This confusion often comes up in the discussion of origins. People will try to equate the beginning of the universe with the beginning of God. Christians ask unbelievers, “where did the universe come from?”. The logic is fairly straightforward:

1. The physical universe obviously can’t be eternal: scientific laws like entropy (gradual decline into disorder) and an expanding universe are clear evidence of this, and the philosophy of an eternal historical past isn’t logically viable (i.e., you can’t have an infinite number of years of history of the universe before our present).

2. But the universe obviously can’t have come from nothing either: this has been intuitive to thinking people for millennia: ex nihilo nihil fit (Latin for “out of nothing, nothing comes”).

In other words, both science and philosophy conclude that the universe must have been created in the finite past. And a created universe must have a creator. That is why the Bible states that one of the strongest evidences for God’s existence (as Creator) is that the universe exists (i.e. there IS a creation).

Psalm 19:1, 3-4 – The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. They don’t speak a word… yet their message has gone throughout the earth, it travels around the world.

Romans 1:20 – For his [God’s] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

People often mistakenly reason that since the UNIVERSE must have been made by someone, that GOD must have been made by someone too. But this is a logical error. God is quite different from the physical universe; He is supernatural. In contrast to other religions, the Bible teaches a God that is OUSTIDE our physical universe (i.e. timeless and immaterial) and therefore has no need of being “created”.