Afternoon @nextgen622, This is a great series, and I'm looking forward to following along as you go. I hope you don't mind if I respond to this, but I just wanted to offer some thoughts to consider for those who think that the universe created itself.
In an article from "Live Science," it states that the universe is always expanding. As the universe expands galaxies move further away. Even the moon that orbits our own earth is moving away at a rate of about 1.5 inches per year.
That being said, scientist are always asking, "what is beyond the universe?" We know only a small fraction about the earth, and the manner in which the earth was created, much less the universe Link to Live Science Article So the universe is ever changing. But God doesn't change.
The amazing precision of the sun's relative distance from the earth alone should raise the question that there is an intelligence that is far beyond ours who set these things in motion. If the sun were closer or further from the earth depending on the distance, the earth could have been uninhabitable. I personally believe that God set everything in its place and in motion. His word says that He set the lights in the sky, dividing the day from the night.
How many times have you thought, "A sandwich sounds good right now, I think I'll just wait until all of the elements of that sandwich come together and then I shall have a sandwich?" You can put all of the stuff needed to make that sandwich on a table, and it still isn't going to make itself. Sure, an earthquake can happen, and by chance, some of those ingredients could be mixed together, but it will be messy and not precise, and nothing like you hoped it would be. The universe is far more complex than a simple sandwich, and for the precise placement of the sun and the moon just in our solar system, I'd say that there has to be an intelligence behind it that is far, far greater than ours. Of course, I believe that God created it all.
Also, the universe can no more create itself, than a sandwich can make another sandwich. So logically, there must be something (or as I fully believe someone (God ),) behind all of creation.
Great way to look at it all and I respect everyone's individual opinions and beliefs. My difference is that, let's call it God to keep it simple, didn't create it but rather it is all God. Yes, ever expanding..... check out "fractals" on YT for a better understanding of where I'm coming from. The old cliche' of a man with a white beard and a city in the sky would be a metaphor for the comfort of man IMO. We are all a part of this source in my mind sent for experience.
Ok...everything requires a creator.
That's a general principle that applies in every case.
Gotcha.
Who created the creator?
who created the creator who created the creator?
who created the creator who created the creator who created the creator?
who created the creator who created the creator who created the creator who create the creator?
etc.
A general principle applies in ALL cases.
But God doesn't change.
Is that a matter of faith?
Let's see, "who created the creator?" Let's look at this in terms of creation itself. Everything that we see is natural. The trees, the grass, the ocean, the universe, and everything else that we can see and that we know physically exists has a beginning and an end. Everything physical grows old and dies. Even the stars in our solar system will all one day die. All physical things have a beginning and an end.
What about spiritual things? Every living thing in existence consists of energy, or a "life force," for lack of a better term. (The Bible even goes into this principle, very in-depth I might add.) Physics tells us that energy never dies. So why is it so difficult to grasp that God is indeed eternal, and He sustains all living things by His eternal power?
The difference between us setting things in motion, and God setting things in motion, is that we, being natural, only have natural things to work with, like the stuff it takes to make a sandwich. And again, natural things are not eternal and we do not have the power to make them so. The natural things that God created while setting His rules and His natural laws in place all have an end, just as His word tells us. That's an obvious observation.
But it's by His spirit that everything is sustained.
"He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together." Colossians 1:17.
His word tells me that He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
You can call it faith, I call it an absolute truth.
What about spiritual things? Every living thing in existence consists of energy, or a "life force," for lack of a better term.
got any evidence to support that claim?