What did God do before the creation of the earth?

[Mo_HH_ljc]

Hi

Well I came to this question, because in the last few days I thought of the fact, that God has is and has no beginning or end.
So, what did he do before the creation of the earth? And what will he do after the world, if it ever comes to an end?
Mo

 

[TrustNo1]

chilled in heaven with the angels. and after it all ends chills with us in heaven with the angels.

 

[Krystina661]

Hi

Well I came to this question, because in the last few days I thought of the fact, that God has is and has no beginning or end.
So, what did he do before the creation of the earth? And what will he do after the world, if it ever comes to an end?
Mo

Although that seems like an interesting thought.. I don't think it could possibly get anywhere. Its totally beyond our comprehension, and a question only God himself could answer.

 

[Starcrystal]

Krystina661 wrote:

" I don't think it could possibly get anywhere. Its totally beyond our comprehension, and a question only God himself could answer. "

God exists in eternity, so therefore He "sees" all events as happening at the same time. Although they were not happening as yet in the physical, they were occuring before God in His existant form. (That part we cannot comprehend.)
"Time" as yet did not exist - not even the quantum "cyclic" time that bends back upon itself, or the "time loops" that do same. It is postulated that linear time began when God first decided to speak the creation into being.
We also have the aspects of father, Son, and Holy Spirit being separate personalities of God, with the capability of separate manifestations - though still ONE God. Perhaps God in eternity past just "talked to himself." Remember, eternity is a state without beginning or end, it exists outside of, apart from, and yet within linear time. But it exists on its own and did before linear time.
These are things we'll come to know when we know even as we are known, and we no longer see through the glass darkly.

 

[Macca]

Hi

Well I came to this question, because in the last few days I thought of the fact, that God has is and has no beginning or end.
So, what did he do before the creation of the earth? And what will he do after the world, if it ever comes to an end?
Mo

You are restricting God to our domain of time. In eternity there is no beginning and no end. So if there is no time, was there a time when God did not have His creation? No! But it is too hard to explain much more than this.

 

[Dominus Fidelis]

God is a family of three persons. So God loved, "before" creation.

 

[artybloke]

Time began with the "Big Bang" and will end when and if the universe collapses in on itself. It's a dimension that exists within the universe, not outside it.

God, who is spirit, and therefore beyond the universe, does not, in his eternal essence, exist in time. Therefore, the question is somewhat redundant. If God exists, he exists everytime.

 

[Sinai]

What did God do before the creation of the earth?

Well I came to this question, because in the last few days I thought of the fact, that God has is and has no beginning or end.
So, what did he do before the creation of the earth? And what will he do after the world, if it ever comes to an end?
Mo

To expand a bit on what artybloke pointed out, time as we know it began "in the beginning" when God created the universe [what most scientists refer to as the big bang], and time as we know it will end when our universe ceases to exist. As Creator of that universe, God is not limited by the dimensions of our universe. Just as God is not limited by the first three dimensions [width, height and depth], He is not limited by the fourth dimension [time]. Thus, before time was, God is--and God will continue to be after time as we know it ceases to exist.

Within that time line, however, we can tell (both from scietific evidence and from the Bible) what God probably did prior to the creation of the Earth.....

 

[RVincent]

(Job 38:4) Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

(Job 38:7) When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Beyond that we don't know.

It's kind of like that old joke, "Where does a 500 lb. gorilla sit? Anywhere he wants!"

What did God do before the creation? Anything He wanted!

 

[Dad Ernie]

Time began with the "Big Bang" and will end when and if the universe collapses in on itself. It's a dimension that exists within the universe, not outside it.

God, who is spirit, and therefore beyond the universe, does not, in his eternal essence, exist in time. Therefore, the question is somewhat redundant. If God exists, he exists everytime.

Greetings artybloke,

For you and others of the scientific ilk, some time back I realized I discovered a working hypothesis for defining "time":

Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Genesis 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Genesis 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Genesis 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Genesis 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

Here is the hyopothesis:

Time = The interval between successive events.

In itself, time is NOT a dimension. For an event to occur there must be either energy or matter. It is the INTERVAL between the energy in one location to that same energy in another location. It is the INTERVAL of decay of matter.

Time has no bearing or meaning if there is ONLY ONE event, i.e. Our God is ONE God. Time only pertains to this creation and was created for the creature (or created thing) because it is NOT "One". It is a mixture of energy and matter.

So see how much "science" you can learn from the Bible?

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

 

[TomUK]

There was guy a few messages earlier in the thread who said that before creation God just chilled with the angles. I hate to be a spoilsport, but the angels came into existence during creation
personally, i agree with what someone said earlier- God isn't constrained to time, and therefore any discussion about what he 'does' by definition can't be that coherent. I like to think he plays chess (though seeing as he's allknowing he could cheat quite easily )

 

[Warrior Poet]

I like to think he plays chess (though seeing as he's allknowing he could cheat quite easily )

Then technically its not cheating

I would have to overall agree that the limits of time dont apply to God, or at the very least OUR meausrements of time dont apply. I belive its Hawkings theory about the creation of the universe that kinda plays a part here (though as said only God can really answer this) as he viewed time as a vertical not a horizontal. Which IMO is ironic, God is time, and Hawkings classified it as up and down and something that simply exists (faith) , can we make a parrallel to God and Hawkings "time" I think so. IMO I think God was always creating, I am not a believer in the literal 7 day creation because again I dont think we can place a measurement on Gods time frame. He didnt chill and then one day go "Time to create" he just went right to work and kept at it. Anthropic coincidences, or Gods plan as I see it, either way you want to view it, in our linear time frame, it takes time, a lot of time, God knew/knows what he was/is doing.

And after the world "ends" Its a big big house with lots and lots of room with a big big yard where we can play football

Warrior Poet

 

[Bushido216]

Hi

Well I came to this question, because in the last few days I thought of the fact, that God has is and has no beginning or end.
So, what did he do before the creation of the earth? And what will he do after the world, if it ever comes to an end?
Mo

A famous theologian / scientist of the early ten hundreds was asked this question, and Stephen Hawkings postulated that his answer was probably "creating Hell for the infidels like you".

Little humour.

 

[artybloke]

Greetings artybloke,

For you and others of the scientific ilk, some time back I realized I discovered a working hypothesis for defining "time":

Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Genesis 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Genesis 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Genesis 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Genesis 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

Here is the hyopothesis:

Time = The interval between successive events.

In itself, time is NOT a dimension. For an event to occur there must be either energy or matter. It is the INTERVAL between the energy in one location to that same energy in another location. It is the INTERVAL of decay of matter.

Time has no bearing or meaning if there is ONLY ONE event, i.e. Our God is ONE God. Time only pertains to this creation and was created for the creature (or created thing) because it is NOT "One". It is a mixture of energy and matter.

So see how much "science" you can learn from the Bible?

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

Sadly, I'm no judge on whether anything you just said makes any kind of sense, as I'm not of any scientific bent. I'm a poet; and the first chapter of Genesis bears all the hallmarks of poetry to me. I leave the science to the scientists, and don't try to shoehorn the Bible into places it doesn't fit.

 

[lucaspa]

Hi

Well I came to this question, because in the last few days I thought of the fact, that God has is and has no beginning or end.
So, what did he do before the creation of the earth? And what will he do after the world, if it ever comes to an end?
Mo

One of the unique aspects of Judaism is that we never get a biography of God in the Bible. Unlike the surrounding polytheisms to ancient Israel, we get no insight into the "personal" life of God.

All we get in the Bible about God comes from His interactions with humans and His interventions in human history. The only hint of a "personal" life comes in Job where God apparently likes friendly betting with Satan (not the same Satan as the incarnation of evil, but rather a mild mannered gofer for God).

So, from our perspective, the only possible answer is "We don't know."

 

[lucaspa]

Here is the hyopothesis:

Time = The interval between successive events.

In itself, time is NOT a dimension. For an event to occur there must be either energy or matter. It is the INTERVAL between the energy in one location to that same energy in another location. It is the INTERVAL of decay of matter.

Even if there is no matter or energy, space changes. Therefore time is a dimension -- spacetime. Space is different from time to time.

Time has no bearing or meaning if there is ONLY ONE event, i.e. Our God is ONE God. Time only pertains to this creation and was created for the creature (or created thing) because it is NOT "One". It is a mixture of energy and matter.

Matter and energy are not two different things, but different forms of the same thing. So, if you are concerned about having only one thing, then you can't use matter/energy.

So see how much "science" you can learn from the Bible?

When you do learn science from the Bible, let us know.

 

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings Lucaspa,

Even if there is no matter or energy, space changes. Therefore time is a dimension -- spacetime. Space is different from time to time.

This doesn't even make sense. True space, void of matter and energy, cannot change. Either matter or energy is needed in order to produce change.

I have posted a new topic I found on another board of just some of the marvelous science found in the Bible. Stop doubting and believe!

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

 

[Larry]

I think He bowled.

 

[ThePhoenix]

This doesn't even make sense. True space, void of matter and energy, cannot change. Either matter or energy is needed in order to produce change.

Wrong. Causality was an early casualty of quantum physics.

 

[lucaspa]

This doesn't even make sense. True space, void of matter and energy, cannot change.

Sure it can. It can expand or contract. That is change without matter/energy.

Either matter or energy is needed in order to produce change.

Once again, matter and energy are not an either/or situation. They are different forms of the same thing: E=mc^2 See the equals sign?

I have posted a new topic I found on another board of just some of the marvelous science found in the Bible. Stop doubting and believe!

Have you forgotten this is a Christians Only forum? We are not talking about belief in God. We are talking about how God created. I can believe in God but reject creationism as how God created.