Why is there something instead of nothing? | Faith Forum – Reno Gazette Journal

Why is there something instead of nothing?

Many would give one word answer to this question: God.

While many others find this simple answer problematic and do not want to give the entire credit to God; still many thank God for “something” instead of “nothing.”

It has been labelled as the “biggest question of all,” but some call it an absurd question which does not require answer. Some find no elucidation to this query and deem the question unresolvable.

“Nothing” makes many uncomfortable and seems unthinkable and impractical.

There has been “something” all the time. “Something” was inevitable, they indicate.

But “something” has to spring-up from somewhere, many feel. “Something” just elevated itself out of “nothing” — is the explanation given sometimes. Few claim that universe never ceased to exist.


Some say that as science has been unable to satisfactorily explain it, let us turn to God; proclaiming that science is limited, but God is unlimited.

German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) reportedly argued that as God is good; therefore, the universe that God chose to exist is the best of all possible worlds.

The world’s oldest extant scripture, the Rig-Veda, points out:

What was all this before creation?

Was there water?

Only God knows,

or perhaps he knows not…

We asked our panel: Why is there something instead of nothing?

It’s a mystery


ElizaBeth Webb Beyer, Jewish rabbi



We cannot fully fathom G-d’s actions nor thoughts; the finite understanding the infinite is impossible. As some Sages adeptly point out, the best we can do is work backward; now that the world is created, we can consider our role and then try to determine the purpose of the universe.

Yet some Sages suggest it was created for G-d’s honor. “Everyone who is linked by My Name and whom I have created and formed are for My glory” (Isaiah 43:7). Another reason given by our Sages is because G-d is goodness, the universe needed to be created for us to achieve merit. The first reason seems to be that the universe was created for G-d and the second reason is for our benefit. In either case, our conclusions are just a guess because, as G-d says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, My ways are not your ways” (Isaiah 55:8).

To share goodness and love


Stephen R. Karcher, presiding priest, Saint Anthony Greek Orthodox Church



The Apostle John wrote that “all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” In other words, God is the Creator of everything, and this “everything” means the entire created universe. Besides this, scripture is clear that the natural world is a revelation of the Divine nature (Romans 1:19-20), and a sure way to learn about God. And so, we can say, quite reasonably, that “something” exists precisely because Divine generosity, goodness, wisdom and love exist; there is “something” because there is God. While both the nature of God and the origin of the universe will remain mysteries for our human minds, we can have confidence that the whole cosmos has been generated by the Word of God to be a revelation of God, and that all creatures exists so that they may enjoy God’s blessings and share in His goodness.

God has always existed


Nancy Lee Cecil, Baha’i teacher



The idea of a “Prime Mover” gives us a partial answer to why something exists rather than nothing: “(T)he one true God … is established upon His Throne, a Throne which is beyond the reaches of time and space, is sanctified above all utterance of expression … and is exalted beyond all abasement and glory” (“The Summons of the Lord of Hosts”).

If existence started out as nothing — a complete vacuum, with no space, time or matter, not even containing the initial conditions amenable to their creation, then how would something magically come into existence from nothing?


Abdu’l-Baha assures us “… The power of God is eternal and there have always been beings to manifest it; that’s why we say that the worlds of God are infinite —there has never been a time when thy did not exist! One can bring nothing forth from nothing, in the same way that which exists can never be destroyed; the apparent annihilation is merely transmutation.”

But God …


Bryan J. Smith, lead pastor, Summit Christian Church, Sparks



The answer is simple, yet profound. Everything exists because of God. Throughout the Bible there is the statement, “but God.” There would be no universe, no humanity, no love, no grace apart from God. Where there was nothingness, God created something and it is that very something (including you and me) that we continue to discover, study, and experience today.

However, the “something” we see and experience today is, as 1 Corinthians 13 tells us, like a reflection in a mirror. We are not fully experiencing all God has created as it was intended to be experienced. This is due to the impact of sin. When Christ returns and ushers in his final reign, we will finally experience all God has created (His something) as he designed it. In the meantime, we hope, we wait, and we draw near to God through Christ enjoying all the “somethings” we can.

It couldn’t be otherwise


Kenneth G. Lucey, philosophy/religion professor emeritus, University of Nevada



The question asked has two parts: 1) Why does something exist? and 2) Is it possible for nothing to exist? Every human that thinks about it must agree with Rene Descartes assertion “cogito, ergo sum,” i.e. “I think, therefore I exist.” Philosophers claim some entities have necessary existence, which just means that it is impossible for them not to exist. A classic example would be the abstract numbers named by numerals (1,2,3, …). So, the answer to the first question is that a multitude of items actually exist, some because they necessarily do so. The short reply to the second question is an abrupt “no.” That is, it is not possible for nothing to exist simply because so many items necessarily exist. Theologians often claim that God necessarily exists, and if they are correct then He is another example of something existent, and shows the impossibility of nothing existing.

There is always a purpose


Sherif A. Elfass, president, Northern Nevada Muslim Community



It is natural for human beings to ponder upon the purpose of the entire creation. Believers are justified in expecting the Creator, who put them on this earth, to inform them why He did so and what He expects of them. For Muslims, the Creator said in the Quran: “Did you then think that We had created you without purpose, and that you would never be returned to Us?” (23:115). Allah (SWT) defined the purpose of mankind’s creation in the Quran: “And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me” (51:56). He also said: “The seven heavens, the earth, and all those in them glorify Him. There is not a single thing that does not glorify His praises — but you cannot comprehend their glorification” (17:44). Allah (SWT) created us to worship Him and created everything else to support this cause. Nothing was created in vain.

A ‘knotty’ question


Monique Jacobs, director of faith formation, Roman Catholic Diocese of Reno



As the origin of all that is created and uncreated, The Divine is something … Someone. Therefore, the quickest answer to this existential question — why is there something instead of nothing — is because God exists. The next question might be, “How … How do we know that because God exists … nothing becomes something?” Simply put, God likes to share. God made us to share in this rather magnificent “something” — life, afterlife, the human experience — out of love. Love is generative. Love makes “something out of nothing” every time. Love brings to life something that has no life or no existence otherwise. This sharing in the life of God opens us up, not only to what we see around us but also to what we see within us. Thus, if love is our origin, then an appropriate parallel question would be, what are we generating? Are we, too, making something out of nothing?

We are empty of separateness


Matthew T. Fisher, resident priest, Reno Buddhist Center



There is something because something has always existed. Across an expansive swath of beginningless and endless time, there has never been a time when nothing and nothingness was present in the Universe. So sees the Buddha.

Many people are confused by the Buddhist concept of Shunyata, or Emptiness. They may think we believe that there really is “nothing.” Nothing could be further from the truth. We believe that everything co-exists in a vast interconnected web of being where separation into “this” and “that” is arbitrary distinction. Interdependently co-arising, the Dharmadhatu is a “oneness with particularity,” as some describe it.


Every thing we call a thing exists in a state of “inter-being” with all other things. Without Sun, people, minerals, and plants your newspaper cannot be. So, we say they all inter-be. Remove just one thing and no other things can exist. Fortunately for us, this is impossible!

The elements are eternal


Micheal L. Peterson, northwest Nevada media specialist, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints



It is an utterly false notion to believe that the world or any other thing was created out of nothing or that any created thing can be destroyed in the sense of annihilation. “The elements are eternal” (D&C 93:33). In other words, there has never been “nothing.” But doesn’t the Bible say “He created the world,” you say? The word “create” came from the word “baurau,” which does not mean create out of nothing, but to organize as a man would gather materials and build a house. Hence, we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaotic matter, which is element. Element has always had an existence. The pure principles of element are principles that can never be destroyed; they may be organized and reorganized but not destroyed. They had no beginning and they can have no end (Teachings, pp. 350-352).

Because love cannot exist in a vacuum


Dawn M. Blundell, senior pastor, Epworth United Methodist Church, Fallon



In all the Bible’s beautiful, poetic descriptions of God creating the universe, there isn’t a word about *why* God creates. But throughout the Bible are songs, stories and declarations about how much God loves the world and the people in it. God numbered every hair on your head, Jesus says in Luke 12, and cares for you always. You are precious and honored in my sight, God says through the prophet Isaiah, and I love you. And in John 3, God so loved the world that God became human, and lived and died and lived again to save it. Christians in my tradition believe that God created out of love’s irrepressible desire for creative expression and relationship. We have been created with those same yearnings. We believe that God IS love, that Jesus is perfect love incarnate, and that God continues to create, forgive, save, and care for all creation.

Our experiences can give us answers


Gaia Brown, member, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Nevada



Astronomers recently witnessed two separate events of black holes swallowing neutron stars, a teaspoon of which would weigh a billion tons, 900 million light years away. Astronomers delight in pushing ever-further back, trying to get to time before time, pursuing the answer to today’s question. And an armchair philosopher might say that there has to be something (or someone) for such a question to be asked.


Neither scientist nor philosopher, I personally turn to direct experience when pondering unknown. I recall decades ago being at a Unitarian Universalist conference center on a tiny island surrounded by Atlantic Ocean. Having spent the week in deep conversation with fellow religious educators, I fell asleep in soft afternoon sun with many metaphysical questions, including this one, swimming in my head. I awoke to see a small boat bobbing close to shore, its name emblazoned on its back: “ACCEPT IT.” I did, with gratitude.

Something out of nothing


Alex J. Berger, New Testament teacher



The beginning of the Bible starts, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty… And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1-3) Since the dawn of humanity people have looked at the cosmos and wondered “where did this all come from?” and the Bible points to a loving, creator God.

Even while scientific knowledge advanced, Christian intellectuals still pointed back to these first few verses. One phrase that has been used to describe God’s creating power is creatio ex nihilo, which in Latin means, “created out of nothing” concerning the beginning of the cosmos and matter.

The apostle Paul goes even further by saying, “all things have been created through (Jesus) and for (Jesus)” (Colossians 1:16). Why is there something rather than nothing? So God could manifest his love through Christ onto the creation of humanity.

Existence, consciousness, joy: beginningless, fundamental and unchanging


Swami Vedananda, Hindu monk



According to the ancient scripture of India, the Chhandogya Upanishad, “In the beginning there was existence alone, one without a second.” This states the basic assumption that, apart from the entities that are seen to exist, the possibility of existence itself is uncreated, ever present and ever possible. Similarly, consciousness itself, apart from what we are conscious of, is uncreated, and so is the pure joy of being. These three — existence, consciousness and bliss — refer to the same fundamental concept seen from different angles. This is the unoriginated, unchanging background of all existence and all experience, the structure that underlies every manifestation of life.


The fact that we can understand and deal with change implies that we have within ourselves, as part of our basic nature, from the very beginning, an unchanging awareness of a basic reality that can never change.

Next week’s topic: Does guilt serve a purpose?

Faith Forum is a weekly dialogue on religion produced by religious statesman Rajan Zed. Send questions or comments to rajanzed@gmail.com or on Twitter at @rajanzed.

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