Where did the all-good God come from? – Alexey Aleksenko – Science and technology – Site materials

Six days of the creation of the world.

As you know, the world was created out of nothing in 6 days.

The first day of the Creation of the world.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the abyss, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. And God said: Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness night. And there was evening and there was morning: one day. (Genesis)

This is how the biblical story of the Creation of the world begins. These first lines of the Bible allow us to better understand biblical cosmology. It should be noted that here we are not yet talking about the creation of the heaven and earth familiar to us; they will be created a little later - on the second and third days of creation. The first lines of Genesis describe the creation of the first substance, or, if you like, what scientists call the creation of the universe.

Thus, on the first day of creation, the first substance, light and darkness, was created. It should be said about light and darkness, because lamps in the firmament of heaven will appear only on the fourth day. Many theologians have discussed the topic of this light, describing it both as energy and as joy and grace. Today there is also a popular version that the light described in the Bible is nothing more than the Big Bang, after which the expansion of the Universe began.

Second day of the creation of the world.

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate water from water. [And it became so.] And God created the firmament, and separated the water that was under the firmament from the water that was above the firmament. And so it became. And God called the firmament heaven. [And God saw that it was good.] And there was evening, and there was morning: the second day.

The second day is the day when the primary matter began to be ordered, stars and planets began to form. The second day of creation tells us about the ancient ideas of the Jews, who considered the sky to be solid, capable of holding huge masses of water.

The third day of the creation of the world.

And God said: Let the water that is under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear. And so it became. [And the waters under heaven were gathered into their places, and dry land appeared.] And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth bring forth green grass, grass yielding seed [after its kind and after its likeness, and] a fruitful tree bearing fruit after its kind, in which is its seed on the earth.” And so it became. And the earth brought forth grass, grass yielding seed according to its kind [and likeness], and a tree [fruitful] bearing fruit, in which is its seed according to its kind [on the earth]. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning: the third day.

On the third day, God created the Earth almost as we know it now: seas and land appeared, trees and grass appeared. From this moment we understand that God creates the living world. Science describes the formation of life on a young planet in a similar way; of course, this did not happen in one day, but still there are no global contradictions here either. Scientists believe that long rains began on the gradually cooling Earth, which led to the appearance of seas and oceans, rivers and lakes.

Gustav Dore. world creation

Thus, we see that the Bible does not contradict modern science and the biblical story of the Creation of the world fits perfectly into scientific theories. The only question here is chronology. What one day is for God is billions of years for the universe. Today it is known that the first living cells appeared two billion years after the birth of the Earth, another billion years passed - and the first plants and microorganisms appeared in water.

The fourth day of the creation of the world.

And God said: Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven [to illuminate the earth and] to separate the day from the night, and for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years; and let them be lamps in the firmament of the heaven to give light on the earth. And so it became. And God created two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars; and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light on the earth, and to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning: the fourth day.

It is the fourth day of creation that leaves the most questions for those trying to reconcile faith and science. It is known that the Sun and other stars appeared before the Earth, and in the Bible - later. On the one hand, this is easy to explain if we take into account that the Book of Genesis was written at a time when astronomical observations and cosmological ideas of people were geocentric - that is, the Earth was considered the center of the Universe. However, is everything so simple? It is likely that this discrepancy between the cosmology of the Bible and science can be explained by the fact that the Earth is more significant or “spiritually central”, because man lives on it, created in the image of God.

The Creation of the World - day four and day five. Mosaic. St. Mark's Cathedral.

The heavenly saints in the Bible and in pagan beliefs are fundamentally different. For pagans, the sun, moon and other celestial bodies were associated with the activities of gods and goddesses. The author of the Bible may be deliberately expressing a completely different attitude towards the stars and planets. They are equal to any other created object in the universe. Mentioned in passing, they are demythologized and desacralized - and, in general, reduced to natural reality.

Fifth day of the Creation of the world.

And God said: Let the water bring forth living things; and let the birds fly over the earth, across the firmament of heaven. [And it was so.] And God created the great fish and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning: the fifth day.

World creation. Jacopo Tintoretto

And here the biblical story of the creation of the world fully confirms scientific facts. Life originated in water - science is sure of this, the Bible confirms this. Living organisms began to multiply and reproduce. The universe developed according to the will of God's creative plan. Let us note that, according to the Bible, animals arose only after algae appeared and filled the air with the product of their vital activity - oxygen. And this is also a scientific fact!

Sixth day of the Creation of the world.

And God said, Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds, cattle and creeping things and wild beasts of the earth after their kinds. And so it became. And God created the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And God said: Let us make man in Our image and after Our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing. on the ground. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea [and over the animals], and over the birds of the air, [and over every livestock, and over all the earth,] and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed that is on all the earth, and every tree that has fruit yielding seed; - This will be food for you; And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every [creeping thing] that creeps on the earth, in which there is a living soul, I have given every green herb for food. And so it became. And God saw everything that He had created, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning: the sixth day.

The sixth day of creation is marked by the appearance of man - this is a new stage of the universe, from this day the history of the human race begins. Man is something completely new on the young Earth; he has two principles - natural and divine.

It is interesting that in the Bible man is created immediately after animals, this demonstrates his natural beginning, he is continuously connected with the animal world. But God breathes the breath of His Spirit into a person’s face - and the person becomes involved in the Lord.

The creation of the world by God out of nothing.

The central idea of Christianity is the idea of creating the world out of nothing, or creation ex Nihilo. According to this idea, God created all things from non-existence, transforming non-existence into being. God is both the creator and the cause of the creation of the world.

According to the Bible, before the Creation of the world there was neither primordial chaos nor primordial matter - there was nothing! Most Christians believe that all three persons of the Holy Trinity participated in the creation of the world: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

The world was created by God to be meaningful, harmonious and obedient to man. God gave this world to man along with freedom, which man used for evil, as evidenced by the story of the Fall of Adam and Eve. The creation of the world according to the Bible is an act of creativity and love.

How do theology and philosophy define the essence of the Lord?

The approaches of religion and science to this problem are different. The term " theology"

" is generally considered to be a translation from the Greek concept of "theology", but is not essentially accurate. Closer in meaning is the word “divine knowledge” (knowledge). It does not explain exactly who God is, because human words cannot do so.

It's like trying to tell a person what the color green looks like, for example, or the note "F" sounds. They can only be seen or heard. Likewise, the vision of the Creator can be understood, or rather, experienced only through His actions.

Considering this subject, philosophy defines it to a generalized extent as a person, a being with supernatural properties. It is believed that it is not possible to give an absolutely accurate definition here.

God cannot be comprehended with the help of human intellect, but only through spiritual approach

to His truth, by feeling. Referring to biblical sayings, the Creator is invisible to our eyes and can only be revealed to those people who deserve it.

Who created God?

Or He – us. One of His names is Creator

The emergence of the question about the original cause of the appearance of the Lord is associated with the specifics of the study of things and phenomena by man on earth. As a rule, everything has a beginning, although science knows cases when it is absent: for example, a straight line or a circle. There are theories of the birth of the cosmos, or rather, hypotheses, since they are not easy to test;
All of the above is related to matter, and all of this is correct, but God, by definition, is a spiritual entity that is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Reflecting on the existence of the Universe and, perhaps, more than one, one can involuntarily come to the idea of its Divine origin. Someone had to start it. If there was some kind of explosion, then it must be caused by something... and so on ad infinitum. The same applies to the spiritual realm;
Belief in God does not prevent people from believing in science and its achievements. There are laws of nature, and that's normal. On the other hand, one can also say that all this was deliberately planned by someone, and did not arise from chaos on its own. The Bible talks about the creation of the world, of which man is a part. Its main difference from other elements is the soul, and this is something unearthly...

Where did God come from?

It would seem a simple question to which every believer should know a simple answer. But, again, if you Google a little, read the answers of Christians and the counter-arguments of atheists, then somehow it is not smooth, somehow not everything is clear and simple.

Therefore, I feel the urge to write my own version of the answer.

In fact, this question is incorrect. And usually believers correctly answer that God is eternal and He did not come from anywhere, but was, is and will always be. But opponents usually ask:

Why is God eternal?
If the universe needs a cause in the form of God, why doesn't God need a cause, or why isn't the universe eternal?
Who said that God is eternal?
How do you prove that God is eternal?
.. and so on…

And here it becomes somehow unclear, somehow not smooth. Usually Christians argue with the Bible, not taking into account the fact that this Book is not an authority for non-believers and this is the main problem of this issue. We need generally accepted arguments. This question belongs to the kind of questions that cannot be argued by the Bible alone. Here we must use logic, philosophy and the laws of the universe. Why do we, Christians, forget that the whole world was created by God and that “... His invisible things, His eternal power and Godhead, have been visible from the creation of the world through the consideration of creation... (Rom. 1:20)” Let us show God to atheists through creation, if The Bible is not an authority for them.

Let's take philosophy, logic and mathematics. And we will answer purely philosophically.

First you need to understand the very concept of the term “God”. Let's use a generally accepted source.

God is the name of a powerful supernatural Supreme Being in theistic and deistic teachings. In monotheistic Abrahamic religions, God is seen as a person, as a personification of the Absolute, as an incomprehensible transcendental personal God (“the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”), and as a manifestation of a higher reality, and as the one and only God, who has no similarities.

(wikipedia)

It is important to clarify that we are talking about the God of monotheistic Abrahamic religions. And it is precisely this definition of the concept “God” that we use, if only because this understanding of God is shared by the majority of the inhabitants of the earth, for the majority of earthlings belong to these religions.

It says here that God is the personification of the Absolute. What is the Absolute? This is a philosophical concept.

The Absolute, absolute (Latin absolutus - unconditional, unlimited, irrespective, perfect) is the fundamental principle of the world, the beginning of all that exists, eternal and unchangeable, which is understood as one, universal, beginningless, infinite and in turn opposes any relative and conditioned Being.

(wikipedia)

Those. God is the Absolute. This is very important to know and understand. The very concept of “God” already includes the fact that He is the Absolute.

What does this mean? And this means that God is absolutely eternal, since He is the Absolute.

What is eternal? Eternal is something that has no end! That never ends. Infinite.

Or moreover, the eternal is also that which is independent of time in view of its nature, which is outside of time and above time.

Examples from science:

The geometric ray and the geometric straight line are infinite, they have no end. Moreover, the geometric ray is relatively infinite, because it has no end, but has a beginning. And the geometric line is absolutely infinite because it has neither beginning nor end. As opposed to a geometric segment, which has both a beginning and an end. Those. Science, beloved by atheists, has long been operating with concepts of the infinite. Moreover, we can distinguish two types of infinity. Relative, like a ray, and absolute, like a straight line. These concepts are not just made up and not taken out of thin air - they exist as a scientific fact. Or do atheists have something against science?

Therefore, the philosophical concept of the absolute has a completely scientific basis.

And when we talk about God, we mean that He is the Absolute, which means that He is absolutely eternal and infinite and has neither beginning nor end, like a geometric line. Therefore, to pose the question: “Where did God come from? ” is also incorrect, like asking the question: “Where is the beginning of the straight line?” Next time answer the atheist: “I’ll tell you where God came from when you show me the beginning of the geometric line.”

It is important to clarify that within the framework of this article, I am not trying to prove the existence of God, as well as the finitude of the universe - these are topics for other articles. I am simply making an analogy that is understandable to people for whom science is the highest authority. And I’m just clarifying the philosophical understanding of the term “God,” as well as how we should treat this term. Since we are talking about God, we must have a generally accepted philosophical definition of this concept. Nonbelievers and I must have a common denominator, a common foundation on which we can build a constructive discussion. If non-believers start talking about God, they must understand what this concept means.

God is the Absolute!

"Divine" creation of the Universe from the point of view of science

From time immemorial, humanity has been interested in the question of how the world around it came into being and who “had a hand” in it.

There are different views and theories: natural science, philosophy, theology, including the beliefs of a number of scientists who combine the positions of both science and religion.

There is an interesting opinion about how they differ. It is based on different understandings and interpretations of the same event, for example, the movement of a ship or a car. You can explain the reason for the operation of the motor, as a result of which a ship floats or a car drives, or you can justify the need for this trip. Simply put, in the first case we will answer the question “how, why?”, and in the second - “for what, why?”, but this is a first approximation.

If we take into account the reasons for the emergence of the world, the universe, then more complex worldview problems will arise that can be explained both from the point of view of science (in the form of the “big bang” theory) and from the position of divine influence on the transformation of chaos into the legitimate being.

Trying to explain the full complexity of the functioning of the universe is possible, most likely, by combining these two approaches together.

If you start talking about the complex matters of the origin of our life and its meaning, then with a high probability you will come to think: how did God appear, and if He is not involved in this, then who and where did he come from? We tried to help you with this.