Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Clint Schnekloth

Home
Progressive Christian
Who Made God?

Who Made God?

Last updated on: August 22, 2021 at 7:22 pm by Clint Schnekloth

Who Made God? 2021-08-22T19:22:33-05:00 Clint Schnekloth

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In the last couple of weeks at our outdoor worship, we’ve asked, “What is your big question?” More than once, the question from the younger children has been, “Who made God?”

Now, this is a great question.

It’s a question that people have asked for a very long time, especially children because they’re honest and questioning.

One famous answer comes from Ludwig Feuerbach, who said, “God did not, as the Bible says, make humans in God’s image; on the contrary humans, as I have shown in The Essence of Christianity, made God in their own image.”

Now that’s an interesting answer… but it doesn’t answer adequately answer the child’s question, “Who made God?”

We wonder, If God made us, who made God? If there is a maker who made us, presumably the making of things continues back and back like nested dolls.

The classic answer is from the creeds. God is unmade, the one who made all things but is not made. God is beyond making. Not “begotten” or born. God just is. This is the answer you get, for example, in Moses’ dialogue with the burning bush. “I am who I am.”

That’s probably the oldest religious answer in the Jewish and Christian tradition. In our tradition, God simply is, or even more simply, there is God. The Name. Hashem. And that’s why there’s a lot of mystery around God’s name in the Old Testament. Many of the authors of the Hebrew Scriptures preferred not to write out the actual name of God. They preferred to leave it, and would instead just say “The Name.” Hashem.

All of this line of questioning goes after the issue of creation. Who made us and who made God? And that is an important and interesting line of questioning.

But all of those questions end up in a kind of abstract deism. It emphasizes God within a monotheistic tradition… that there is one being, who has made all things, and everything else is not God because only God is God, the one God.

And then you end up with very interesting philosophical theological discussions about whether God has “being” in the same way that “beings” have “being…”

Or is God above or beyond “being”?

But Christians have tended to go after a different question. We have experienced God personally. If we’re talking about a personal God, then the question becomes, not “who made God,” but “how is it that I know this God that has made me?”

And the answer to that question happens to lie with our understanding of the Trinity. Not Trinity as a mathematical formula to cause us confusion. But Trinity as the way of saying how Jesus Christ as a human being born of Mary is also God.

Because what we have is we have a witness to the God we know in Jesus Christ. And essentially anybody who participates in this faith tradition has had a personal experience of hearing about Jesus Christ. Christ himself reported to the disciples that he knew God personally as Father.

This becomes a different topic then. Not who made God? But rather, how do we know God and how can we know something about God? How does God know us?

And the answer to that question is actually… Jesus Christ. The answer is not a philosophical point, but instead a person.

You still might wonder how or why God exists in that framework. And for that answer, beyond simple faith and trust in Christ as the one who is witness to God as the Maker of all things and his parent, we have one more way to go about this. Go all the way back to little before Feuerbach, who said that the idea of God is kind of a projection of humanity, because they need a god.

Well, what do they need from God in particular? They needed a God who loves them, a kind of spiritual device to help them with their fears and aspirations.

The reason we pray in our darkest moments. The reason why we care for our neighbor. The reason why we care for ourselves. Because of love. And what we know in Christ, is that Christ loved us so much that He gave His life for us. A kind of sacrifice but different, not a sacrifice appeasing God, but a sacrifice of commitment or solidarity with us in spite of our unbelief, or rejection.

So Christ reflected love to us all the way to the cross. And in doing so, showed us who God is, because he said, “Whoever sees me sees the Father.”

So the answer to the question, “Who made God?” is maybe unusual, a little bit grammatically problematic. It might be less than satisfying if you want the already anticipated answer.

But the answer to the question, “Who made God?” is… God loves you.

Yes, but who made God?

Well, we know that God sent His Son to love us, and his Son told us that God is love.

Yes, but Who made God?

Well, God’s Spirit is still with us, helping us love each other, because God loves all of creation.

Yes, but who made God?

Well… love.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

August 16, 2021

What If the ELCA Had A Climate Caucus? Responding To The IPCC Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change 2021

Next Post

September 11, 2021 What's Going To Happen to the Church?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category #blacklivesmatter advocacy Avengers baptisms Capitalism church growth clergy silence corporate ethics Creation Care Donald Trump elections Evangelicals Evangelism Friendship hermeneutics Immigration Intersex introverts Jesus Labor Liturgy Lutheran MLK Jr. New urbanism Pentecost philanthropy Poem political theology Post-program church Prayer private devotion Reformation Refugees sacraments Scripture Secularity Sin small church social media Sovereignty Trauma-Informed Theology travel Trump Uncategorized wealth white supremacy Workers worship Youth

Select a Month January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 January 2016 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 May 2014 March 2014 June 2013 January 2013 December 2011 December 2010 February 2005 February 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Where did David spare Saul's life when he found him in a cave?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Gilgal Hebron En Gedi Bethlehem

Books by This Author Books by Clint Schnekloth

See All Titles »