Who made God?
In the 19th century atheist philosophers would argue that the universe had always existed, but the discovery of the ‘big bang’ by the Roman Catholic priest and scientist Georges Lemaitre in 1927 (popularised by Hubble in 1929) put an end to this way of arguing, and atheists were now forced to admit that there was a beginning to the universe, which brought in a new line of questioning.
Argument from infinite regress
One way that we can end up at this question is through what philosophers of science call the ‘argument from infinite regress’. What this means is that if we ask the question on the origins of our universe, we may well come to the conclusion that the big bang started it. ‘Very well’ you may say, ‘but where did all the energy come from which led to the big bang?’ You may then get into various topics of discussion about different types of positive and negative matter, which again leads us to the question ‘Where did that come from?’
In the end, you logically end up at the position that something unknown created this beginning. As we have looked at in other articles the universe is extremely fine-tuned for us to exist (* See article listed below) it would seem that there are clear reasons to believe that whatever or whoever created the universe was probably quite intelligent; as a Christian I would suggest this is strong evidence for the God of the bible.
Objection, your honour
Some people object to this line of reasoning because they insist that for us to be consistent this leads us to the question ‘Who made God?’ However, although this may sound a plausible argument it is actually a fallacious one described in philosophy circles as a ‘category mistake’.
If Christians believed in a God that was created then this would be a superb argument destroying Christianity in a micro-second. However, Christians believe that God is eternal (Isaiah 26:4, Romans 16:26) and so to ask the question ‘Who made God?’ is the same as asking ‘Who made the unmade?’ This is a category mistake because it is logically impossible, in the same way that the question ‘Where is the bachelor’s wife?’ leads us to an impossible conclusion. In other words, just like the bachelor is single, the God of the Bible is eternal.
The limitations of naturalism
As humans we find it very difficult to conceive of something eternal (we live within space & time) but that does not mean that it can’t exist. God is described in the Bible as holy, which means he is ‘other’ or fundamentally different to us. He is not finite, and therefore we should not expect science (which enables us to measure the natural world) to be able to fully measure something infinite (though it does give us many clues).
Think very carefully when someone says to you, ‘You can only believe in things that are proven by science’. This statement fails to live up to its own claim as Science can’t prove the statement to be true in the first place. This is a faith assertion and is an example of the blind faith that religious people are often criticised for, whereas the idea of an eternal God remains philosophically consistent.
*http://reason.cck.org.uk/how-does-modern-science-show-that-there-is-a-god/