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Does God require a creator?

PureX

Veteran Member
If you want to say that god exists in the same way that Darth Vader or ideas exist, then I agree.
I would say that, yes, but with the rather astonishing caviat that the God character and story has emerged in every culture and time that humans have been on Earth. Dearth Vader cleary did not. So if you're trying to imply a equivalent signifigance between them I would disagree with that.

I also would say that it's very strange to me that you would let the idea of God so easily alter or define your concept of existence.
 

Left Coast

This Is Water
Staff member
Premium Member
Does God require a creator?.

If God does not require a creator, then does that logically imply that the universe does not either?

No, since God =/= the universe.

Something can come out of nothing.

It can?

If one assumes that something can't come out of nothing, and this is a reasoning for their belief in God, then don't they have to question where God came from?

No, because God didn't "come from" something. Whereas empirically we know the universe did. It hasn't always been as it is now. It's contingent. So, the argument goes, something necessary must underlie it.
 

muhammad_isa

Veteran Member
What is "philosophical time"? And how do you distinguish it from imaginary time?
It is not time as we measure it relative to space.

Time begins when the universe begins. The universe = the space-time continuum.
You said "Why couldn't the universe 'just be'?"
..and now you are saying that it had a beginning, and that it is the beginning of time..
..in other words, the beginning of everything that could possibly exist.

What about other universes? Do they have to begin at the same time as ours?
Why could they not begin before ours?
 

dybmh

ויהי מבדיל בין מים למים
The laws of physics are descriptive.

The laws of a country are prescriptive.

They are not the same. Legal laws and physical laws are nothing alike.
It's a false equivocation

They are the same in relation to an author who is writing a book that includes both legal laws and physical laws.

Yeah. And an undetectable dragon lives in my garage. This dragon isn't limited by the laws of physics. It's all super easy to me.
It's not about proving it is true. It's simply about understanding the conctept.

Again, that's easy. The undetectable dragon lives in my garage and regularly plays poker with extra-dimensional undetectable pixies.

I know. It's super easy to understand the concept. It works equally well for any invisible anything.
 

Exaltist Ethan

Bridging the Gap Between Believers and Skeptics
Reality creates itself. The creator of reality is reality. One thing leads to the other. That is how I understand God. God creates God. Everything is just a series of actions caused by beings that cause more action. It's easier to realize than you think.
 

PearlSeeker

Well-Known Member
Does God require a creator?.

If God does not require a creator, then does that logically imply that the universe does not either? Something can come out of nothing.

If one assumes that something can't come out of nothing, and this is a reasoning for their belief in God, then don't they have to question where God came from?

"God exists outside of time"
Time is relative... right? In the original Planet of the Apes (spoiler alert) them astronauts time traveled due to their speed and time's relativity, right? So, if time isn't concrete and static throughout the universe, I guess it's reasonable to assume a deity could be outside of time.

"God exists outside of existence." maybe?

I dunno
Do we require a creator or are we just a random fart in the space?

Progress in AI shows that intelligence can be created/programmed...
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
That's incorrect. Dearth Vader exists as a character in a popular story. Physical matter does not determine existence. Ideas about existence also exist.

Is the character in the story actually Darth Vader, though? Or is the character only a model of Darth Vader?
 

1213

Well-Known Member
To me, "material" implies "exists in reality" and "not material" implies "does not exist in reality."

When you talk about "not material" things causing things in the real world, this suggests to me that we're using the words in different ways.

What do you mean by "material"?
I mean with material atoms and parts that consists of atoms.
 

wellwisher

Well-Known Member
Does God require a creator?.

If God does not require a creator, then does that logically imply that the universe does not either? Something can come out of nothing.

If one assumes that something can't come out of nothing, and this is a reasoning for their belief in God, then don't they have to question where God came from?

"God exists outside of time"
Time is relative... right? In the original Planet of the Apes (spoiler alert) them astronauts time traveled due to their speed and time's relativity, right? So, if time isn't concrete and static throughout the universe, I guess it's reasonable to assume a deity could be outside of time.

"God exists outside of existence." maybe?

I dunno
There are a wide variety of innovations, that came into existence, not directly by the law of physics. The computer, for example, started in the imagination of humans long before it existed in realty. It was through imagination and human interaction with modified reality, that it eventually appeared within reality.

The computer came from nothing, in the sense of not being a logical consequence of the laws of physics. It did not just spontaneously appear in nature, using natural laws; grow on trees or appear in a copper mine. It required consciousness to first create a virtual presence in the imagination; imagine all the prototypes that didn't work in reality. The idea of a computer began within the matrix of the mind, with consciousness gradually able to bring it into tangible reality.

The human imagination can imagine more things than are defined by the laws of physics. Atheists, for example, assume religion is imaginary and does not follow the law of physics. We can imagine fiction and nonfiction, with the laws of physics more or less about nonfiction. All fiction, in essence, is outside the normal laws of physics, until it manifests itself in reality through the interaction of consciousness; innovation. A fictional fantasy sci fi movie; comes together from nothing; seed idea appears in the imagination, to become something after much physical effort; final movie, that now manifests itself in virtual reality, providing sensory data, so it appears semi-real. It can plant seeds for other innovations.

We live in space-time, which regulates the laws of physics. In space-time, time and space are connected like two people running a three legged race. Both have to act together as one thing. Theoretically, if time and space were not connected, they would not have to run awkwardly/slower, as one thing in a three legged race. Instead they could act as two separate things with four legs. This opens up more options, such as time and space not finishing the race at the same time.

If you could move in space, independent of time, you could be omnipresent, which is a classic attribute of God. Electrons in an atomic orbital fill in space as though this space is separated from time. The uncertainty principle can measure position or momentum but not both at the same time. Position is space and momentum takes time; separated space and time.

If all of space and time were not connected, we could not have photons of energy. Photons, like space-time, have connected space/wavelength and time/frequency running the three legged race. Energy does not exist in realm with separated space and separated time. It can only appear from separated space and separated time, if these two things merge and thereby restrict their movement via the three legged race of space-time; let there be light.

If we break that connection of space-time, we would have frequency without wavelength and wavelength without frequency; separated time and separated space, but no energy. All we would have is infinite entropy; infinite complexity of states but without substance as we know it. This allows for virtual reality; moving at the speed of thought, that can ignore the limits of the three legged race, to create something from nothing.
 
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