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Old 12-24-2016, 02:37 AM
 
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Asking questions whether God was there before creation or where was He then , actually demeans God .....As it reasons out God even was there which would be faithless right from the start .....

 
Old 12-24-2016, 03:23 AM
 
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It should be noted that Genesis 1 does not teach Creatio Ex Nihilo - "Creation out of Nothing". It is not the absolute beginning, if we follow the text. There was pre-existing matter before the separative and creative acts in Genesis (water and darkness). So you would have to extend your questions beyond the Genesis Account.

A better translation yields:
At the beginning of God's creating of the heavens and the earth,
when the earth was wild and waste,
darkness over the face of Ocean,
rushing-spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters -

God said: Let there be light! And there was light.
(Genesis 1:1-3 SB Fox)
Most translators and scholars now recognize the first several verses as one introductory sentence, like other ancient Near Eastern Creation accounts of the time. No longer is "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" considered a single clause implying one large creative act, with the details coming after the fact.

So there is at least watery chaos and darkness present before the God of Genesis begins to separate and create - and he does more separating than creating, technically. It is with these raw materials that the God of Genesis begins to bring order out of chaos.

Also consider Genesis 1:26 which demonstrates that there are other divine beings present at this time:
God said:
Let us make humankind, in our image, according to our likeness!
(Genesis 1:26)
God is not alone. I won't go into the linguistic details here since it's been done in another thread, but it points to other divine beings that probably aren't angels, but gods.
 
Old 12-24-2016, 03:30 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hljc View Post
Asking questions whether God was there before creation or where was He then , actually demeans God .....As it reasons out God even was there which would be faithless right from the start .....
Riiight, like when Jacob demanded proof of God's protection before he agreed to worship him - in contrast to Abraham:
And Yaakov [Jacob] vowed a vow, saying:
If God will be with me
and will watch over me on this way that I go
and will give me food to eat and a garment to wear,
and if I come back in peace to my father's house -
YHWH shall be God to me,
(Genesis 28:20 SB Fox)
Good ol' faithful Jacob. How dare he demand things of God? The nerve!

Faith does not mean our God-given ability to reason should be thrown in the trash, simply because we can't reach a definitive answer. You know the saying? Have an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out. If there's one thing I've noticed about my Jehovah's Witness friends, it's that if something is too difficult to work out, they give up. This probably comes from their overwhelming education level being High School diploma or less, no doubt.
 
Old 12-24-2016, 04:53 AM
 
Location: Type 0.73 Kardashev
11,110 posts, read 9,819,312 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ukrkoz View Post
The Beginning

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.


Normally, question is asked - who created god then? Or similar.


I am asking a different question.


WHERE was god BEFORE creation?

Clearly, from the above quote, god was.
God was before creation.
Hence, god, to exist, had to be in some sort of "space".

As ANYTHING that exists, even in a most miraculous form, has to exist IN something.

Something that exists in NOTHING does not exist.

Hence, there must have been some sort of space, appropriate for god, in its characteristics allowing god to exist IN it. A "godly" space, semantics really, but still - space.

Hence, that space was pre-god and god existed in it.

Or, from presumption of gods eternity and having no origin, then that space also has to be eternal and have no origin.
But then, there was two - space AND god in that space.
Well, that's the entire problem with the oft-touted "Everything has to have something that created it. Since the universe exists, God had to have existed to create it." sophistry. Aside from the unexplained leap of 'something'='God', there's the problem that if everything needs a creator then God needs one as well. Now, the proferred 'solution' is to exempt God from this rule. This, of course, only leaves one wondering why not then just exempt the universe from the rule and avoid the whole silliness making a rule only to immediately break it? The answer, clearly, is that this rule is just made-up for the sole purpose of 'proving' God. That is has a gaping logic hole built into it never seems to bother its many fans. But then, it is the essence of religious believers to be unconcerned with logic (even as they contort themselves into knots pretending to embrace it).

That something so blatantly illogical is so popular among believers speaks volumes to the utter lack of substantive bases for their beliefs.
 
Old 12-24-2016, 06:02 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ukrkoz View Post
The Beginning

But then, there was two - space AND god in that space.
something or nothing are about the best we can do. "nothing" is a buzz kill.

The only comparison to what I know, and its not a lot, is birth.
 
Old 12-24-2016, 06:40 AM
 
Location: On the brink of WWIII
21,088 posts, read 29,231,979 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmiej View Post
God is in the third heaven, beyond where man can see. He has always existed there. He is the great I AM.
Third heaven? Have you been reading Joseph Smith again?

The answer for those who want to have a beginning for God is found in the realization that TIME is a man made construct and we want everything top fit in a time line.

With God, there is NO TIME, so we try to rationally explain this idea of time when it is really our pea-brains trying to grasp INFINITY.
 
Old 12-24-2016, 08:23 AM
 
28,432 posts, read 11,587,667 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28 View Post
Third heaven? Have you been reading Joseph Smith again?

The answer for those who want to have a beginning for God is found in the realization that TIME is a man made construct and we want everything top fit in a time line.

With God, there is NO TIME, so we try to rationally explain this idea of time when it is really our pea-brains trying to grasp INFINITY.
if we have pea brains, how do we know god has no time?
 
Old 12-24-2016, 09:04 AM
 
Location: Southern California
2,074 posts, read 2,163,665 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rafius View Post
As you see above ukrkoz. All you will get from the theists on this is 'special pleading' and 'We just can't comprehend 'God', he is a fathomless enigma.' Of course, in the next breath they will be telling you that, although their god is an enigma that is beyond our comprehension, a timeless mystery that can't be understood... they are all having a 'personal relationship' with him.
Well, this is exactly true. And how is it possible, you may ask to have a relationship with an enigma? It's because those of us who do... have elevated our soul's condition. We know we are spiritual beings living in a material body. Because we are more spiritual, this is our direct connection to God. How long did it take for this to happen to me? A very long time...
 
Old 12-24-2016, 09:06 AM
 
Location: Valencia, Spain
16,155 posts, read 12,862,986 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SoCalAngel2009 View Post
Well, this is exactly true. And how is it possible, you may ask to have a relationship with an enigma? It's because those of us who do... have elevated our soul's condition. We know we are spiritual beings living in a material body. Because we are more spiritual, this is our direct connection to God.
...or perhaps you're simply delusional.
 
Old 12-24-2016, 09:11 AM
 
Location: Southern California
2,074 posts, read 2,163,665 times
Reputation: 295
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rafius View Post
...or perhaps you're simply delusional.
Good try, buddy. I can assure you... I ain't delusional.

O/T. Christmas greetings from the other Valencia in the good ole' USA.
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