Is God real? Did He create man, or did man, fearfully
conscious of his weakness and mortality, create God in his mind? If God is
real, what is He like? Author Paul Johnson (A
Quest for God, 1996) wrote: “The existence or non-existence of God is the
most important question we humans are ever asked to answer.”3
Before the creation.
The 13th century Sefer HaZohar (“Book of Splendor”) describes God before the
creation of the universe: "Before He gave any shape to the world, before
He produced any form, He was alone, without form and without resemblance to
anything else. Who then can comprehend how He was before the Creation? Hence it
is forbidden to lend Him any form or similitude, or even to call Him by His
sacred name, or to indicate Him by a single letter or a single point…”4
God was all there was -- neither inside nor outside
anything – having no spatial dimension whatsoever or frame of reference
conceivable by the human mind.
Proof of His existence.
Today, the Scriptures tell us that the proof of God’s
existence is apparent in the created universe: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Rom 1:20).
Indeed, the breathtaking beauty of nature on earth and the
awe-inspiring majesty of the heavens point to the hand of a Creator. But these
are oftentimes subjective thoughts engendered by surges of human emotions.
Wernher von Braun, the German rocket scientist who became
the father of the U.S. space program, wrote: “My experiences with science led
me to God… Prove the existence of God? Must we really light a candle to see the
sun?”5 In today’s world, we have been conditioned to demand rational
and objective explanations for nearly everything. Surprisingly enough, modern
science supplies many of the answers we seek – beginning with a number of the
traditionally acknowledged characteristics of God taught by the Scriptures.
God the Eternal
The Bible repeatedly avers that God has no beginning and
will have no end. For instance, Moses exulted: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the
earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (Ps
90:2). John calls God “him which is, and
which was, and which is to come…” (Rev 1:4b).
Jewish mystics refer to God as the Ein Sof (“Infinite Nothingness”), literally, “Without End,”
eternal, infinite. Without a past and a future, God
is pure consciousness in timeless eternity. Yet, “Without End,”
according to some, implies a beginning, so it would perhaps be more appropriate
to call God the Ein Techila –
“Without Beginning.” (But does that not imply an end?) Others insist that no
name would be appropriate for the Creator, because the letters and sounds of
names came only after the Creation.6
Beginning of time?
The very first words of the Scriptures relate that time had
a starting point. “In the beginning…”
(Gen 1:1a).
The apostle Paul repeated the idea no less than three times
nearly 2,000 years ago: “No, we speak of
God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for
our glory before time began” (1
Cor 2:7-8, NIV). “Paul, a servant of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge
of the truth that leads to godliness -- a faith and knowledge resting on the
hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the
beginning of time” (Titus 1:1-2,
NIV). And… “This grace was given us in
Christ Jesus before the beginning of time”
(2 Tim 1:9-10, NIV).
If time had a beginning, “when” and how
did it begin?
When
time began.
Time must have begun with the Creation. “In the beginning God created the heaven…” (Gen 1:1a).
What is “heaven”? The word, in the ordinary sense, is
synonymous with “sky” -- the expanse above the surface of the earth where the
birds fly, where the clouds drift by and, farther out, where the sun, moon, and
stars shine. In short, “heaven” is the space above, surrounding, and beyond our
planet Earth in all directions. Space, science teaches, is a vacuum
(“emptiness”).
So, God created “heaven” or empty space to put His creation
in. As the Jewish mystics tell it, the Ein
Sof caused a part of His “Infinite Nothingness” to contract in order to
make room for the emergence of the physical universe. Thus, empty
"space" appeared. The "contraction" or
"constriction" is called Tzimtzum,
a term first used in his teachings by the Kabbalist master Isaac Luria
(1534-72).7 Critics, however, argue that “contraction” is an
inaccurate and misleading term as it implies previously existing dimensions.
The Ein Sof has no spatial dimension
of any sort.
In any case, time came into existence when God created space
(“heaven”). How? We measure space (or any object occupying space) by means of
the three physical dimensions of length, width, and height. We measure a
fourth, more subtle dimension – time -- through the movement of an object in
space. The 12th century Jewish philosopher Maimonides noted: “Time
is an accident consequent upon motion and is necessarily attached to it.
Neither of them exists without the other. Motion does not exist except in time,
and time cannot be conceived by the intellect except together with motion.”8
For example, a ball thrown from point A may take two seconds to reach point B.
Without the dimensions of space as a frame of reference, there can be no
movement and, therefore, no time.
As the Encarta
Encyclopedia points out: “In Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which
was introduced in 1916, the very existence of time depends on the presence of
space.”9 The editors speculate that “the big bang theory (of the
birth of the universe) does not explain what existed before the big bang. It
may be that time itself began at the big bang, so that it makes no sense to
discuss what happened ‘before’ the big bang.”10
Time will end.
Physicist Paul Davies, of the University of Adelaide,
Australia, wrote: “Modern scientific cosmology is the most ambitious enterprise
of all to emerge from Einstein’s work. When scientists began to explore the
implications of Einstein’s time for the universe as a whole, they made one of
the most important discoveries in the history of human thought: that time, and
hence all of physical reality, must have had a definite origin in the past. If
time is flexible and mutable, as Einstein demonstrated, then it is possible for
time to come into existence – and also to pass away again; there can be a
beginning and an end to time.”11
Truly, the Scriptures also tell us that time will ultimately
come to an end: “But as for you, Daniel,
conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time…” (Dan 12:4,
NASU).
“Space-time”
inseparable.
Space and time are so inseparably tied together that
scientists refer to the continuum of space and time as simply one entity:
“space-time.”
The Jews had a 16th century saying: "HaMakom V'HaZman Echad Hu."
("Space and time, they are one.”)12 Author Gerald Schroeder,
commenting on Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity, observes that
“space and time are linked together and are interchangeable. The connection
between space and time, however, is not apparent unless you are dealing with
vast distances, very short times, or things moving very near to the speed of
light.”13
God outside
space-time.
If God created space and time, then He obviously pre-existed
and must be outside space-time. As the whole cannot be contained in any of its
parts, infinite God cannot be confined in the finite universe He merely
created. King Solomon asks: “But will God
indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot
contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?” (1 Kings
8:27).
Moreover, everything in the universe functions according to
the laws of physics. Would God subject Himself to the physical laws He Himself
had established? If He did, He would no longer be infinite.
Space and time had a
beginning, and their Creator existed before time began. He is therefore before,
above, and beyond time, which has no effects on Him. Thus, God is timeless.
Science confirms Scripture: God is eternal -- with no beginning and no end.
(Excerpted from Chapter 1, The
Mysteries of Our Maker, THE DEEP THINGS
OF GOD: A Primer on the Secrets of Heaven and Earth by M.M. Tauson)
3Paul Johnson, A Quest for God, 1996, p. 1
4Ein Sof, Wikipedia,
Internet
5Wernher von Braun, letter to the California
State Board of Education, September 14, 1972
6Ein Sof, op.
cit.
7Tzimtzum, op.
cit.
8Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed, 1190
9Time, Microsoft
Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004
10Big Bang Theory, op. cit.
11Paul Davies, It’s About Time, 1995, p. 17
12Study of the
Book of Revelation, “Spiritual Time, Space, Mass, Light and Energy,” updated
8/20/00, Internet
13Fred Alan Wolf, Space-Time and Beyond, 1987, p. 140
