Problem of the creator of God

The problem of the creator of God is the controversy regarding the hypothetical cause responsible for the existence of God, presuming God exists. It contests the proposition that the universe cannot exist without a creator by asserting that the creator of the universe must have the same restrictions. This, in turn, may lead to a problem of infinite regress wherein each newly presumed creator of a creator is itself presumed to have its own creator. A common challenge to theistic propositions of a creator deity as a necessary first-cause explanation for the universe is the question: "Who created God?"[1]

Some faith traditions have such an element as part of their doctrine. Jainism posits that the universe is eternal and has always existed. Ismailism rejects the idea of God as the first cause, due to the doctrine of God's incomparability and source of any existence including abstract objects.[2]

Perspectives
Main article: Infinite regress

Osho writes:

No, don't ask that. That's what all the religions say – don't ask who created God. But this is strange – why not? If the question is valid about existence, why does it become invalid when it is applied to God? And once you ask who created God, you are falling into a regress absurdum.[3]

John Humphreys writes:

... if someone were able to provide the explanation, we would be forced to embark upon what philosophers call an infinite regress. Having established who created God, we would then have to answer the question of who created God's creator.[4]

In The God Book, deist Michael Arnheim writes:

The atheist objection is that if God created the universe, who created God? Judging by the number of times that Dawkins repeats this same point in The God Delusion, one must assume that he sees this as a killer argument against the existence of God.[5]

Alan Lurie writes:

In response to one of my blogs about God's purpose in the creation of the universe, one person wrote, "All you've done is divert the question. If God created the Universe, who created God? That is a dilemma that religious folks desperately try to avoid." The question, "Who created God?", has been pondered by theologians for millennia, and the answer is both surprisingly obvious and philosophically subtle ... ... whatever one thinks about the beginnings of the Universe, there is "something" at the very origin that was not created. This is an inescapable given, a cosmic truth.[6]

Responses

Defenders of religion have countered that the question is improper:

We ask, "If all things have a creator, then who created God?" Actually, only created things have a creator, so it's improper to lump God with his creation. God has revealed himself to us in the Bible as having always existed.[7]

Atheists counter that there is no reason to assume the universe was created. The question becomes irrelevant if the universe is presumed to have circular time instead of linear time, undergoing an infinite series of big bangs and big crunches on its own.[8]

Some Christians, especially those espousing the Leibnizian principle of sufficient reason, claim that God would be a necessary being and necessary beings, by definition, cannot be caused externally by something else. The question of 'What created X' would only apply to contingent things, not to a necessary being like God.[9]

See also

References
  1. The God Book, Michael Arnheim, 2015, p. 18.
  2. Arzina R. Lalani Degrees of Excellence: A Fatimid Treatise on Leadership in Islam I.B.Tauris 2009 ISBN 978-0-857-71202-8 page 3
  3. The God Conspiracy: The Path from Superstition to Super Consciousness, Osho, 2010.
  4. In God We Doubt, John Humphrys, 2008. ISBN 978-0340976739
  5. The God Book, Michael Arnheim, 2015, p. 18.
  6. Alan Lurie, The Rabbi Who Believes in Zeus: Popular Myths About Religion, Faith, and God, 2013
  7. Steve Husting, Doubt Busters, 2017, p. 20. ISBN 1387312820.
  8. Paul Gabler, Slices of a Life, 2015, Ch. 30 ISBN 1504960645.
  9. Who Created God?. Free Thinking Ministries. 5 October 2015.
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