Did God exist before or after the Big Bang?

God is Spirit not Matter

He created and then was matter.

You can not understand or believe in creation or God without Gods' will instilled to a believer.Once that is believed then one can through faith believe in creation and the word of God.When you then believe the word of God there is no way evolution will hold up. God explains throughout the Old and New testaments about these conditions. First there is only one God. It doesn't matter if today the excuse is there are many types of God and it is all OK . Its not OK. God is the same yesterday, today and forever more. From the time of Abraham God Ordained that there was one God for a people of Gods choosing. And as today there were many worshiped Gods and that is what made The Judea-Christian God different . God said there is one God and only through him is salvation. I said all that to set up why creation is the only way that we and the universe happened.

The fact is that evolution sets up an escape for man .It's really doesn't but it lets man decide that if the world is millions of years old and matter created(ya ya still have to use creation in an evolution theory) itself somehow,then man will never have to answer to God. Without explaining the back story, it is because God said the wages of sin is death. Dead, dead, dead. Never to live again. Well to an unbeliever and even many in a church evolution is a way out but God explains all of this in the whole bible from Genesis to the Revelations.

Again it is by faith the bible is true as holy men of old wrote as the spirit moved them. So the bibles original text (basically Hebrew and Greek with some chaldee) it is infallible.Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created, etc,etc". The first five words God gave to man, they weren't salvation,love,hope,death,or any other possible words. In the Hebrew the fifth word god spoke to man was "created".

Now It doesn't matter through time how one perceived certain truths, looking back for example we know without question the world was and is not flat. Like today, we have electricity which the old world didn't have but it didn't mean it wasn't already on earth of course it was.Man made the wheel. we make everything today and if we didn't it would never just appear.If we make stuff are we to believe nothing made us. we even make ourselves through ourselves.God said it is in all men to know there is a creator by just looking at the world around him and because of that truth man has no excuse to believe any other way.

The best way to explain creation is simple. mankind makes it hard but here it is in a nutshell and using only the bible.God created the heavens and the earth,God created all what was on the earth including man and in Gods image he made them.Saying, this is true, that would show God made man not as a baby but as a full grow man. That in it of itself without needing any trained mind, shows that the past appears older than it is. The same for the stars,light,heavens and all things on earth. We know today that it takes millions of years for the closest star to get light here to earth. When God created the trees and stars that means the light was here within its creation and the trees were of full stature as was man and the animals. So the appearance of the heavens and the stars seem to be old but the fact is within instant creation the world and the heavens are young.

The bible explains all this in complete detail even saying in Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.For by it the elders obtained a good report.Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. In 11 peter 3:5-6,"For this they WILLINGLY are ignorant of, that by the word of God the Heavens were of old, and the Earth standing out of the water and in the water:Whereby the world that then was was being overflowed with water,perished( Noah flood and including the dividing of the earth in Genesis shows sediments not in order and carbon can make an older appearance).

I am sure you can start to see as to what I am trying to expound.there is hundreds of verses that explains all of this over and over again including all the way until the end of time. Hum,If there was a beginning there is an end.Thats what I said from the start,Evolution makes sure there is no beginning or end . Man doesn't have a problem believing there is a beginning. No, man has a problem that there is an end.

God is outside the stream of time

If I understand correctly, then Einstein's relativity theory states that nothing going slower than the speed of light can go faster than the speed of light (and vice-versa). By implication, time travelling would be a problem.

Regarding this, there is a neat agreement between Einstein and the references in the book of Matthew 24:3 and 24:36 which helps us to understand creation itself.

From this time related question and answer it can be derived that the whole creation is in the stream of time whereas only God is outside the stream of time. God is therefore at least one dimension (the dimension of time) above all of his creation. (Aptly the opening words of the book of Revelation is an example on how time related knowledge is passed on.)

If this is the case, then it can be reasoned that God is the architect of time in our universe along with all the other physical laws that are interwoven with time. Only thereafter the rest of the creation (heavens and earth) would follow.

We as "Flatlanders" would never have the ability to comprehend a being which is probably many dimensions higher than our own plane of existence. He is a being who existed even before time itself existed.

A Philosophical/Theological Opinion:

I find this site so intriguing, the answers are better than the questions. So let me add something that may give some sense to the question.

All matter has existed, there has never been a time when it has not. God has always existed, and there has never been a time when a God has not existed. As all matter has intelligence, and as God is all powerful and has command over all things, then for him to ORGANIZE matter into worlds he only had to command and it was done. There was no need for a Big Bang. (Such an untidy way of doing things).

The Big Bang theory is an explanation for the fact that we live in a rapidly expanding universe, it is not the end-all be-all explanation for the existence of everything.

The existence (or non-existence) of god is a religious, philosophical or theological issue that has little to do with the Big Bang. Some people probably believe a god existed before the Big Bang, some doubtless believe that gods evolved like we did afterwards.

Neither is scientifically verifiable.

A Thought Regarding Time & Infinity:

We have to define God before we can argue/ talk about whether or not God existed before the Big Bang. If we define God as infinite and define infinite as something that doesn't depend on time, space and matter, then, yes God existed before the big bang. Now, one may say that how can something exist without time, space and matter? We can think of infinity as a form that can have physical representation but it doesn't have to. The closest example of that would be thinking itself. If we think of a walking tree, it exists in our minds but it doesn't have a physical reality. In other words, form can exist without the physical objects. Mathematics is representation of forms which holds true regardless of whether or not the physical representation exists.

I believe the terms rationality, logic and common sense are overused. They should be used carefully.

An Opinion That the Two Can't Coexist:

Well, take religious people: they believe in God. Do they believe in the Big Bang? Yes, some religious people do believe in the Big Bang. How can that be? Well, you see it is very easy for them to explain: God made the Big Bang happen, or God always existed, before and after the Big Bang.

But wait a second. Where was he? in what space? in what place? If the Big Bang created the universe, what was there before the Big Bang? God must have been there... Notice that Science came up with the Big Bang... The bible doesn't mention it, nor does any other religion mention it. So you see, religion eventually had to accept Big Bang, so to not defeat themselves, they had to create another idea and Big Bang had to be in it. So this is actually religion moving around with its beliefs. How can one religious person say he believes in God, in Christianity and in the Bible, and then study evolution, the creation of the universe, the Big Bang and actually agree with it? That person must be confused... You have Adam and Eve on one hand and evolution on another... oops... Maybe that's why they created the intelligent design. Isn't it crazy to come up with crazy ideas like God intended us to discover the Big Bang or evolution, he created them, he made them happen. So like that, I understand that all God wants us to do is to be messed up, confused, angry, and actually all this makes people get where we know they get... Be rational. You either believe in Big Bang or in God. You can't believe in both according to common sense and to rationality.

A Multidimensional View:

Emerging theories like Membrane Theory (sometimes called brane theory-- a development of super string theory) will become more and more popular with different groups of believers for various reasons. As a non-physicist I can give only a layman's basic view, but Membrane Theory comes out of the fact that some interesting problems are solved if we view the world as 11-dimensional. One of these solutions has to do with the unimaginable weakness of gravity (on the atomic level, and in comparison with the other atomic forces), and with the fact that although it is weak, it seems to extend its influence infinitely outward. Gravity, unlike the other atomic forces, appears to spread itself out across the eleven dimensions. The mathematics for this works (although, I wouldn't be the source of any authoritative information on that score.)

Another amazing possibility is that inside the 11th dimension there are countless Membranes, of many possible shapes and configurations, each one being a complete parallel universe (Our universe is one of these Membranes). One possibility currently being studied is that when 2 Membranes collide, the result of the collision is a BIG BANG, and the initiation of another universe.

If this theory holds up, it will readily, and with almost breathless ease, account for lots and lots of dynamic activity before our humdrum Big Bang took place. A little bit of our wired-in human myopia will be cured. Mormons may see this as a vindication of their belief that every Mormon male married in the temple will be God, literally, of his own universe.

So it is altogether possible that believers would be able to claim existence of the deity before our Big Bang, and even have a coherent model of physics that does not contradict the belief.

Attempts to harmonize the Bible with scientific theory are bound to be unsuccessful for several reasons. Among them are: It isn't the least bit necessary to do so. The Bible isn't a science text. That is OK; it is not required to be a science text. Also, I am not aware that anyone has ever uncovered and explained an as-yet unknown scientific truth from the Bible that was then verified independently. If this can ever be verified to have happened, it will be a stunning development. It is not likely to ever happen.

An Opinion That Definitely Says NO Big Bang:

This would be one of those questions that was meant to find a contradiction. God CREATED the Earth. There was NO Big Bang. He spoke life into being... If you find a Christian that believes in the Big Bang Theory or any type of Evolution- you will find a Christian that has not read the beginning of Genesis (in the Bible).... So, this question is not one that can be answered really... He didn't exist before it or after it... because it never happened.

An Opinion That They (creationist theory & evolution) Could Be Compatible:

Actually, the Bible does mention the Big Bang, as well as evolution, in Genesis... "In the beginning, there was darkness, then God created light." Big Bang = shapeless void, then huge explosion. Compatible. It also states that God created the beasts of the sea before animals, and after animals were humans. Evolution = life originated in the primordial oceans, and animals evolved into humans. Also compatible. As for God's existence in relation with the Big Bang... My personal belief is that God exists in an alternate universe, where time does not flow in a straight line, but rather in a circle, with no beginning or end. The alternate universe is the "spirit world" - Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell.

A Transcendent Opinion:

Regardless of the fact that we don't know for sure if there was a Big Bang or not, creationists view God as the primary cause (the one thing that simply exists, outside time and space) -- God transcends the universe and does not have a "beginning." If God showed up after the Big Bang, then He is not God.

How about something that makes sense?

consider God (alleged trinity) like H2O: liquid/water (the Father/Creator without which no thing could exist), solid/ice (the only begotten Son of the Father) & gas/oxygen (the Holy Spirit of God)

God, by definition, is more complex than us. Supposedly He exists in some netherworld outside the universe - call it a Godiverse where He can create all the infinite universes he wishes. Time space and matter don't exist in the Godiverse, but the Godiverse exists for some reason. But then you have to ask how that came into being and the only answer of course is thatthe godiverse exists outside of time as well. So God by definition is timeless, spaceless, and massless.....in other words, He doesn't exist.........

However, I have an alternative belief. God is more complex than us, therefore God exists in the far off future. Maybe time is backwards and God won't exist until the end of time - during the big crunch - at which time He can control the formation of the next big bang.......(or this already happened)

First answer by ID1378003201. Last edit by RudiBosbouer. Contributor trust: 13 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 95 [recommend question]

Can you answer other questions about creation?