Why do Christians believe that a god is the only thing that exists that always existed?

Answer 1

Because of the circular logic of the Bible.

Answer 2

It's not a matter of temporal duration. It's a matter of contingency and necessity.

Here's how it goes: I observe a universe of contingent beings. But if there were no necessary being, there would ultimately be nothing for them to be contingent upon. Therefore I infer the existence of a necessary being.

Could there be more than one necessary being? No, because then the multiplicity of "necessary beings" would exist together on a ground anterior to all of them, and that ground would be the real "necessary being." Get it? There has to be a being which exists necessarily, rather than contingently, and there can be only one such being.

Sounds like God, doesn't it?

Answer 3

It is a necessary condition of Godhood, to be self-existent eternally. Check out Hindu philosophy for some really interesting ideas on this subject. The Upanishads do a really good job of trying to put the Ultimate Reality into words.

Answer 4

as you simplify the equation of everything there has to be one thing that "causes" everything else. because we live in an infintely contingent universe, there has to be the "first domino" or the big guy who pushed the first domino. but i agree with you in this, if you can "understand" god then you have to be able to understand that it is just as likely that energy and matter always existed, forever and ever... and were never "created" but just constantly reorganized.

but on top of all of that, once you're told that this domino pusher is god and that he kills people, but he loves them, he hates what you do, but he loves you, you'll go to HELL, but he'll save you and take you to HEAVEN... well, it's hypnotism... it's stockholm syndrome... it's plain that fear leads people to never question their pastors. most christians will not even notice this. it's all a mind game! so I think that's why they believe that only god could have existed forever.

Answer 5

Because only God is timeless. He created time because Humans cannot function without it. That is why we have day and night, otherwise we'd go insane.

God is not subject to time, therefore, it means nothing to him. He IS, WAS, and always WILL BE.

If God was poofed out of thin air then we'd be dealing with a whole nother Big Bang Theory. The only conclusion we can come to is that he always has been.

Answer 6

Hey, are we generalizing something here?

Anybody who says that they 'know', must realize that they 'know' very little. We have it written that this is what we are told, but, how can we fathom what God knows or does? I think we are just a bunch of children, who have learned to say no and choose, having ideas and lessons "dumbed down" for us, to give us a little taste of what is there. But, we see it as we see thru a glass darkly. We don't get the whole picture.

Or...we are the results of amino acids, slime, electric discharge and blind luck.

Answer 7

What makes more sense? A living God that always existed, or dead matter suddenly appearing from nowhere, exploding, etc??
Life doesn't "evolve" from inanimate matter...

Answer 8

It's the easy way out of explaining things that no one can possibly know in an effort to seem all powerful instead of spiritually ignorant.

Answer 9

Because that is what the Bible preaches, and the Bible is right. I believe in what really happened, and that is what really happend, believe what you want, but Christians think that the Bible is always right, because it is.

Answer 10

That's just the way it is. It's like you have to have food and water to survive. Yep, it's just the way it is. Goo enough, yes?