performs deeds.
God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ
With the advent of the New Testament, God the Father in Christianity is already mentioned in reconciliation with people through His Son Jesus Christ. This Testament says that the Son of God was the forerunner of the adoption of people by the Lord. And now believers receive a blessing not from the first hypostasis of the Most Holy Trinity, but from God the Father, since Christ atoned for the sins of mankind on the cross. It is written in the sacred books that God is the Father of Jesus Christ, who, during the baptism of Jesus in the waters of the Jordan, appeared in form and commanded people to obey His Son.
Trying to clarify the essence of faith in the Holy Trinity, theologians state the following postulates:
- All three Persons of God have the same Divine dignity, on an equal footing. Since God in His essence is one, then the properties of God are inherent in all three hypostases.
- The only difference is that God the Father does not come from anyone, but the Son of the Lord was born from God the Father eternally, the Holy Spirit comes from God the Father.
It would seem a simple question to which every believer should know a simple answer. But, again, if you google a little, read the answers of Christians and the counterarguments of atheists, then somehow it is not smooth, somehow not everything is clear and simple.
So I feel compelled to write my own answer.
Actually this question is incorrect. And usually believers correctly answer that God is eternal and He did not come from anywhere, but was, is and will always be. But opponents usually ask:
- Why is God eternal?
- If the universe needs a cause in the form of God, why doesn't God need a cause, or why isn't the universe eternal?
- Who said that God is eternal?
- How do you prove that God is eternal?
- .. and so on…
And here it becomes somehow not clear, somehow not smooth. Usually Christians argue with the Bible, not taking into account the fact that this Book is not an authority for unbelievers, and this is what it is. the main problem this question. We need conventional arguments. This question belongs to the kind of questions that cannot be argued by the Bible alone. Here we must use logic, philosophy and the laws of the universe. Why do we, Christians, forget that the whole world was created by God and that "... His invisible, His eternal power and Divinity, from the creation of the world through the consideration of creatures are visible ... (Rom. 1:20)" Let's show God to atheists through creation, if The Bible is not their authority.
Let's take philosophy, logic and mathematics. And the answer is purely philosophical.
To begin with, we need to understand the very concept of the term "God". Let's use a common source.
God is the name of a powerful supernatural Supreme Being in theistic and deistic teachings. In the monotheistic Abrahamic religions, God is seen as a person, as a personification of the Absolute, as an incomprehensible transcendent personal God (“God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”), and as a manifestation of the highest reality, moreover, as the one and only God, who has no one like him.
It is important to clarify that we are talking about the God of the monotheistic Abrahamic religions. And it is this definition of the concept of "God" that we use, if only because such an understanding of God is shared by the majority of the inhabitants of the earth, because the majority of earthlings belong to these religions.
It says that God is the personification of the Absolute. What is the Absolute? it philosophical concept.
Absolute, absolute (lat. absolutus - unconditional, unlimited, irrelevant, perfect) - the fundamental principle of the world, the origin of all Existing, eternal and unchanging, which is understood as one, universal, beginningless, infinite and in turn opposes any relative and conditioned Being.
Those. God is the Absolute. This is very important to know and understand. The very concept of "God" already includes the fact that He is the Absolute.
But what does this mean? And this means that God is absolutely eternal, since He is the Absolute.
What is eternal? Eternal is that which has no end! That never ends. Infinite.
Science examples:
The geometric ray and the geometric line are infinite, they have no end. Moreover, the geometric ray is relatively infinite, because it has no end, but has a beginning. And the geometric line is absolutely infinite because it has neither beginning nor end. As opposed to a geometric segment, which has both a beginning and an end. Those. Science, beloved by atheists, has long operated in terms of the infinite. Moreover, we can distinguish between two types of the infinite. Relative, like a ray and absolute, like a straight line. These concepts are not sucked from the finger and not taken from the ceiling - they exist as a scientific fact. Or do atheists have something against science?
Therefore, the philosophical concept of the absolute has a completely scientific basis.
And when we talk about God, we mean that He is the Absolute, respectively, it is understood that He is absolutely eternal and infinite and has neither beginning nor end, like a geometric line. Therefore, pose the question: “Where did God come from?” is also incorrect, how to raise the question: “Where is the beginning of the straight line?”. Next time, answer an atheist: "I'll tell you where God came from when you show me the beginning of a geometric line."
It is important to clarify that within the framework of this article, I am not trying to prove the existence of God, as well as the finiteness of the universe - these are topics for other articles. I'm just drawing an analogy that is understandable to people for whom science is the highest authority. And I'm just clarifying the philosophical understanding of the term "God", as well as how we should deal with this term. Since we are talking about God, we must have a generally accepted philosophical definition of this concept. We must have a common denominator with non-believers, a common foundation on the basis of which we can build a constructive discussion. If non-believers are talking about God, they should understand what this concept means.
God is Absolute!
