Help me answer this little 4 year old girls question

[StillGods]

God has always been.

 

[BryanJohnMaloney]

Nobody made God, because God didn't need to be made.

 

[Daniel Marsh]

So she stated to me.
"God made us and everything right?"
I said yes.
Then she asked of me.
"Well who made God?"

I don't find this to be an easy one?
Can you be of some help?
It's been on my mind for years.
Thank you, Bob

Do an art project with her, the more complex that she can do the better.
Maybe, put together a puzzle. You can find, how to make an etch a sketch online. Etch A Sketch - Wikipedia

Point out the need for designing it by an intelligent mind.
Point out someone had to exist to design and make it.
Then point out that God always existed. He had no beginning.

Put the parts of simple puzzle in a jar and have her shake it.
She will realize that the puzzle will never go together that way.

As She gets older, explore complexities in nature.

 

[hedrick]

I don’t think there’s an easy answer to this, but there are things that can be said.

I came from my father, he came from his father, etc. It used to be argued that this can’t go on forever. There has to be a first cause, or there’s no explanation for the whole chain. (The argument isn't quite what it sounds like. It's not exactly that I came from my father, but that my father's existence is necessary to explain my existence. Even if we could imagine an infinite series of fathers, what would cause them to come into existence?)

While I agree that there has to be an ultimate, the classical arguments all assume that it must be a thing, which is then taken to be God. I think there are two possibilities for what is ultimate:
* an eternal thing
* an eternal process

I don’t see why the ultimate has to be a thing. I think it can just a well be a process. Given what we know about the universe, this would be a process that generates universes.

Now in principle, the Big Bang could have come out of nowhere, in which case the Big Bang would be the ultimate. But I don’t think many scientists find that persuasive. They envision a series of big bangs, or eternal inflation out of which the big bang came, or something. Basically, some ongoing process without a beginning.

So while logically I guess there are lots of possibilities, the only ones anyone has taken seriously are a single entity, which by definition has to be beyond this universe. I.e. something like God. Or an eternal process.

The question of why either of these things exists is one that philosophers have looked at. Classically, it was thought that God is “necessary,” that is, it would be logically impossible for him not to exist. I’m not sure quite how you’d go about showing that. I think the classical arguments might show something slightly weaker: that logically speaking God must exist if anything is to exist.

Presumably if the ultimate is an eternal process, that process would be necessary.

Because no one has (as far as I know) shown that either of these is actually necessary, I think it’s open to argument just what the ultimate is. But if it’s God, then by definition God didn’t come from anyplace, since God is what causes everything else to exist.

Indeed it’s even possible that both are ultimate. I think I can demonstrate that if the ultimate is a process, there must also be an eternal God. Basically, I claim that any scheme out of which universes can come can also generate intelligence. And since this process is assumed never to have had a beginning, that means that there’s been infinite time for an intelligence to develop. That means that if there’s even the smallest chance for it to happen, it would have happened, and that intelligence would have had time to become unboundedly knowledgable. I.e. I think if a process is ultimate, it’s inevitable that something that we would call God would have evolved. Hence whether the ultimate is a first cause or a process, in either case we would have God, and by the mathematics of infinity, God would be eternal.

(The final claim is a bit mind-blowing. Basically, if God would evolve, then we can prove that he’s always been there, as long as his evolution takes a finite time, even if the time is enormously long. Suppose it takes N years for God to evolve. For any time T, there is more than N years before it, by the mathematics of infinity. So God already exists. So we conclude that at all times God existed.)

 

[smithed64]

I see your dilemma.
For an adult that's an easy answer. We have the concept of time fixed in our heads.

LOL..a 4 year old...not so much so...lol..for her, telling her to wait for 15 mins could feel like an hour . And a hour feels like 10 minutes depending on what she's doing.

So going into the uncaused causer or the unmoved mover would be hard on her. And much more confusing, i'm pretty sure there are some adults that throws them off to.

I agree with the earlier post, just tell her that he was not made, that he has always existed.

Or you can ask her. "Do you think Love is forever?" if she says yes. Then tell her then that's who God is Love. If she says no. Then you may have other issues. 4 year old girls, should only see the love around her.

 

[Hazelelponi]

Try that sentence (!) on a 4 year old (that's what we are talking about here) and see what happens.

I know this is an old post in an old thread, but your correct that explaining these concepts to small children is near impossible at times, especially when dealing with the endless questioners.

I learned to just give the simplest answer you can, and then say you'll explain more when they are old enough to understand..

 

[FreeinChrist]

ADVISOR HAT

This thread was moved from Traditional Theology to General Theology. Please read the Statement of Purpose for the forum you post in. ​

 

[anna ~ grace]

So she stated to me.
"God made us and everything right?"
I said yes.
Then she asked of me.
"Well who made God?"

I don't find this to be an easy one?
Can you be of some help?
It's been on my mind for years.
Thank you, Bob

He has always existed; He is love, and love never ends.

 

[fhansen]

So she stated to me.
"God made us and everything right?"
I said yes.
Then she asked of me.
"Well who made God?"

I don't find this to be an easy one?
Can you be of some help?
It's been on my mind for years.
Thank you, Bob

We didn't make ourselves; something had to make or cause us and everything else that we see. But in order for anything to exist, something had to always exist, something that could make or cause us. And we call that "something" God.

 

[mama2one]

here's the answers I received when asked the question:


elementary child asked "who created God"

 

[Mountainmanbob]

here's the answers I received when asked the question:
elementary child asked "who created God"

Went there and read this below.
I would call it -- weak!
God doesn't have a daddy or mommy
JEEPERS!!!
MB

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

In the beginning was a long time ago, We cannot Know who God's Daddy or Mommy is because the bible doesn't tell us,

 

[mama2one]

.

 

[Gottservant]

So she stated to me.
"God made us and everything right?"
I said yes.
Then she asked of me.
"Well who made God?"

I don't find this to be an easy one?
Can you be of some help?
It's been on my mind for years.
Thank you, Bob

"Does God have to be made?"

 

[BobRyan]

So she stated to me.
"God made us and everything right?"
I said yes.
Then she asked of me.
"Well who made God?"

I don't find this to be an easy one?
Can you be of some help?
It's been on my mind for years.
Thank you, Bob

Finite beings understand "finite" but not "infinite" -- we all had "a maker" but God "by definition" does not.

 

[BobRyan]

"Does God have to be made?"

only if he is not really God.

 

[BobRyan]

It isn't an easy question to answer. She would be too young to understand but the best answer might be "we did".

Certainly many atheists I know claim that -- no question about - a common idea.

 

[BobRyan]

No one made God. He is the creator, he is not a created being. He always existed

indeed "by definition" but many atheists would not view it that way.