Can The Universe Exist Without God?

Did the universe have a beginning? Or has it always existed without a cause? If such is the case, would that finally give unbelievers the final argument against the existence of God?

In a world turning more and more secular by the second, I keep on hearing people attributing whatever good thing that’s happening to them to the universe. It wasn’t like this many years ago. Growing up in a Christian nation, I used to hear people thanking God for all the blessings that come their way.

Now, the world seems to be thanking something that doesn’t even have a consciousness of its own. How could the universe respond in such a way as to answer someone’s prayer? Is it even aware of itself? Why would it even care?

As a Catholic, the only instance that I can possibly accept the universe doing anything to help me is after it has been moved to do so by God. It is God who causes things to happen. It is God who is aware of my needs and responds to me with full awareness and love.

The world has gotten fearful of anything related to religion that it has created its own version of the universe. A universe that moves of its own will. A universe whose power can be invoked just like the impersonal “force” we often find in science fiction movies.

This kind of universe seems laden, however, with pseudo-spiritual attributes. Perhaps this is what we get when we combine New Age ideas with the secular preoccupation with science. A science that yearns to break free from the truth if this truth includes the very existence of God.

Did the Universe Have a Beginning?

According to Catholic belief, yes. Here are the relevant Bible verses pertaining to its creation:

“In the beginning God created heaven, and earth.” – Genesis 1:1 (DRA)

“All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.” – John 1:3 (NABRE)

The Catholic line of thinking here is that it is God who created all things. He is the Creator of the universe. The universe cannot create itself. God, however, is outside creation. He is the Source from which all things come from.
This also has scientific support. The Big Bang Theory points to a particular event billions of years ago when all time and space began.

Has God Always Existed?

While the material universe needed a Creator, God did not need anything or anyone else to create God because of His self-existent nature. He is not a contingent being that depends upon another for existence or sustenance. God is also eternal and has existed outside of time.

Here are the Bible verses supporting this belief:

“God said to Moses: I AM WHO AM. He said: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: HE WHO IS, hath sent me to you.” – Exodus 3:14 (DRA)

“Before the mountains were born, the earth and the world brought forth, from eternity to eternity you are God.” – Psalm 90:2 (NABRE)

“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.’” – Revelation 1:8 (NABRE)

And here are the excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC):

“The revelation of the ineffable name ‘I AM WHO AM’ contains then the truth that God alone IS. the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and following it the Church’s Tradition, understood the divine name in this sense: God is the fullness of Being and of every perfection, without origin and without end. All creatures receive all that they are and have from him; but he alone is his very being, and he is of himself everything that he is.” (CCC 213)

“…of all the divine attributes, only God’s omnipotence is named in the Creed: to confess this power has great bearing on our lives. We believe that his might is universal, for God who created everything also rules everything and can do everything. God’s power is loving, for he is our Father, and mysterious, for only faith can discern it when it “is made perfect in weakness”. (CCC 268)

How Do We Distinguish God’s Nature From the Nature of the Universe?

Through our observation of the universe, we can see how everything in the universe is dependent upon other things. As an example, the movement of one object is always caused by another.

Try to imagine a fallen branch being carried away by a stream of water. That branch moves because of the movement of the water’s current. Why is the water moving? The water moves because of the gravity of the Earth. Why does the Earth have gravity? Because it has mass. How was this mass formed?

The cause and effect and the corresponding movements pertaining to various aspects of the universe can go on and on up to that first moment when the universe supposedly began during the Big Bang.

It will be very hard to prove that the universe has always existed or that there is no First Mover that caused everything else to move.

Catholics call this First Mover “God”.

God, on the other hand, who doesn’t have the same attributes as the universe, is eternal, self-existent, and does not need anything or anyone else for its being. Everything else depends and is “contingent” upon God. God, on the other hand, is the One who is the cause of it all, the one “necessary” for everything else to exist.

Why Are We Not Looking to the Source of God?

We don’t look anymore where God came from because God Himself is the Source of all.

Can anyone limit what God can do? Can science disprove Him? Has there ever been an observation that His power was dependent upon another source?

Who has ever willed anything into existence but God? Can His reach ever be measured in terms of space and time?
By logic, we must conclude that the universe needed something to exist, but God does not need anything beyond Himself.

Why Then Can’t We See God?

It is false to immediately assume that we cannot see God. First of all, God became man and lived among us. Jesus Christ walked the earth and when He did, He could be seen by other men. Secondly, Catholics believe that Jesus is fully present in the Holy Eucharist, and we can all see it even now.

However, we do not see the Father or the Holy Spirit. It is a paradox that God is both visible and invisible to us. Many times, we are blind to various manifestations of His presence. Our inability to see God, however, does not mean that He no longer exists.

Final Thoughts

Catholic teaching tells us that God is the Source of everything and that He has always existed. The Church also offers many proofs and evidences regarding the reality and existence of God.

On the other hand, science up to now has failed to provide any proof to refute the Church’s teaching that God made the universe and that the universe has a clear beginning and cause for its existence. Cosmologists themselves often point to the Big Bang Theory when asked about the origins of the universe.

The universe cannot exist or continue to exist without God.

If you want to read more about proofs on the existence of God, you may want to see Jocelyn’s book To Love an Invisible God. “Is it really possible to love a God we cannot even see?”