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Who Made God? - Questions from an Older Child
« on: February 06, 2014, 09:53:49 PM »

Joseph Islam's responses transcribed:

"Uncle Joseph, who created God and how does He know everything?"

Joseph's Response:

Try to think with me of all of the creation, the universe, everything like inside a ball [like inside this tennis ball].

Inside this ball, we have something called 'time' and 'space'. This is creation. You and I and everything we know in the skies and on our planet are inside this ball. You see, God is not part of this ball as only created things live inside this ball. Also, God cannot be controlled by the rules within the ball as He created the rules in the first place. Therefore you will see that God exists outside His creation and this ball.

Now, if God is outside His creation (outside this ball), then He will also be 'timeless' and will also be 'uncreated', because anyone outside this ball will not be restricted by time or space that is inside this ball. Do you see?  - Because 'time' and 'space' only have any meaning inside this ball.

So questions like who created God is a question that would only be possible if God lived inside this ball and was part of His ‘creation’. To someone like God who is outside this 'ball', this question does not mean anything. It is like asking 'what time is this chair?' Do you see? This question cannot apply here as it has no meaning.

"Ah! that’s so cool! So what is the point of doing something, if God already knows you are going to do it then?"

Joseph's Response:

That is a very good question. Now let's think of this ball we talked about. Because God is outside 'time' as He is not part of this ball, He also knows what is in the past, present and future at once. That is because God can see all around the ball and because time does not exist outside this ball. Therefore, God can be everywhere at the same time or better still, we should say, God's knowledge is everywhere. Some people like to call this 'omnipresent' in that God (or His knowledge) is everywhere at the same time, in the East, West, North and South, basically in all directions.

So He knows what you will do but that does not mean He will make you do it. You are responsible for your own actions in what you have control over. For example, He knew you would ask these questions, but He didn't force you to ask these questions.

"So can we do whatever we like to do because we have this free will?"

Joseph's Response:

No, not really. You may want to think of it like this. 'Free-will' is better understood as 'managed’ free will.  This means that we are only allowed to make certain choices and decisions in the framework in which God has allowed us to operate. In other words, it is like this ball. If I put a smaller ball inside this ball and shake it, the smaller ball can go anywhere inside the ball but not outside it. The smaller ball is therefore restricted to the boundaries of the bigger ball.

So in a real life example, if I need to get somewhere and the only way to get there is by using my car and God doesn’t want me to get there, the car may simply refuse to start. 
This does not mean that the engine broke on the spot. But the defects in the car which will led to the broken engine started to go wrong a long time ago so that at a particular point, the car just won't start. 

Now it is only because God knew (as part of being outside that ball) that I should not be at a certain place and a certain time and because He does not will it due to the ‘constraints’ He wanted to put on me, He was able to allow the defects in the car over the course of time to cause a fault at an exact time which would stop me from doing what I wanted to do.

That does not mean I have no free will, but simply means that I have 'managed' free will which I exercise in the 'constraints' in which God allows.

"So does that mean that God can make bad things happen as well like disasters etc?"

Joseph's Response:

Sure. God can create very difficult situations for us in order to test us and think. Sometimes what we see as ‘bad’ will have a purpose and wisdom behind it which we may never be able to fully grasp.