Now if God is eternal and has always been and no other being is present without being created that means that God was alone for an eternity.

One eternity plus another eternity doesn't equal 2 eternities because you can only have one eternity.

This is the reason that Hinduism and Buddhism have postulated a far different cosmos than Christianity. This problem is the main reason that various religions believe that the soul is eternal and that the universe has been going like it is now forever.

I think Christianity teaches its followers to so focus on their own personal salvation that to think of the experience of the god they worship doesn't really come up that often.

What do you think God did for an eternity?

How does Christianity address this?

CARDW

GOD the father and GOD the son and GOD the holy spirit
have always been so they had each other to talk to

dgrimm60

Interesting question, even though I do agree with dgrimm for certain reasons. It doesn't really answer the question for me. I've also thought about that every once in a while. But from my understanding there are other planets that are populated as ours is. But again how long has this been going on. Its one of those questions which will never be answered until Jesus comes and gets us and we can asked him face to face.

pk

This has been a nagging thought for me for years. It is very much like wrestling with the concept of infinity both in terms of time and space. These are the things that we conceive of as without beginning or ending.

The epiphany of sorts for me was while looking at a map of the known universe produced by the National Geographic. I looked at the edge of the map and wondered what was beyond that. I suddenly realized that it was easier for me to see no outside boundary to space than for there to be a end of space. Even empty nothingness is something. If there was an end of space, would it be a wall? How thick would it be? What would be on the other side of the wall? Absolutely anything at the edge of the universe would merely extend it further by the substance of whatever that would be. If you suggest a wall of any thickness at the edge of the universe, that implies another side of that wall beyond which there has to be something else. What is that? Another universe? If there is one universe beyond are there more? If our universe is within another, is that other universe inside another ad infinitum?

I see space, time and God as essentially the same mystery. I am more comfortable with infinity for all three than outer limits of any of them. If time and space have no limits, a god with limits is too small for the universe. God must be greater still or it is not God but merely a demigod.

A god I can understand is no greater than I am - too small to be God!

Yes Tom, I also have mentally wrestled with these concepts for years. Most people seem settled in their opinions, where I am not. I still ask, is time and space infinite and just unmeasured, or are there borders beyond which there is no time or space? Conventional wisdom seems to accept the latter, that there is no unmeasured time or space, and all time and space is finite. But I still do not know. I have to wonder if Genesis one says God created time and space, or not. If God did create time and space, then He stands outside of both. But if time and space are infinite, then they must be revelations of God, something like the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

I am still learning.

Amen to both the attitudes and comments of Tom and oldsailor.

If God (as I believe) transcends spacetime, then thinking of Him as moving through time in the same way as we do, one second per second, is a category error. To Him, all times are the same. His name is 'I am', not 'I was' or 'I will be'. He lives in the eternal present...

God knows the beginning from the end. He obviously relates to time differently than we do. God knew me before I was born.

The only way I have been able to wrap my mind around it is to think about reading a book. Each chapter has its only storyline and set of characters. They die and new ones are born. As a reader, I am outside of the book. The characters are all contained to the book. As a reader I can flip the pages. In one moment I can be spending time with Jack in chapter 12 and the next moment be with Sarah in chapter 225. This analogy is imperfect because God can be reading all the chapters, spending time with all the characters, all at the same time.

Was there a time that God was lonely? No. Of course not. Because God can see the beginning from the end. The "book" was already written.

It's beyond my understanding and yes I have thought about it. My mind can't wrap around the idea and have a solution. If I could, well maybe I would be disproving God? I do like TW's answer though.

Why is it always about "Us"???????????? Do we really believe that there were no other planets created before we were and that God was just sitting around lonesome and looking for something to do so He created Us??? I seriously doubt it. It is more likely that we were the "last" he created. IMO when this 'great experiment' is over and 'sin and sinners' are no more... the universe will continue to operate just like it was before the earth was created. 'nuff sed

You didn't read all the posts 'nuff sed? did you? Because I mentioned something to that!

pk