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Science and Faith

Who Created God?
Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins

Question:
If God created the Universe, then who created God?

Answer:
Who Created ...?  The interesting logical thing about your question is that it is regressive. That means you can keep asking "Who created ..." as far back as you want to go.

The whole point about the word/name "God" is that the concept of "God" is meant to refer to something outside the progression of creation.  It is similar to the idea of some scientists in proposing that the Universe is eternal, and had no beginning.

God may be defined as "That without which nothing else would or could exist."  Another way of stating it is that God is the basis of whatever exists.

Related Question:
Did God create people or did people create God?

Related Answer:
By definition, God is self-existent, so no one created him.  The basic meaning of that term is whatever exists if nothing else exists.

That is, everything that is impermanent refers to or depends upon something greater than itself, or beyond itself, for its existence.  For instance, the Big Bang.  Where did the stuff come from that Banged?

People Create gods
People create gods, that is, things to worship, projected out of their own needs, limitations, fears, or experiences.  We distinguish in English only by using a capital for the Ultimate, and the small letter for any one of multiple objects of worships.

These objects of worship may include idols, but may be simply ideas, like philosophies, or sets of doctrine or dogma, our religion, money, or other goals or values.

Distinction
The Germanic languages make this distinction only in writing, with the capital letter for the Uncreated.  A specific term is sometimes used to clarify the reference, such as The One True God, The Living God, The Only God.

Various languages distinguish in different ways between the Uncreated and the created or imagined.  For instance, in Swahili, the singular word for "god," Mungu, is used for the One True God, while the plural miungu, refers to idols, or other gods of human religions.  The same distinction is made in many related Bantu languages.

Arabic is similar. Both Christian and Muslim Arabic speakers use the term Al-lah (Allah) for the One True God.  The word means "The God." The orignal form is said by scholars to have been al-ilah. This is the form the word has in the Somali langauge, if I understand it correctly.

OBJ

First written 30 April 2001 on an internet discussion group.
Finalized as an article and posted 24 June 2005
Revised 23 October 2007

Copyright © Orville Boyd Jenkins 2005, 2007
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use. Other rights reserved.
Email:  orville@jenkins.nu
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