How and out of what did God create the universe?

[ether-ore]

The title says it all. I want to know how and out of what God created the universe from.
I should emphasise that I'm not interested in the order in which God created things
(i.e. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth). I'm interested in how
he managed to do that; and out of what, if anything.

My own belief is that God organized pre-existing matter. We know from science that matter can neither be created or destroyed, it can only change state. Combining that with theology; it doesn't make sense that God created anything ex-nihilo.

 

[OurCreed]

The title says it all. I want to know how and out of what God created the universe from.

Out of nothing.

Think about your brain. You are able to think about random things in your head without needing anything to do it. You can pop ideas in and out just like that. It is similar to how God creates things. When God wants something to come into existence, the moment He wills it, it comes into existence. He does not need anything except His own decree for it.

God is not bound by prerequisite existences to create, everything is simply created as He wills, and everything is destroyed when He wills.

This means He can make things go from existence to non-existence if He likes.

This universe is basically like the mind of God. We are living inside God's mind (analogy). We are infinitely less than Him, He is incomparable to us. And we only reside in His mind, because He wills for us to exist. A time will come when He will decree for the entire universe to cease from its existence.

 

[Breathe]

The title says it all. I want to know how and out of what God created the universe from.
I should emphasise that I'm not interested in the order in which God created things
(i.e. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth). I'm interested in how
he managed to do that; and out of what, if anything.

I dunno. I didn't make it, and God hasn't let me know. It'd be conjecture on my part.

Whatever it turns out to be when we find out. If we find out.

At a guess, out of what exists now. If you're after how it got here, I dunno.
Perhaps a universe is born from the result of a black hole. Perhaps not.

If He tells me, I'll be sure to let you know.
Until then, I'll just go along with what scientific findings suggest.

 

[OurCreed]

My own belief is that God organized pre-existing matter. We know from science that matter can neither be created or destroyed, it can only change state. Combining that with theology; it doesn't make sense that God created anything ex-nihilo.

Science however is limited by the boundaries of the universe. The law that matter cannot be created nor destroyed is true, but only within this universe. God exists externally, outside of the universe, meaning that He is not bound by any law or limitation within the universe.

So for God, He can create things out of nothing. As a matter of fact, God determined the sum of matter and energy as He brought the universe into existence, and that same number is here in the present time.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

God exists externally, outside of the universe....

Where is outside the universe?

 

[OurCreed]

Where is outside the universe?

Since the human mind cannot perceive what exists beyond the known universe we live in, we, limited by vocabulary, refer to words like 'outside' and 'beyond' to get our point across.

This just means that God is beyond the scope and limitations of the universe, that's what it means. Not literally, like the universe is one giant egg, and God is sitting outside of it.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Since the human mind cannot perceive what exists beyond the known universe we live in, we, limited by vocabulary, refer to words like 'outside' and 'beyond' to get our point across.

This just means that God is beyond the scope and limitations of the universe, that's what it means. Not literally, like the universe is one giant egg, and God is sitting outside of it.

Understood...but I understand God is omnipresent, and therefore 'inside' the universe?

 

[OurCreed]

Understood...but I understand God is omnipresent, and therefore 'inside' the universe?

It just means that everything God creates, He is near it and knows its exact positions in time and space. We are all near God, and God is near to us. But this isn't a physical type of nearness, it is a spiritual kind of nearness.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

It just means that everything God creates, He is near it and knows its exact positions in time and space. We are all near God, and God is near to us. But this isn't a physical type of nearness, it is a spiritual kind of nearness.

I understand you better now...fine. But for me, I understand the universe as meaning the whole, nothing else exists beside the universe...the physical and the spiritual...but only man makes the distinction...

 

[OurCreed]

I understand you better now...fine. But for me, I understand the universe as meaning the whole, nothing else exists beside the universe...the physical and the spiritual...but only man makes the distinction...

The universe as a whole is fully physical. The word spiritual can be replaced with 'metaphysical' which means that it is beyond physical, or beyond the extent of this physical world. So logically speaking, the universe can't really be both physical and spiritual.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

The universe as a whole is fully physical. The word spiritual can be replaced with 'metaphysical' which means that it is beyond physical, or beyond the extent of this physical world. So logically speaking, the universe can't really be both physical and spiritual.

English may not be your first language....sorry...but that's what I meant that only man makes the distinction between physical and spiritual. You are saying the universe is only physical, which is what the atheists believe...I'm saying the universe is the whole...ie. ONE. The prefix 'uni' means one.....

 

[Unveiled Artist]

something isnt created from nothing and disapears. how? "God" moved whats already here into being where planets delevopled etc

The title says it all. I want to know how and out of what God created the universe from.
I should emphasise that I'm not interested in the order in which God created things
(i.e. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth). I'm interested in how
he managed to do that; and out of what, if anything.

 

[McBell]

Out of nothing.

Think about your brain. You are able to think about random things in your head without needing anything to do it. You can pop ideas in and out just like that. It is similar to how God creates things. When God wants something to come into existence, the moment He wills it, it comes into existence. He does not need anything except His own decree for it.

God is not bound by prerequisite existences to create, everything is simply created as He wills, and everything is destroyed when He wills.

This means He can make things go from existence to non-existence if He likes.

This universe is basically like the mind of God. We are living inside God's mind (analogy). We are infinitely less than Him, He is incomparable to us. And we only reside in His mind, because He wills for us to exist. A time will come when He will decree for the entire universe to cease from its existence.

That is a very nice choir answer.

 

[George-ananda]

I think of the grand multi-dimensional universe also as a creative thought-form of Brahman/God. Brahman/God is the only Real. Matter/Energy is temporary congealed thought like temporary props in the divine play of the Lord. The physical universe comes at the beginning of play/drama and ends at the conclusion of the play. It is all the creative aspect of God.

 

[Tumah]

That is a very nice choir answer.

An appeal to ridicule isn't going to make his answer wrong. You can do better than that.

 

[Nietzsche]

Think about your brain. You are able to think about random things in your head without needing anything to do it. You can pop ideas in and out just like that.

That...that isn't how thought works. Using that logic, if I were to lobotomize you, there should be no change in your ability to think. Ideas are physical, or rather they have a form in the brain. I think it's electricity(not unlike how information is transmitted through a wire, just far more effective). They are tangible, or else we wouldn't need the brain to begin with.

Also, there's no such thing as a truly original idea. You can only work with what you can comprehend.

Try again.

 

[Tumah]

That...that isn't how thought works. Using that logic, if I were to lobotomize you, there should be no change in your ability to think. Ideas are physical, or rather they have a form in the brain. I think it's electricity(not unlike how information is transmitted through a wire, just far more effective), but are tangible.

Try again.

You're response is like responding to the allegory of the cave by saying
"Imprisoning people in a cave in a fixed position from childhood is not feasible. The body would atrophy and health would deteriorate. The people would probably die before they were old enough to give a cogent response. Therefore, that analogy can't explain reality."

 

[Nietzsche]

You're response is like responding to the allegory of the cave by saying
"Imprisoning people in a cave in a fixed position from childhood is not feasible. The body would atrophy and health would deteriorate. The people would probably die before they were old enough to give a cogent response. Therefore, that analogy can't explain reality."

I sincerely doubt he was using analogy there.

 

[Tumah]

I sincerely doubt he was using analogy there.

So you don't think he was explaining how G-d created the world, by drawing an analogy to our imagination creating images in our mind?
Hmm...

 

[George-ananda]

That is a very nice choir answer.

I thought it was a nice answer period.