Why would God decide to create things?

[laocmo]

We are told that at one time nothing existed. No light, no energy, no mass of any kind, and obviously no people, animals, and planets were around. Only God. Then God supposedly started making things. The Bible has the order of things created messed up so we won’t go into the details. My question is this. If there was nothing in existence, and he was self sufficient, needing nothing, where would God get the idea of making something with shape and size that required space, which itself didn’t exist yet? There were no prototypes. He had absolutely no reference material. In fact I wonder how he even knew of his own existence. How could he have known he was a “self”, different from anything else. There was no anything else to compare to. The idea he created us to love and adore his magnificence seems silly. How did he know he was magnificent? Compared to what? How could he have decided to make galaxies, stars, planets, etc. There was absolutely nothing like that around for him to even think about. Later it’s easy to see how he might have created Eve, He had Adam as a model. But I wonder what motivated him to proceed the way he did in the beginning.

Probably another of the many questions about God that has no answer. I’m beginning to think more and more, that it is easier to imagine some great as yet undiscovered physics principle, the cause of all this, than to attribute it to some completely incomprehensible, magic, I can do anything, God.

 

[DCNBILL]

We are told that at one time nothing existed. No light, no energy, no mass of any kind, and obviously no people, animals, and planets were around. Only God. Then God supposedly started making things. The Bible has the order of things created messed up so we won’t go into the details. My question is this. If there was nothing in existence, and he was self sufficient, needing nothing, where would God get the idea of making something with shape and size that required space, which itself didn’t exist yet? There were no prototypes. He had absolutely no reference material. In fact I wonder how he even knew of his own existence. How could he have known he was a “self”, different from anything else. There was no anything else to compare to. The idea he created us to love and adore his magnificence seems silly. How did he know he was magnificent? Compared to what? How could he have decided to make galaxies, stars, planets, etc. There was absolutely nothing like that around for him to even think about. Later it’s easy to see how he might have created Eve, He had Adam as a model. But I wonder what motivated him to proceed the way he did in the beginning.

Probably another of the many questions about God that has no answer. I’m beginning to think more and more, that it is easier to imagine some great as yet undiscovered physics principle, the cause of all this, than to attribute it to some completely incomprehensible, magic, I can do anything, God.

Just a few comments here. Remember that God is in relationship, Father, Son and Holy Spirit from all eternity, three “persons” one God. So within the “Godhead” He has been and always will be “aware of Himself.” As for “deciding to create,” how would a creature even know that God has not been creating from all eternity? Being mere creatures how could we know anything about our Creator except that which He shows us? Does a chair know anything about the carpenter?

 

[Confiteor_Deo]

God created us because He knew that we would enjoy His beauty and be happy with Him. God is omniscient, He already knew what created things would look like in order to compare Himself to them; however, God has no need to compare Himself to anything since He is omniscient, so He already knows Himself. God doesn’t have to compare things to know their value. God has no need for created things for any purpose whatsoever, which includes the knowledge of Himself. If you try to find a cause of the universe in scientific hypotheses that try to disprove God, you will find some ludicrous explanations.

 

[jaimeleglise]

He has so much love and joy He wanted to share it.

 

[HelenRose]

We are told that at one time nothing existed. No light, no energy, no mass of any kind, and obviously no people, animals, and planets were around. Only God. Then God supposedly started making things. The Bible has the order of things created messed up so we won’t go into the details. My question is this. If there was nothing in existence, and he was self sufficient, needing nothing, where would God get the idea of making something with shape and size that required space, which itself didn’t exist yet? There were no prototypes. He had absolutely no reference material. In fact I wonder how he even knew of his own existence. How could he have known he was a “self”, different from anything else. There was no anything else to compare to. The idea he created us to love and adore his magnificence seems silly. How did he know he was magnificent? Compared to what? How could he have decided to make galaxies, stars, planets, etc. There was absolutely nothing like that around for him to even think about. Later it’s easy to see how he might have created Eve, He had Adam as a model. But I wonder what motivated him to proceed the way he did in the beginning.

Probably another of the many questions about God that has no answer. I’m beginning to think more and more, that it is easier to imagine some great as yet undiscovered physics principle, the cause of all this, than to attribute it to some completely incomprehensible, magic, I can do anything, God.

It seems to me that you are trying to compare God with yourself. We are not able to conceive of anything beyond ourselves, our minds and senses therefore it is almost impossible to understand the mind of God. God is not limited in the same manner as His creation is.

It is difficult to even understand our own motives for doing anything. Even more difficult to understand the motives of those around us. We can not know the mind of God. That would be like an ant wondering what we humans are thinking. We have been given a glimpse of His power and His love through Christ. To see God face to face we must trust that - like the songs says, “We Will Understand It By and By”

 

[Trident_H]

We are told that at one time nothing existed. No light, no energy, no mass of any kind, and obviously no people, animals, and planets were around. Only God. Then God supposedly started making things. The Bible has the order of things created messed up so we won’t go into the details. My question is this. If there was nothing in existence, and he was self sufficient, needing nothing, where would God get the idea of making something with shape and size that required space, which itself didn’t exist yet? There were no prototypes. He had absolutely no reference material. In fact I wonder how he even knew of his own existence. How could he have known he was a “self”, different from anything else. There was no anything else to compare to. The idea he created us to love and adore his magnificence seems silly. How did he know he was magnificent? Compared to what? How could he have decided to make galaxies, stars, planets, etc. There was absolutely nothing like that around for him to even think about. Later it’s easy to see how he might have created Eve, He had Adam as a model. But I wonder what motivated him to proceed the way he did in the beginning.

Probably another of the many questions about God that has no answer. I’m beginning to think more and more, that it is easier to imagine some great as yet undiscovered physics principle, the cause of all this, than to attribute it to some completely incomprehensible, magic, I can do anything, God.

Ha. This is fun. Ok. So God’s just floating out there in nothing-land? Who says?

He’s inviting us to Heaven. A place outside of space and time. So obviously that’s always been there. Or at least has been there longer than this place.

And who says this is His first stab at creating? He could have done this an infinite # of times. He could have an infinite # of universes even now. How can we even start to put limits on an infinite being?

I don’t know. Keep thinking though. Never a dull moment.

Peace.

-Trident

 

[Wesrock]

We shouldn’t assume that there was a temporal before to speak of prior to creation. To be eternal as God is doesn’t mean existing for all time, for an infinite number of years. Time itself us part of creation, and God does not experience it as we do, for he exists only in a great now that encompasses all temporal events.

That said, God created to manifest and share his glory. He is Love, and in love he desired to share it. Not because he needs worship or that it adds anything to him, but simply because, in his nature, he desires to share it.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

I’m beginning to think more and more, that it is easier to imagine some great as yet undiscovered physics principle, the cause of all this, than to attribute it to some completely incomprehensible, magic, I can do anything, God.

Yes, this undiscovered physics principle is called God.

You keep referring to God as if He is a person:
** where would God get the idea of making something with shape and size that required space, which itself didn’t exist yet? **

Personifying God will not help you understand His nature.

 

[Eric_Hyom]

Can God create anything greater than children in his own image.

Could love each and everyone of us as he loves himself?

Could God have any greater reason to create children in in his own image?

Could God love us more than he loves himself?

We are commanded to love God, the greatest commandment, because God loves everyone, are we given the second commandment to love everyone in the same way as God loves us?

 

[Wesrock]

God is a metaphysical necessity, not a God of the gaps. The existence of physics principles, among everything else, necessarily requires God. To think otherwise is to misunderstand millenia old Christian arguments. Neither is God some magical, bearded superman in the sky, or “magical” at all.

 

[littlestsouls2]

I read this yesterday:

“God creates, not that there may be witnesses to render Him His due glory, but beings who shall rejoice in it as He rejoices in it Himself and who, participating in His being, participate at the same time in His beatitude. It is not therefore for Himself, but for us, that God seeks His glory; it is not to gain it, for He posses it already, nor to increase it, for already it is perfect, but to communicate it to us.”
― Étienne Gilson

 

[TimothyH]

In fact I wonder how he even knew of his own existence. How could he have known he was a “self”, different from anything else.

God knows all things perfectly, including himself. His knowledge of himself is His Son.

***He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; *(Colossians 1:5)

It’s like you or I looking in the mirror. That is how we know ourselves, by our image. A son is the image of his Father.

-Tim-

 

[JapaneseKappa]

We are told that at one time nothing existed. My question is this. If there was nothing in existence, and he was self sufficient, needing nothing, where would God get the idea of making something with shape and size that required space, which itself didn’t exist yet? There were no prototypes. He had absolutely no reference material. In fact I wonder how he even knew of his own existence. How could he have known he was a “self”, different from anything else. There was no anything else to compare to. The idea he created us to love and adore his magnificence seems silly. How did he know he was magnificent? Compared to what? How could he have decided to make galaxies, stars, planets, etc. There was absolutely nothing like that around for him to even think about.

Probably another of the many questions about God that has no answer. I’m beginning to think more and more, that it is easier to imagine some great as yet undiscovered physics principle, the cause of all this, than to attribute it to some completely incomprehensible, magic, I can do anything, God.

God is a metaphysical necessity, not a God of the gaps. The existence of physics principles, among everything else, necessarily requires God. To think otherwise is to misunderstand millenia old Christian arguments. Neither is God some magical, bearded superman in the sky, or “magical” at all.

Atheism offers no why.
Religion goes to the why.

I think there is a problem with the metaphysical use of God-as-explainer, and the problem is precisely the title of this thread. I think there is an “explanatory gap” between logically necessary beings and contingent beings. laocmo’s post is more colloquial, so I will offer a similar objection that may be a bit clearer:

Asserting the existence of God-as-metaphysical-necessity does not actually get you an explanation for the contingent features of our universe. We know this, partly because there have been no successful theological predictions of the contingent features of our universe, and partly because we can always ask “what caused God to cause x?” where x is something contingent. We can even ask “what caused God to cause the thing that caused God to choose x?” and so on.

 

[Lucretius]

This boggles my mind too. I think, because God is love, He is able to do something we can’t do, and even understand, amare ex nihilo: love from nothing.

He loves for no reason at all, from nothing, and that is why He can create from nothing.

Satan wanted to be Creator too, and so embraced evil, an absence, a nothing. We do the same: by doing evil, we are trying to make something out of nothing (evil). And we can do this because we exist in a world where the difference between things and absences are blurry, a world where evil can seemingly take on a concrete form.

Of course, this is my pet theory

Christi pax,

Lucretius

 

[fisherman_carl]

We are told that at one time nothing existed. No light, no energy, no mass of any kind, and obviously no people, animals, and planets were around. Only God. Then God supposedly started making things. The Bible has the order of things created messed up so we won’t go into the details. My question is this. If there was nothing in existence, and he was self sufficient, needing nothing, where would God get the idea of making something with shape and size that required space, which itself didn’t exist yet? There were no prototypes. He had absolutely no reference material. In fact I wonder how he even knew of his own existence. How could he have known he was a “self”, different from anything else. There was no anything else to compare to.

The idea he created us to love and adore his magnificence seems silly. How did he know he was magnificent? Compared to what? How could he have decided to make galaxies, stars, planets, etc. There was absolutely nothing like that around for him to even think about. Later it’s easy to see how he might have created Eve, He had Adam as a model. But I wonder what motivated him to proceed the way he did in the beginning.

Probably another of the many questions about God that has no answer. I’m beginning to think more and more, that it is easier to imagine some great as yet undiscovered physics principle, the cause of all this, than to attribute it to some completely incomprehensible, magic, I can do anything, God.

Does it surprise you that you can not fathom it? After all you are not God.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. " (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Here’s my theory based on my limited understanding. God is love. God is the source of everything that exists. Everything can be traced back to him. And He is the answer to why anything at all exists. Going back to God is love. God’s essence is his existence. His love is his essence. His knowledge is his essence. God acts out of his essence. Since his essence is love, knowledge, goodness, etc that is his reason for his actions. Including creating the world.

 

[fisherman_carl]

The essence of love is God since love is God’s essence. That means that whatever we think love is, is nothing compared to the love that is God. Our love is a dim reflection of that reality that love goes all the way up.

 

[cheesypoptart]

First of all good insights! Ya well i would think that being all-powerful God he would think you know to make something with all his creativity something that would get rid of all his boredom. Maybe something that would make him feel appreciated and constantly reminded that he was well God. Well I’m sorry if I was thinking with a human mindset- you know I liken it to people in Hollywood you know they seem to thrive in being treated…well differently special ya know

 

[Eric_Hyom]

The essence of love is God since love is God’s essence. That means that whatever we think love is, is nothing compared to the love that is God. Our love is a dim reflection of that reality that love goes all the way up.

Could we dare to think that God loves each and everyone of us, as he loves himself.

Could there be any greater purpose for the creation of the universe and life?

 

[Lucretius]

Could we dare to think that God loves each and everyone of us, as he loves himself.

Could there be any greater purpose for the creation of the universe and life?

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Christi pax,

Lucretius

 

[Eric_Hyom]

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Christi pax,

Lucretius

Could this commandment have a greatest meaning for God also?

Jesus had to have a reason to call it greatest, we know that all the law and the prophets hang and depend on these commandments. Could the creation of the universe hang and depend on this commandment?

Can God have any greater reason to create life, than to love each and every one of us, as he loves himself?