This is a serious theological/philosophical question?

Question

If God created the universe, what was there before the creation?
I had this discussion with some friends but, as we are not religeous, do not know the religeous viewpoint. If there was another universe, did God wipe the slate clean and start again? Do you think God could decide to do the same with this universe? As with all evolutionist vs creationist questions I expect a few loony answers but as long as they're not pious, religeous rants or scientific belittling of those who have faith then thats fine.

Stvemeister: trust me to actually like that answer after posting a question like this.

Chris D7: now thats a response, all viewpoints, altrenative theories, thats the type of response I was looking for.

Waddyisme: you too!

To all the others: thanks for the responses, both religeous and non-religeous. The question did not want a definetive answer per se, just how others, especially from the religeous viewpoint, would have responded if they had been there that evening.

Answer 1

Hi there. Interesting question.
For a bit of context, I was raised RC, tho now I consider myself "spiritual" and not "religious", and I've a healthy appreciation for, and curiosity of, science. =)

What was there before?
Who will ever know, really? Science currently only theorises so far back, and to my knowledge there's been no speculation as to what came before the Big Bang / Creation of the Universe. (I put em together, really:- say.. some force "clapped its hands" and BANG, here's the Universe.)

The Bible starts us off in Genesis with how there was "nothing" (I don't quote biblical verses, sorry), I think the word "void" is used. There's no speculation (far as I know) in the Bible as to anything existing beforehand, and being "wiped".

If such was the case, and if (a) there is indeed a God and (b) He (/She/It - why not?) did indeed create the universe, then to answer your 3rd Q, I'd wager that God *could* wipe it clean and remake it, if that choice was made.

"Alllllrighty then! 'Universe', version 3.0 - let's see if I can't get 'Man' right this time round. Too many bugs last time..."

Ref: The Matrix trilogy -- the idea that Neo wasn't "the first" Neo, and that everything goes through a cycle, etc..
(Watch the second one, specifically -- Matrix: Reloaded.)

In a sense, if there was ever a universe that existed before the one in which we exist, and if that universe was wiped and rebuilt into ours, I doubt we'd ever know.

If we limit our thinking to 3-D space, the Universe (theoretically) takes up "all" of it, assuming infinity can be reached. One powerful being in one creationist "sandbox".

Here's a counter question:
What if there's other "god"s, who've created other universes, but in PARALLEL to ours? i.e. 4th dimension.. ?

Put another way: how many PCs across the planet had The Sims (original) installed on them? Unless and until the creative users "shared" their sims or sim houses with others, then their own sims would only know the "universe" within that one PC. They may trace their creation back to the beginning of their Sim-Time, but they wouldn't know or be able to tell if there was a "previous installation" which was deleted to make way for them.

( ( Maybe that counts as "loony", but I figured an exploration of parallels might be one way to address your very interesting question. ) )

They simply couldn't exist UNTIL the previous was wiped; once it IS wiped, technically "nothing" of the former will exist as evidence to the one which follows. Allowing for a Creator, only the Creator would ever know the truth of this.
If WE get wiped, and another universe built in our place, we'll immediately "stop existing" and will have no time to contemplate "what's coming next", and THEY'll never know WE existed.

Thanks for the Question!

=== added ===
I've JUST discovered info about SPORE.
PLEASE read through this wikipedia page:
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_%28computer_game%29 ]

You may find it inspirational, in parallel to your Q.

Answer 2

In regards to the big bang theory, we know for certain that the universe originated from the same point in time and space. I believe this is a scientific fact. What caused it or what was there to begin with is unknown. One theory was that there was nothing as in nothing, to the point that its a meaningless question because even nothing didn't even exist. Don't think of the universe as an infinite void of space that the universe exists within, that is not the case, the void is the universe and nothing exists outside it.
This question is a good one for the religious as there is a big unanswerable hole in the beginning of time where God can safely hide from science. At least Atheists have the integrity to say we just don't know yet. Before you knew how a TV worked, did that mean God did it? No. Even though it looks like we will never, ever know what happened in the milliseconds before the big bang, that is not an invitation to stick a deity there to fill in the gap. It simply means the human mind is unable to grasp such a concept, much like we are unable to grasp the concept of infinity.

The correct answer in written form to the best available evidence and in terms that most humans can understand is NOTHING in the most general sense of the word. Even if God created the universe the answer must still be the same.

Answer 3

I think you take yourself a little bit too serious if you expect a serous answer to a question that involves a totally hypothetical creator. Is this what you call philosophy?

Scientifically there are some hypothesis about how the universe could have started.
Just one example, but a pretty serious one. Not the truth, but there's not much better at the moment. Search the site and you will find some more hypothesis.
http://discovermagazine.com/2004/feb/cover/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C=
Maybe in a decade, after doing more tests with particle collides, it will be known how likely this scenario is. Still it doesn't say anything about some sort of god. Also it's not the task and of scientists to fill in a god in their blanks of knowledge. But so far it looks like our universe is no more than an event in an unimaginable universe, where's no sign of your god.

Answer 4

I don't think it says. In the beginning of our time there was only God and he created the heavens and the earth.

If I believe in a being as great as God who is omnipresent, ominicient, and omni-whatever else, then I can believe that there may be more universes other than our own. Why not? I don't think that everything to know about God can be found in the bible. I don't think everything about Jesus can be found in the bible. I asked my father today, who is a minister, if Jesus had a dog. He said he didn't know. That's insignificant but it's still a fact about Jesus that we don't know. There are many of them. We know the basics. Off the subject!

Anyway, I had a religion class in college and we talked about a lot of the philosophical explanations for this question. There are so many arguments and they are all very confusing unless you have someone really intelligent explain them to you. I would start with the cosmological argument. First clause and causation are very interesting.

Answer 5

It tells you in Genesis 1, there was a void, and God spoke....

Was there another universe? We don't know but we will when we die.

And yes, this one is coming to the end very soon, scientific facts can surely tell you that, as well.Look at what is happening in the world. Read Matthew 24. That is not a religious or pious remark. Just read it a few times, and there are cross references in the middle of the page which you can follow. Follow them and read them. And I am not bashing scientists.

They have played a huge role in helping us to understand many things.

Look at what is happening in the world today

Seriously, get a Bible and have a read. I think that anyone who asks these questions should be researching them. I am not being nasty here. I had to search when I was young. Thank God I found Him. Go look.

Answer 6

I think this myself sometimes.
To me the answer to this is that there is no answer that as humans we can comprehend.

In what environment has and does God exist in?
How and when did this environment first exist?
How and when did God first exist?
Religious people will say that God has been around for all eternity.
Why all of a sudden decide to do something like create a universe with a planet that can sustain life?
After all God has been around for eternity already. Did God suddenly get bored?
As humans I don't think that we can comprehend limitless time, it is just too much for us to take in mentally.

I think the same is said of the scientific viewpoint.
Why/how did the first atom etc suddenly appear from nothing, assuming time has no beginning or indeed no end?

It to me is like asking 'What came first? The chicken or the egg?'

There is no definitive answer, all we can do as man is debate and speculate on this subject. If religious believe in your belief.

Answer 7

The Bible in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 says 'In the beginning God...' The answer to the question is that God was in the beginning. He could have created the universe and all its contents, He could destroy ours and start again. In fact the Bible says He will start again. Only next time their will be no sin.

Answer 8

The truth is, we don't know, God hasn't told us. We will know all one day.
God himself is beyond human understanding, which is what you would expect of a being powerful enough to create the universe. It's beyond us to comprehend a being who has no beginning or end but has always existed, because our concept of time as having a start and a finish is all we know.
The Bible does say that Jesus will come back one day, and this heaven and earth will be replaced with a new heaven and a new earth, it's in Revelation.

Answer 9

There are different theories, some beliefs.

One belief is that this is the fortieth time that the Universe is expanding again, after crashing on itself and becoming so infinitely small that it had to explode out due to its own self weight. In otherwords we are living in a Yo Yo of magnificient proportions and time scale.

Ultimately who knows the real truth but the Creator Himself. His power is evident when the Sun rises and sets. When men such as Moses and Mohammad and Jesus with little means leave such deep imprints on human psyche and history and vanquish the powerful of the World through a few of their actions, while having neither nukes nor tvs or even mikes. It is amazing. That is all for the mind that thinks.

For the doubter, there is no limit to his doubts!! NO proof is enough proof for him!!

Take care.

Answer 10

Nothing. There was no time and space before big bang. Materialistic word existed after big bang.

Do the unbelievers not realize that the heavens and the earth used to be one solid mass that we exploded into existence? And from water we made all living things. Would they believe? The Qur'an 21:30

And it is We who have built the universe with our power; and, verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it. The Quran 51:47.

http://dev.islamicity.com/Science/dayjudge.shtml