What is Eternity and Who Created God?

If God created everything, who created God?

God was not created, formed, or even born. The easiest way to say it is that God has always been. This is a difficult concept for many people, including Christians. It invariably leads to another question; What did God do before creating the universe? The question results from a misunderstanding of the word eternity. Eternity doesn't mean forever in the future. Eternity means without time. There was no 'before God created the universe,' because time did not start until the creation. "In the Beginning..." was the beginning of time as well as space and matter.

Perhaps an easier way to explain is like this.

Imagine a line representing time. Most people would see the line extending forever in both directions. Somewhere on the line would be the creation of the universe (either by God or the Big Bang.) Somewhere else would be the end of the universe (if you believe there will be one.)

Your life would also be on the line beginning at some point and moving right toward some other point. Humans can only move from left to right on the line. That is we can only go forward in time.

Most people who believe in God would say that God also exists on the line but He is able to move both forward and backwards on the line. That is God can move both forward and back in time and concern himself anywhere in history

To better understand the relationship between God and time, though. It helps to think of the line this way.
Imagine a line that begins at a definite point and ends at a definite point.

The starting point would be Genesis 1:1; the creation of the universe. The ending point would be Revelation 20:11; the end of the universe. Humans still exist on the line moving from left to right, forward in time.

But where is God? God does not move along the line, God exists outside the line; able to see the entire line at once

This also explains God's omniscience (all-knowingness.) God knows the future because he sees the future at the same time he sees the present and the past. Not only that, but remember God created the line. Which means he alone knows how long it will be. Eternity is the area outside the line. It is not just forever into the future but means without time at all. Why will there be no sun or moon on the new earth? (Revelation 21:23) Not just because God will be the light. The other purpose of the sun and moon is to mark time. (Genesis 1:14) There won't be a need for the sun or moon because there will be no time to measure.

This, of course, is not a perfect explanation, but I hope it helps.

Daniel 4 : Live Humbly

Nebuchadnezzar finds what happens when he does not give God credit for his accomplishments

October 18 Bible Study : Develop Conviction

Here is this week's Bible Study. The text is from Daniel 1.

Bible Study for October 4 God's Promise of Victory Romans 8:28-39

Here is this weeks Bible Study for those in my Sunday School class that won't be there or for anyone else who just wants to hear it. The text is Romans 8:28-39

Let me know in the comments what you think.

Why don't we hear God?

Once when I was teaching 3rd grade Sunday School, the lesson was about Jeremiah. I mentioned that God told Jeremiah to write down his message and give it to the king. One of the boys in the class asked me, "You mean God really talked to Jeremiah?" "Yes," I answered. "God doesn't talk to me," he replied. I responded, "When was the last time you talked to God?"

We may not hear God talking to us because we don't spend any time talking to him. Or if we do, it's just to ask him for something. If the only time you hear from your friend is when he is begging you for something, would you want to talk to him?

I can personally testify to many times when I was sure God was talking to me. Once was when he told me where to go to college. Another was when he told me to be a high school teacher.

A main reason we don't hear God is because we are not listening. If I don't care about what someone is saying, I won't listen as well. Then I can't tell you what he said. Often we don't remember God talking because we don't care or want to hear what he's saying. Or we may be distracted by something else while he's talking.

In order to hear God, we must be paying attention and be ready to hear what he has to say. It helps if we are in the habit of talking to him, too.

Some Old Notes Part 1

I keep a notebook with my Bible and, whenever I feel inspired, I write some thing that occurs to me. Basically, these are things that I've been meaning to post for a log time but have never gotten around to; mostly because they are just snippets of things I jotted down.


I came across this the other day. It is a question regarding the age of the earth. As you probably know, since it's most likely what you were taught in school, most scientists teach that the earth is around 4.5 billion years old and man did not appear until only around one million years ago. Now this is certainly at contradiction with the Bible because, if you add up the genealogies in the Bible back to Adam, we find that Adam was created only around 6000 years ago. Many well meaning Christians try to believe in Adam but also accept the old earth theory.


The question I jotted in my notebook is this "If the purpose of the universe is for God to have fellowship with man, why did he wait billions of years before he created him? What would be the point of an earth with many plants and animals existing for at least millions of years and even going extinct before man was created? The only reason for there being an old earth is because it would have taken millions of years for the species we currently see, including man, to evolve. If you believe in your heart that man evolved from a lower form, then there's no reason to believe in God because evolution could have occurred without him.


This is one reason why I believe in a literal six day creation approximately 6000 years ago. God created the entire universe just for man. He created man on the sixth day while all of the plants and animals he originally created were still alive. Remember, death is the result of sin, so nothing could have died until Adam sinned. The main reason I believe is because that's what the Bible says, unless you try to shove modern scientific ideas into it.


By the way, If you are coming to my Sunday School Class tomorrow, please read Genesis 41. We will be discussing "Overcoming Hard Times" by looking at how Joseph prepared Egypt for the great famine.


If I don't post again before Tuesday, Happy Veterans' Day to all of my fellow former servicemen.

"If a soul is non-physical and the human body is physical, how does a soul stay in our bodies?"

I had a friend at college who was a big Star Trek fan (Bigger than I am. His room was decorated in Klingon.) He loved to ask the question, "What happens to the soul when someone is beamed down to a planet?" That is, if the body were dissolved into atoms, what would happen to the soul? There are a lot of questions about the soul's relationship to the body. 
Is the soul a part of the body or is it completely separate? Does the body die when the soul leaves or does the soul leave when the body dies? Does someone who is brain dead, but still on life support still have a soul? I was in the room when my wife's grandmother passed away and tried to see some evidence of the soul leaving, but couldn't. Some scientists even tried to measure the mass of a body before and after death to determine the physical mass of the soul. Unfortunately, the reason we know very little about the physical makeup of the soul because the soul is not physical. The soul is supernatural. It is the immortal part of ourselves. The soul doesn't die. The soul is what separates humans from animals.
We do know that the soul is corporeal. It has a shape and can be recognized. (Revelation 6:9) Apparently, our souls look like ourselves.(1 Samuel 28:14) And one day, our souls will be reunited with our bodies to either be rewarded in Heaven or punished in Hell.
How does the soul stay in the body? The Bible doesn't say. All we can say is because God allows it. When God decides to take it away, we die.