Who Created God? The Question I Could Not Get A Satisfying Answer To As A Nigerian Teenager

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Who Created God? The Question I Could Not Get A Satisfying Answer To As A Nigerian Teenager

The classical Christian answer is that nobody created God because God is not understood as a created being. God is understood as eternal and uncreated. Philosophically, this is often discussed using ideas such as a necessary being or first sustaining cause — ideas that are debated, not magic words that end every objection.

Why This Question Troubled Me So Much

As a teenager, the question felt devastatingly simple: if God created everything, who created God?

When I did not get an answer that satisfied me, I treated the question as evidence that the entire idea of God might be invented.

The First Correction: Christianity Does Not Claim God Created Himself

Classical Christianity does not teach that God came into existence and then created Himself.

It treats God as eternal, uncreated and categorically different from contingent created reality.

Does 'Everything Has A Cause' Accurately Describe The Argument?

Many popular explanations are careless here. Serious cosmological arguments normally do not begin with the claim that absolutely everything has a cause.

They often begin with contingent, dependent or beginning-to-exist realities and ask what ultimately explains them.

What Is A Contingent Thing?

A contingent thing exists but could have failed to exist. You, I, a tree and a planet are obvious examples of things whose existence appears dependent.

Cosmological arguments ask whether a collection of contingent things can ultimately explain itself.

What Is A Necessary Being?

A necessary being is proposed as reality that does not derive existence from something else and cannot simply fail to exist in the same way contingent things can.

Philosophers dispute whether such a being exists and whether it should be identified with God.

So Is Asking 'Who Created God?' A Bad Question?

It is a good question if it exposes an unclear definition of God. But if God is defined as uncreated necessary reality, asking who created God assumes the very thing the definition denies.

That does not prove the definition is true. It shows why the debate must move to a deeper question: does an uncreated necessary reality actually exist?

Could The Universe Be The Necessary Reality Instead?

Some critics ask why the universe itself cannot be the brute or necessary reality.

Defenders of cosmological arguments answer in different ways, often pointing to contingency, composition, change or a cosmic beginning. Critics challenge those premises.

Does A First Cause Automatically Mean The Christian God?

No. Even if a cosmological argument succeeds, further argument is needed to move from 'a necessary cause' to the full Christian doctrine of God.

This distinction matters because I do not want apologetics to smuggle conclusions into premises.

Why The Question Changed For Me

Learning the philosophical vocabulary did not create my Christian faith by itself. It removed one objection I had treated as decisive.

I realised I had been rejecting a more simplistic picture of God than historic Christianity actually claimed.

What The Bible Means When It Calls God Eternal

Christian Scripture repeatedly speaks of God as existing without the creaturely beginning we experience.

I treat those statements as theological claims within Scripture, not scientific measurements.

What I Would Tell My Teenage Self

Do not stop at a weak answer from one teacher. Find the strongest version of the argument you disagree with before you reject it.

And do not be ashamed of asking a question because adults around you appear uncomfortable with it.

The Better Follow-Up Question

For me the better question is: why is there something rather than nothing, and what best explains contingent reality?

That question does not force one answer, but it takes us beyond a verbal trap and into the real philosophical debate.

The Argument Changes When We Define 'God' Carefully

If God means a contingent object inside time, asking for God's cause is natural. Classical theism proposes something different.

A Weak Christian Argument Can Make A Good Question Look Solved

If somebody says 'everything needs a cause' and then simply exempts God, the listener is right to notice the inconsistency.

Why 'Uncaused' Is Not A Magic Word

Calling something necessary or uncaused is a philosophical claim that still needs argument.

What My Teenage Question Got Right

It demanded consistency. What I lacked was the strongest version of the position I was rejecting.

Why This Question Alone Could Never Prove Christianity

Even a successful first-cause argument leaves questions about Jesus, revelation, goodness and worship.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who created God?

Classical Christianity says nobody created God; God is understood as eternal and uncreated.

Did God create Himself?

No. Classical Christianity does not teach divine self-creation.

Does everything need a cause?

Many cosmological arguments focus on contingent or beginning-to-exist things rather than claiming every conceivable reality needs a cause.

What is a necessary being?

A being whose existence is not dependent in the way contingent beings are.

Can the universe be necessary?

Some philosophers argue for possibilities like that, while others dispute them.

Does a first cause prove Christianity?

No. Further arguments would be needed.

Is 'who created God?' a foolish question?

No. It is an understandable question, especially when definitions are unclear.

Did this answer alone make me Christian?

No. It addressed one intellectual obstacle; my broader faith journey involved much more.

Are cosmological arguments universally accepted?

No. They have defenders and critics.

What should I read next?

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's cosmological argument entry is a useful overview of major versions and objections.

Sources And Related Context

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cosmological-argument/

https://www.ibifoundry.com.ng/post/is-god-real-why-i-stopped-believing-and-why-i-believe-today

Additional GODMODE V2 Chapters

Why 'God Does Not Need A Cause' Can Sound Like Special Pleading

If someone merely says 'everything needs a cause except my God,' the objection is fair. The stronger classical argument is about contingent or beginning realities and a proposed necessary foundation.

What An Infinite Regress Is — And Why Philosophers Argue About It

An infinite regress is an endless explanatory chain. Some philosophers argue certain regressions are explanatorily incomplete; others disagree.

Why I Now Prefer The Question 'Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?'

That question forces me to think about explanation at the deepest level instead of assuming the answer must look like one more object inside the universe.