Where Did God Come From?

"Can you fathom the mysteries of God?  Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?" (Job 11:7, NIV).
God is the "uncaused caused" or "unmoved mover" (causa prima or first cause in Latin), according to the Greeks of antiquity, viz., Aristotle.   
"The finite cannot contain (grasp) the infinite." classic axiom
"Tell me your certainties, I have enough doubts of my own." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
According to the "Kalam cosmological proof" of God, everything that begins to exist has a cause, the cosmos began to exist, ergo it had a cause or Beginner.  

NOTE THE ILLOGICAL ASSUMPTION THAT EVERYTHING CAME FROM SOMETHING, WHICH WOULD BE THAT INFINITE REGRESS WAS POSSIBLE OR YOU COULD CROSS INFINITY!   WE MUST NOT ASSUME EVERYTHING WAS CREATED! 

Or, who made God?  Paul Little cites when Bertrand Russell asked, "Well, who created God?" and when no answer was forthcoming, he said, "My entire faith collapsed," according to his book, Why I Am Not a Christian.  The premise of the question is that everything came from something!  Everything that exists in time and space had a beginning because of the space-time continuum.  If we say that everything had a beginning, then there would be a time when nothing existed!  Then nothing would exist now!  By logic, something must have had no beginning and always was!  If that were not so, then nothing could ever exist, for out of nothing, nothing comes (ex nihilo, nihil fit in Latin).  Russell should have asked where he came from!

There is a problem of eternal regression or, in mathematics, the impossibility of crossing infinity--every chain of events must have a starting point (e.g., if I say God came from X, you would only ask, "Where did X come from?" and then, "Where did Y come from?" and so forth ad infinitum; soon we're at the end of the alphabet by analogy).  Nothing can be explained by an eternal link of cause and effect (passing the buck) by an infinite series of efficient cause.  At some point, the chain breaks down with a starting point, or it wouldn't exist.

Russell might well have asked, where did love come from?  Or, "Where did I come from?"  We discovered them, they were always there in God's mind and He revealed them to us.  God is love and love came from God, existing even before God expressed it in His creation. and salvation plan.  We are the expression of God, as being His icons, or created in the image and likeness of God. You may well ask, "Where did love come from, or where did justice come from?"  They certainly existed before being expressed.  Fair play existed before we have learned to express it in sports!  We don't create anything, but only discover what's already there!  A child may not understand this, but neither will an adult, for God's profundity is beyond our comprehension and we will never quite figure God out or put Him into a box.

If God came into being or began to exist, He would be captive to time and not eternal--God exists outside the time/space continuum.  Only that which is caused has a beginning.  Since God is eternal, He can have no cause and that's why He is the First Cause or as His name may be called "I CAUSE TO BE."  This is because God created the time-space continuum and is no slave to itit.  He exists independent of them.  Eternal, by definition, means no beginning and no cause.  The law of cause and effect says every effect must have a cause; God is not an effect and has no cause.  By the laws of non-contradiction and of causality, nothing can be its own cause or create itself!  But there can be an uncaused cause.  In other words, according to the law of causality, nothing just happens by itself! 

This is like saying that every event has a cause and everything that begins to exist has a cause.  God is not an event nor an effect and has no beginning, therefore no cause and cannot have come from anything.  God is the Beginner, and has no beginning, and couldn't have arisen from any cause or from anywhere.  R. C. Sproul says, "Being eternal, God is not an effect.  Since he is not an effect, he does not require a cause.  He is uncaused.  It is important to note the difference between uncaused, self-existent eternal being and an effect that causes itself through self-creation."

God is self-existent, needing no one, and nothing to exist--depending on only Himself.  God came from God--He is totally existent within Himself and fully satisfies all His needs by His very being.  We are all contingent creatures needing others, but God needs only Himself. If everything were contingent, dependent on outside forces, then nothing would be possible; ontologically speaking, something must be a necessary being for anything to exist in reality.  If God did need someone or something, that person or thing would be God!

All in all, there is can be no explanation for God's eternity and we cannot answer all questions--His thoughts are higher than ours, like the heavens from the earth (cf. Isa. 55:8-9).  We don't need all the answers to believe in Him though, and believing in God doesn't mean we have all the answers; however, we do have sound reasons for our faith. 

But no one has all the answers!  And we believe despite our doubts, but we can know the Answerer to our queries and doubts.  We will never understand many truths about God because we are finite and He is infinite and He has certain truths we are not capable of knowing--the secret things belong to the Lord and only that which is revealed belongs to us (cf. Deut. 29:29).   Our God, then, is transcendent or separate from creation as its Creator, and not subject to being created, formed, or emanated from anything or anyone.    Soli Deo Gloria!

It's Not About You!

To self-centered, selfish people it hasn't dawned on them that the world doesn't revolve around them.  This is part of growing up--Reality 101.  People don't exist to meet our needs!  You cannot love others when you're wrapped up in yourself.  We feel a disconnect and are not communicating when we focus on self.  Let's empty ourselves like Christ!  All of our thinking is distorted when self-centered, and we tend to think of "my way or the highway."  In other words, we become less tolerant. Sometime we must learn to stop running from our problems and difficult relationships, and reconcile---work things out!  God doesn't call us to be peace-keepers, but peacemakers; seeking to build bridges, not walls.

There are several ways we can discriminate or alienate, if we're looking, and the solution is to get our priorities right:  We are Christians first; human beings second; members of a family third; Americans fourth; citizens of a state fifth (as opposed to those who would say: "American by birth, Texan by the grace of God," or "Texan first, American second, and so forth), and finally members of a party, if any. Tribalism is the gut feeling that we have when we belong to a group, faction, or party that gives us pride and is wrong, as is party spirit.  This rating is not a cut-and-dried formula but a rough outline.

  When we meet people we disagree with, we are to treat them as fellow human beings, sometimes even as brothers in Christ, and learn that God puts them in our orbit to practice the first of the fruits of the Spirit, which is love. This priority is contrary to the America First doctrine or that we put America first in everything; this is much like the Deutschland uber Alles (Germany above all) campaign of Germany during two world wars. This leads to jingoism and chauvinism, or extreme patriotism at the expense of our values.  We must ask ourselves:  Where is our ultimate loyalty?

God has a plan for us if we submit and abide, but we must deny ourselves, put Him first and die to self, as "living sacrifices"--living for Him. The essence of humility is not thinking less of yourself, but of yourself less!  In order to say "Yes!" to Jesus, we must first say "No!" to self! We want God-confidence, not self-confidence!   Even our goals, ambitions, and priorities must be aligned with His.  Do you have great ambitions for yourself?  "Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them..." (Jer. 45:5, NIV). 

Selfish ambition is a fruit of the flesh, even though it's what makes the world go round, known as greed and envy.  Greed is not good, despite the movie Wall Street, and is a sin to be avoided--only godly ambition is acceptable to God--the desire to bring Him glory in all we do as Job One. Only in finding our true identity in Christ, setting our agenda in accordance with His will, and making an impact for Christ, will we see our true, rewarding importance in the mission He has given us--as we complete our marching orders--to make a difference for Christ in the world.

Nothing destroys churches like church politics or even party spirit--dividing into disputes about leadership or nonessential doctrine. We have more in common than divides us!  Identity politics, so prevalent today, is evil!  However, remember: The devil's strategy is to divide and conquer!   Even Christians tend to take their politics more seriously than their faith and will cut off fellowship on this basis.  Unfortunately, many believers focus on tribalism or identity with a party and owe their ultimate allegiance to it, like swearing an oath to a fraternity or club, and they will die for their political opinions, repeating the mantra:  "My party, right or wrong!"  "If you disagree with me, you're my enemy!   Don't they realize that God works through the body in toto and we need every part?  In the end, it's all about Jesus and how much glory we can bring to Him.

To ever find the truth we must admit we could be wrong, and that includes our politics. Everyone should ask themselves:  What if I am wrong?  We all accept something we cannot prove--a presupposition.  You cannot get to first base with some believers politically because their news sources are different and they have bought into a foreign or alien worldview, buying it hook, line, and sinker, and have sold out lock, stock, and barrel to some ideology, to the point of being fanatics about a party or politician; this is nothing but deifying a party or person and worshiping at the idol of politics--get over it, God is not a member of your or my party and He isn't even American!  The truth is in Jesus and when we get our eyes off Him we lose focus and go astray.

We must realize it's not about us and our happiness and fulfillment, but about God and our serving Him to His glory.  Some believers think life is about what God can do for them and it's about turning in their spiritual lottery ticket and having their best life now; au contraire, it's all about being vessels of honor, being used by God.  We were made to bring honor to Him, and any other goal is shortsighted and selfish--even selfish ambition--for the "chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" (The Westminster Shorter Catechism).

We must yield control of our lives to His sovereignty and walk with Christ in His will, just as Christ's motto of life was:  "Thy will be done!" The ultimate prayer of relinquishment.   According to Nobel Prize winner Albert Schweitzer, "The only truly happy people are those who have learned how to serve."  Christ is so wonderful to behold that we are lifted in spirit as we get our eyes off ourselves. In sum, we find our purpose and fulfillment in Christ alone!   Soli Deo Gloria!