What does it mean to say that God created the universe?

Question

Since God created time, what does it mean to create something in the absence of time?

Answer 1

Excellent question!

God could not have created the universe in a linear fashion, because to do so would require that God be bound by the laws of time, for if time did not exist before God created time, then when could he have created it?

In otherwords, God could not have created the universe in a temporal fashion unless time existed before God. If at one moment time did not exist, at the next it did because God created it, then there would be two moments, the moment before time was created, and the moment after time was created, but having two moments means that time already existed before God created it, which is a contradiction.

Incidentally, this very same argument applies regardless of whether we include God in the equation or not. How did the Big Bang occur if time only came into existence after its occurance? For, if the Big Bang did, in fact, occur, then at one moment there was nothing, at the next the Big Bang occured. But how could these two moments occur if time did not already exist prior to the Big Bang?

Put simply, time could not have been created, or have come into existence, because either of these would be contradictions since for something to be created, or for something to come into existence, time must already exist for that to happen, so that at one moment the thing was not, the next moment it was. So time could not have been created or come into existence if it did not exist prior to its creation or coming into existence.

If time can neither come into existence (or be created), then either time is eternal, that is has always existed, or time does not exist.

But if the supposition of your question is that "God created time", then our only alternative is that time does not exist. Because, if time has always existed, God could not have created it, for something that is created has not always existed.

Which means that for God to have "created time", time cannot exist. But what does that mean? For how can something be created which does not exist?

The only plausible explanation I can think of is that time is an illusion, such that it appears to exist when in fact it does not. But if that were the case, then God's ability to create the illusion of time would have to be so radical, that He does it presently, outside of the linear fashion of time, such that God is creating time right now, in the present moment -- that place where time does not exist -- creating an illusion of past and present events. But then all events, every single one, would also have to be created by God in the present moment, for no past or future events could really be said to exist except by the illusory process of apparent cause and effect that leads one to conclude time exists, when in fact, the only things that ever occur are right now, in the present moment, and it is there that God is "creating".

But then the question arises, "yet didn't at some point in time God begin this process?" The only possible answer without contradicting ourselves is that God began the process right now, such that He never began the process at all. The process itself would have to be said to be an illusion created by the fact of the Now. In this sense, all of time, the world, the universe, can be said to have been "created" by God, but these things only appear to exist in the past, because the present moment "creates" the illusion that that is such through apparent cause and effect. So that the present moment is eternal, outside of the boundaries of time, and from within it the illusion of time is "created". Indeed, calling it "present moment" would be inaccurate since we use that phrase in relation to time. But as far as language allows us to go, "present moment" will do.

Then, from within the eternal present moment, God could "create" the illusion of cause and effect and time. But for Him to do this, means that he is always already doing this, in which case God would be the doer of all things and nothing would exist or occur outside of God.

The only alternative to this -- as far as I am aware -- is again the supposition that time is eternal. Unfortunately, the current atheistic worldview accepts the notion of the Big Bang (as do I), which while consonant with the idea of God, makes no sense without it. For, by removing God from the equation, the atheistic worldview is left with a event in which time was created. But such an event presupposes the existence of time, and could not have occured without it. And, to say the event created time when in fact the event could only have occured within time, makes no sense.

Answer 2

God created the concept of time for us humans. He had to do this because we have a beginning point (birth). If we had always existed like Him, we wouldn't need time. I don't know if I answered your question, though.