Expert: Michael Clark, Ph.D. - 1/5/2004

Question
Hello:

I am not sure if you can even answer this but here goes...

According to the "Catholic" religion, God always was and always will be.  If that is true, what was God doing before he created man and the universe?  For arguements sake, lets say that God created man and the universe one thousand years ago. If God always was, then what was he doing for the thousands if not millions or billions of years before that? For that matter, what was he doing for eternity before he created man?  I am not trying to be disrespectful as I am also Catholic, but did he just get bored and decide to create man to see what would happen? Were we all with God before the creation of the universe?  If so, why did he bother to create the world and have us live in it for x number of years before dying and returning to him?


Thank You,

Paul

Answer
Paul.. yours is an outstanding question, one that has been posed by philosophers, theologians, and myself quite a few times. I think the answer comes in realizing our human limitations and the need for putting faith before reason--that is, allowing faith (and grace) to instruct us so we may then follow up and further assess our total experience with reason.

We may try to get our heads around the ideas of eternity, the reasons for creation, fall, and redemption, but ultimately it is mysterious. That doesn't mean we can't learn little a little bit, and then a little bit more, as we go along. The Catholic view, I suppose, is to get your hands on the latest (revised) copy of the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" and read what the Church leaders have to say. There are standard theological answers for these questions. These answers often use the word "mysterious" because, like myself, no human being can fully understand it all. If you are interested in pursuing a theological course of investigation, I suggest you pick up a good Dictionary of Theology from the library or bookstore and look up terms such as:

eternity
time
creation
theodicy
soteriology
teleology
revelation
fides quaerens intellectum (or, faith seeking understanding)

"A Handbook of Theological Terms" by Van A. Harvey is pretty good for comparing Catholic and Protestant views, as well as those of the major philosophers. And it's quite readable.

Another good intro to theology is

"Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms" by Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki and Cherith Fee Nordling.

And the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" is also online. Just search at www.google.com to find one that works with your browser.

I think you'll realize that you're in very good company in asking these questions.