I know that I am a dependent being who has not existed forever. I was born to mighty fine parents. They, too, had parents, and so on ad infinitum. Since each of us was dependent, it was obvious that there could not be a line of dependent creatures existing forever. Someone or something had to start this fine of dependent creatures. And science agrees with this. Science agrees that life did not exist forever on this earth. But it does exist now. Human beings have not existed forever, but they are here now. So man had an origin in Someone or Something.<\/p>\n
And thus it occurred to me that the difference between my atheistic friends and me… was not that I believed in a creator and that they did not. Instead, we differed over the nature of the creator. They believe that the creator was matter; I believe the creator is Spirit (God).<\/p>\n
Why is it that the atheist and materialist must believe that matter is the creator of life? The answer is evident when you realize two basic facts. First, something now exists. Second, you cannot get something out of nothing. Out of nothing comes nothing. Since out of nothing one gets nothing, and since something now exists, something must always have existed. If there was a time when absolutely nothing existed, nothing would exist today, for nothing could not be the cause of something, and yet something exists today. I, for one, am here, and so are you. The material world around us is here. So, since something now exists, something has always existed. The real question between the atheist and the believer in God is: What is the nature of that eternal something? Is it a thing or a Being? Whatever it is, it has been the cause of all else.<\/p>\n
The fact that something has existed eternally shows that a problem which some unbelievers have raised is not really a problem for the believer in God. They have asked: How is it possible to really grasp the idea of an eternal God-One who had no beginning but who has always existed? I confess that it is difficult for the human mind to grasp the idea of eternity, but everyone must accept the idea that something has existed from all eternity. Otherwise, at one time, there was nothing that was the cause of something. Thus, the atheist faces the problem of how to grasp the idea of the eternal existence of matter. It seems obvious that since each of us must accept an eternal reality, there is no reason for either of us to make an argument against the position of the other on the ground that the other person has to accept something eternal.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by James D. Bale via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 21 No. 3, September 1995 I know that I am a dependent being who has not existed forever. I was born to mighty fine parents. They, too, had parents, and so on ad infinitum. Since each of us was dependent, it was obvious that there could not be…<\/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_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[37,184,302,693],"class_list":["post-96190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apologetics","tag-atheism","tag-creation","tag-eternal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63367,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/remember-your-creator\/","url_meta":{"origin":96190,"position":0},"title":"Remember Your Creator","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:7 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Have you made something? (No, no, besides that mess in your room.) Something that originated in your own mind and formed with your own hands. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As creative as we are, man only takes existing things and joins them in new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66027,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/earthly-politics-versus-the-almighty\/","url_meta":{"origin":96190,"position":1},"title":"Earthly Politics Versus the Almighty","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever\" (Revelation 4:9). In John's vision \"up here\" he sees the living creatures giving honor, glory, and thanks to God on the throne, and he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62458,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-acts-17-approach-to-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":96190,"position":2},"title":"The Acts 17 Approach to God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Acts 17 provides a framework for some basic understanding of God. Think especially about the phrase in verse 25: \"as though He needed anything.\" In that phrase is found the essence of who God is. God needs nothing more to be complete or to function with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56314,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/freedom-can-only-be-found-in-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":96190,"position":3},"title":"Freedom Can Only Be Found in God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton Thomas Jefferson wrote, \"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure, when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but by his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1162,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-dinosaurs-really-exist\/","url_meta":{"origin":96190,"position":4},"title":"Did dinosaurs really exist? (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did dinosaurs really exist? Answer: The term \"dinosaur\" was ascribed in the 1800s to the fossilized remains of animals that no longer appear to roam the earth. While one term is used, it actually refers to a wide variety of animals. Hence, some difficulty is introduced in trying to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3750,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-organize-tasks-without-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":96190,"position":5},"title":"Can a church organize tasks without elders?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like your thoughts on organizing works in a church that does not have the luxury of elders, such as visitors,\u00a0 attendance,\u00a0 sick members, evangelism. Can men be appointed or volunteer to serve as leaders over these areas with an assistant? Wouldn't this make these areas offices?\u00a0 Do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","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\/96190","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=96190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}