Time Existed Before God?

from http://www.promormon.blogspot.com/ ...

"If we stick to the strict language applied to the verses like Isaiah 43:10 invoked by LDS critics stretching for proof of this being a statement against the existence of other real gods, then we must concede that God notes that there was also a time before his own creation."

Here's the verse, Isaiah 43:10 (I love the YouVersion website)...

"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."

So what the LDS would say is, "See? Time existed before God!"

Ok, slow down for a moment. Let's think about this logically:

IF: Time existed before God,

THEN: God did not create everything,

THEN: God is a finite being,

THEN: By definition God is not really God as He defines Himself in the Bible, ie: the Creator of absolutely everything,

THEN: God would be a liar;

ALSO: God would be contingent on Time existing before Him,

THEN: Time would be more powerful than God,

THEN: Time would be God instead,

THEN: God would be a liar;

I could go on. The logical implications of the ProMormon statement are far reaching.

Regardless, just because God says that there was no god formed neither before nor after Him, this does not logically imply that anything existed before God. It is possible for God the be the ultimate Source of all things and to logically say that nothing existed before Him, even other gods.

IF: God is God,

THEN: He would by necessity be the ultimate Source,

THEN: Time, space, matter... everything would be created by Him and would be contingent on Him for their existence, as it says in Acts 17:28, "for in Him we live and move and have our being..."

and in Colossians 1:15-18, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."