{"id":94231,"date":"2026-02-26T12:32:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=94231"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:33:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:33:04","slug":"who-created-god-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-created-god-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Created God? (Hall)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Perry Hall<\/p>\n<p>In &#8220;The God Delusion&#8221;, Richard Dawkins asks the question, &#8220;Who created God?&#8221; This is a favorite &#8220;gotcha&#8221; question of atheists. This is ironic because atheists often believe in abiogenesis, the scientific theory that life originated from non-living matter through natural chemical processes. I say ironic because theists can simply return the volley and ask, &#8220;Who created the original non-living matter?&#8221; and also, &#8220;Who created the natural laws by which chemical processes produced life?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Both theists and atheists answer that nothing created their &#8220;source&#8221;. This means both theists and atheists believe in an eternal, uncreated source of life! And admittedly, neither can explain how their source eternally exists.<\/p>\n<p>So, which best explains the evidence of how the original source exists?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Can an atheist explain how non-living matter existed without having a beginning? No. It is accepted on faith because non-theism needs an alternative explanation other than God.<\/li>\n<li>Can a theist explain how God exists as a non-conditional, necessary being? No. It too is accepted on faith, not because an alternative explanation is needed, but because God Himself has provided evidence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For atheists, one of their insurmountable problems is that life comes from non-life, that meaning comes from non-meaning, that rationality comes from non-rationality, and so on. And yet they claim miracles can&#8217;t happen!<\/p>\n<p>For theists, is there any problem that comes from the theist&#8217;s position? An atheist will simply say the idea of God is the problem! And yet the idea of God does come with evidence (philosophical, theological, historical, and scientific). There is no scientific evidence for abiogenesis. That is why it is called a &#8220;theory&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>To help with this dilemma, the theist&#8217;s position is that a closed system is self-defeating. The solution to the origin of life, meaning, and rationality, how and why, must be outside of the system for these problems to disappear. God is life, meaning, and rationality.<\/p>\n<p>To use an analogy, with full knowledge every analogy is flawed, let&#8217;s illustrate that when there is a problem within a system, the only solution must come from the outside:<\/p>\n<p>You are 1 million dollars in debt. Your income cannot even cover the interest rate. Every time you make a payment, you therefore get further into debt. There is no solution to the problem because you cannot pay the debt. No one within your circle of family, friends, or business partners can help. What is the solution? You need someone outside your circle, unaffected by the debt, who is able and willing to pay it. You need a benefactor.<\/p>\n<p>Atheism has a million-dollar debt problem. It is a closed system. There is nothing outside of that materialistic system that has the ability and will to begin all existence. Therefore, it can&#8217;t answer, &#8220;Who or what began that which begins everything, and why?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Theism has the solution because it believes in an open system, a power outside of the finite, material existence, which is divine, having no beginning nor need for a beginning.<\/p>\n<p>For atheism, asking who or what created that non-living original matter remains a valid question for which there is no answer. Being a closed system, it either accepts that the original matter is eternal or that there is an eternal sequence of created beginnings. That is not very scientific.<\/p>\n<p>For theism, asking who created God doesn&#8217;t apply. God, being outside the system, outside of time, and outside of the material universe, does not have nor need a beginning.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Perry Hall In &#8220;The God Delusion&#8221;, Richard Dawkins asks the question, &#8220;Who created God?&#8221; This is a favorite &#8220;gotcha&#8221; question of atheists. This is ironic because atheists often believe in abiogenesis, the scientific theory that life originated from non-living matter through natural chemical processes. I say ironic because theists can simply return the volley&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[37,184,302,80,90],"class_list":["post-94231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apologetics","tag-atheism","tag-creation","tag-evolution","tag-god"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":92181,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-atheists-are-right-about-the-beginning-of-the-universe\/","url_meta":{"origin":94231,"position":0},"title":"What If Atheists Are Right About the Beginning of the Universe?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall As to the beginning of our universe, I am aware of at least two atheistic positions. This becomes for atheists an either-or proposition: Either you believe that matter came from non-matter - that is, something came from nothing. Or, that matter has no beginning and is eternal,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45325,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-matter-is-amoral-then-atheists-dont-have-an-explanation-for-where-morals-come-from\/","url_meta":{"origin":94231,"position":1},"title":"If matter is amoral then atheists don&#8217;t have an explanation for where morals come from","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have followed your website for many years. I have been a member of the Lord's church for nearly fifty years. I have learned many things in life but my greatest knowledge is of God's most Holy Word. Anyway, I have found your article on \"The Failure of Moral\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93539,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-unbelievers-believe\/","url_meta":{"origin":94231,"position":2},"title":"What Unbelievers Believe","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kenny Chumbley via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 2, June 1994 Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 3, September 1994 Atheists like to portray Christianity as the non-thinking man's sugar stick. They, we are told, are guided by reason and logic, whereas believers hold to antiquated religious superstitions that have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42721,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/arguing-with-atheists\/","url_meta":{"origin":94231,"position":3},"title":"Arguing with Atheists","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Casey Head Via\u00a0The King's Way at Queen Way I work at a university. That's something I thought I'd never say. I guess I'd better clarify. I'm not a professor, a graduate student getting paid to do research, a university official...or even a janitor or landscaper. I'm actually just an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57582,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-a-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":94231,"position":4},"title":"Is There a God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Keith Sharp In 1986 a famous visitor made a brief tour of the inner solar system. A luminous body with a long, faint tail hurried on its journey around the sun and returned to the recesses of space. The British astronomer Edmond Halley observed this phenomenon in 1682 and,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18570,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-you-judge-atheists-then-arent-you-contradicting-your-beliefs\/","url_meta":{"origin":94231,"position":5},"title":"If you judge atheists, then aren&#8217;t you contradicting your beliefs?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If you judge atheists and you think that atheists judge you Christians, then you are pretty much contradicting yourself, which is a sin in God's eyes because \"all men are created equal.\" I don\u2019t judge Christians and their beliefs, so why do you? Thank you for listening to me.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}