What did God do before he created the universe?

In my astronomy class the teacher gave us a question "What did God do before he created the universe"? So i've been wondering and I have to write half a page answer to that Wasnt there the whole thing about rebellion and Lucifer before the universe was created?

 

What the hell kind of assignment is that for an astronomy class? He's asking you to speculate on something no one can ever know. That belongs in a creative writing class, not a science class. Write THAT in your paper.

 

Yup.. agreed.

However.. for the sake of argument..

First you should determine what kind of answer your teacher is looking for. Is he Christian himself and looking for Bible-like proof (in that case, dive into Genesis and maybe some mythological stuff).. if he's more of an atheist he's probably trying to let you think about the strangeness of the personification of an Omnipotent power (if God created us in his own image, what does a 'man' like He do when not creating/managing worlds)? Third option is that he's a philosofer kinda guy, wanting to see a mix of the above to options with a conclusion stated on the by you presented 'facts'.

add.. in case of:

1. point out (verbally or in the essay) that this isn't the place for conversions but for astronomy (and like the previous poster said, that this belongs in creative writing classes)
2. + 3 .ask (verbally or in the essay) what God has to do with astronomy (and like the previous poster said, that this belongs in creative writing
classes)

Good luck! Most be cool to have classes in astronomy.. if you actually ever focus on stars and planets and stuff

 

You could check out Milton, he wrote about that I think.

 

"In the beginning was the One, alone, blessed,

and His felicity was in Himself possesed"

St. John of the cross.

That suggests to me that God did nothing before the universe - he simply existed in bliss. That would seem to be one christian type view.

But I agree, it's a hell of a question for astronomy classes!

One way out is to reject the big bang or the creation and say the universe has always existed and just goes through successive stages of recycling.

 

suomi synod lutheran?

finland? couldn't you find some nice beginning stories out of _the kavelela_ ?

how about the "cosmic-egg" universe-model in itzak bentov's book _stalknig the wind pendulum_ eh?

how old is the universe, anyways?

before YHWH uttered "fiat lux" he was mos'ly jus' chillin' dude...

how about the poetic musings of william blake?

or the physicist speculations of stephen hawking?

is our universe closed, open, or flat?

is time's arrow reversible?

etc...

 

things that make you go "hmmmmmm..."

 

There is no such thing as before or after or outside of the Universe. "In the Beginning there was the One" One=Uni, take a fucking latin class!!! By definition there is no time or space outside of the universe, otherwise it would not be the universe at all. Does anyone understnad what I'm saying????

Keep in mind that the bible was written at a time when man had extremely limited knowledge of astronomy, is it so inconcevieable that "God" was just a primitive way of understanding the concept that we today call "Universe" or "infinity"???? Religion served an important purpose in the days before scientific discovery, but I'm sad to say that today it is mostly a crutch for lazy people who don't even want to try to understand physics or astronomy because its too complicated.

 

That is simply ridiculous. Neither astronomy nor physics is capable of addressing the issues religion addresses. Just one example of this is ethics. It is clear enough that neither discipline could be of much use in this area.

 

Neonate,

Astronomical answer
If this is an astronomy question, then 'God' is just being used figuratively. The question is asking you what you think happened before the universe came into existence. This question itself is pretty deep (and pointless) for an astronomy class. It's more of a philosophical question I think. It's not really about science since no one does (or can) know about things outside the universe.

Religious answer
As for the question "what did God do before he made the universe", I think the answer is nothing. Time and causality are God's creation and he exists outside of them. The concepts of time and causality are irrelevant to him since he is omniscient, so cannot ever change. If you had to put God into the context of linear time, then everything God does happens all at once.

Another important thing I'd like to point out is that one shouldn't confuse God's "time" with the time of this universe. We say 'God created the universe' (past tense), but it didn't actually happen in our past, since God made the universe externally to time itself. Everything that ever happened and ever will happen in our universe was all created in the blink of an eye by God. But it's easier for us to comprehend if we think of it as an event in our past. But it wasn't!

 

Very true.

A crutch for lazy people? The whole "opiate for the masses" thing is really starting to bug me. As you probably know, life is hard. Those who go through it alone aren't "stronger" people; in my opinion there lost. If you've never needed a crutch (through God, family, friends) than perhaps you haven't had your leg broken yet.

 

He played counterstrike and warcraft online until he got bored and decided to create us and play the sims.