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J
Lots of luck getting through to an eight year old what we adults find a strange concept, we all being born in time, within the constraints of this material creation. But God is eternal, always existed, was not born. Infinity is a hard concept to grasp. You can tell your child God was just always there, was not born, but will that make sense? If so, you've got one amazing eight year old on your hands!
I
Just googled the question!! found this
Note that the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Here God created time itself. Only One who is outside of time, that is, timeless, or eternal, could do this.
Err still unsure if my 8yr old will understand :0
Note that the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Here God created time itself. Only One who is outside of time, that is, timeless, or eternal, could do this.
Err still unsure if my 8yr old will understand :0
J
That's really great! I still get such a eerie feeling, often, when thinking of time and eternity, how mind boggling it is that God has complete mastery over time, which I believe to be dimensional (which there is some higher math the points to this some understand and find exciting). God's knowledge of the future, down to the smallest details, is hard to comprehend, but He clearly does, would agree time just another creation, like gravity, that God is not within the limits of.
I
He has replied "So God is everything then, even the stars and the planets?"
"Yes son he is everything
" I said.
"Ok cool thought he was, thanks Mum"
I love the innocence of children just perfect
"Yes son he is everything
" I said."Ok cool thought he was, thanks Mum"
I love the innocence of children just perfect
Sometimes children believe such things more easily than we do ...
Just tell him God always existed and see what he thinks
... and please let me know his response- I'm curious
Just tell him God always existed and see what he thinks
... and please let me know his response- I'm curious
J
Sometimes children believe such things more easily than we do ...
Just tell him God always existed and see what he thinks
... and please let me know his response- I'm curious
Just tell him God always existed and see what he thinks
... and please let me know his response- I'm curious
Perhaps these verses may help you some, though I understand you may have to explain it in a way an 8 year old can comprehend.
Isaiah 43:10-13
[SUP]10 [/SUP]Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
[SUP]11 [/SUP]I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.
[SUP]12 [/SUP]I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.
[SUP]13 [/SUP]Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
Isaiah 43:10-13
[SUP]10 [/SUP]Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
[SUP]11 [/SUP]I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.
[SUP]12 [/SUP]I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.
[SUP]13 [/SUP]Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
I
Picture a father talking with his seven-year-old son. He says, “Long, long ago, God made the earth and everything in it, and he made the sun, the moon, and the stars.” The boy thinks about this for a few moments and then asks, “Daddy, who made God?”
“Nobody made God,” the father replies. “He has always existed.” That simple statement satisfies the child for now. As he grows older, however, the question continues to intrigue him. He finds it hard to comprehend how anyone could be without a beginning. Why, even the universe had a beginning. ‘Where did God come from?’ he wonders.
How does the Bible answer? Essentially, in much the same way as did the father in our example. Moses wrote: “O Jehovah, . . . before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the productive land, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” (Psalm 90:1, 2) Likewise, the prophet Isaiah exclaimed: “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, is a God for all eternity”! (Isaiah 40:28) Similarly, the letter of Jude refers to God as existing “for all past eternity.”—Jude 25.
Those scriptures show us that God is “the King of eternity,” as the apostle Paul describes him. (1 Timothy 1:17) This means that God has always existed, no matter how far back in time we cast our gaze. And he will always exist in the future. (Revelation 1:8) Thus, his eternal existence is a fundamental attribute of the Almighty.
Why do we find this idea difficult to grasp? Because our limited life span gives us a completely different concept of time from that of Jehovah. Because God is eternal, to him a thousand years are like a day. (2 Peter 3:8) To illustrate: Could a grasshopper, which lives as an adult for only about 50 days, fathom our life span of 70 or 80 years? Hardly! Yet, the Bible explains that we are like grasshoppers in comparison with our Grand Creator. Even our ability to reason is dwarfed by his. (Isaiah 40:22; 55:8, 9) So it is not surprising that there are aspects of Jehovah’s nature that escape full human understanding.
Although the concept of an eternal God may be hard to grasp, we can see that it makes sense. If someone else had created God, that person would be the Creator. Yet, as the Bible explains, Jehovah is the one who “created all things.” (Revelation 4:11) Furthermore, we know that the universe at one time did not exist. (Genesis 1:1, 2) Where did it come from? Its Creator had to exist first. He also existed before there were any other intelligent beings, such as his only-begotten Son and the angels. (Job 38:4, 7; Colossians 1:15) Clearly, then, he existed alone first. He could not have been created; nothing was in existence that could have created him.
Our own existence and that of the entire universe testifies to the existence of an eternal God. The One who put our vast universe in motion, the One who established the laws to control it, must have always existed. Only he could have breathed life into everything else.—Job 33:4.
“Nobody made God,” the father replies. “He has always existed.” That simple statement satisfies the child for now. As he grows older, however, the question continues to intrigue him. He finds it hard to comprehend how anyone could be without a beginning. Why, even the universe had a beginning. ‘Where did God come from?’ he wonders.
How does the Bible answer? Essentially, in much the same way as did the father in our example. Moses wrote: “O Jehovah, . . . before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the productive land, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” (Psalm 90:1, 2) Likewise, the prophet Isaiah exclaimed: “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, is a God for all eternity”! (Isaiah 40:28) Similarly, the letter of Jude refers to God as existing “for all past eternity.”—Jude 25.
Those scriptures show us that God is “the King of eternity,” as the apostle Paul describes him. (1 Timothy 1:17) This means that God has always existed, no matter how far back in time we cast our gaze. And he will always exist in the future. (Revelation 1:8) Thus, his eternal existence is a fundamental attribute of the Almighty.
Why do we find this idea difficult to grasp? Because our limited life span gives us a completely different concept of time from that of Jehovah. Because God is eternal, to him a thousand years are like a day. (2 Peter 3:8) To illustrate: Could a grasshopper, which lives as an adult for only about 50 days, fathom our life span of 70 or 80 years? Hardly! Yet, the Bible explains that we are like grasshoppers in comparison with our Grand Creator. Even our ability to reason is dwarfed by his. (Isaiah 40:22; 55:8, 9) So it is not surprising that there are aspects of Jehovah’s nature that escape full human understanding.
Although the concept of an eternal God may be hard to grasp, we can see that it makes sense. If someone else had created God, that person would be the Creator. Yet, as the Bible explains, Jehovah is the one who “created all things.” (Revelation 4:11) Furthermore, we know that the universe at one time did not exist. (Genesis 1:1, 2) Where did it come from? Its Creator had to exist first. He also existed before there were any other intelligent beings, such as his only-begotten Son and the angels. (Job 38:4, 7; Colossians 1:15) Clearly, then, he existed alone first. He could not have been created; nothing was in existence that could have created him.
Our own existence and that of the entire universe testifies to the existence of an eternal God. The One who put our vast universe in motion, the One who established the laws to control it, must have always existed. Only he could have breathed life into everything else.—Job 33:4.
J
Not sure it's eight year old material, but infinity is a reality. Like say somebody draws a well formed circle, where one can't tell where the pen started. At what point could anybody say that traveling that circle begins and ends? Where would it end, if the circle had points, that you couldn't stick another point between any two points? Speaking of circles, the number that comprises pi is not known to ever repeat any pattern, to the right of the decimal point. We do have all sorts of examples of the infinite, in God's creation. Hold up a mirror, facing another mirror: where does that tunnel end?