Introduction
To design a holistically consistent God-related religion requires us to logically and rationally explain the chain of events beginning before the creation of the universe to the present time. This is the most definitive place to start.
The following pages describe a "Pre-Creation Theology" — a way of thinking about the universe and all human-related activities — beginning where The Creator began, before creation. Any theology that has its beginnings after creation, in early Hebrew times or the life and death of Jesus, for example, has blind assumptions about God, God's situation before creation, creation, and the universe. These blind assumptions cause great difficulties for contemporary Christians having to explain contentious social, religious, moral, and ethical issues. By beginning before creation we will leave no era unexamined.
The Pre-Creation Theology begins with God in the era before creation and then, in light of those explanations, interprets the events of human activity, including the life and death of Jesus. Historic Judeo-Christian theologies, however, have taken on this task in reverse order — they began with an understanding of the historical events of the Hebrew people and the life and death of Jesus and then tried to describe the character and nature of God. Far greater consistency will occur when we begin by trying to understand God's situation before creation, and use that new understanding to explain all events that follow.
If by some way we were able to witness and observe all that took place before creation to the present time, the development of the universe and God's actions and lack thereof would make sense to us. But because we are latecomers in the universe, (scientists tell us that we are about 13 billion years too late!), we do not have any record of what actually occurred. Because of that, we must ask questions that place us at that "time" and strive to answer them, much as Detective Sherlock Holmes would do to unravel a complicated case. Some questions will yield great wealth of knowledge while others will yield little. The important thing is to ask questions and strive to answer them.
Let us begin by asking a series of important questions.
Why did The Creator create the universe if The Creator was complete and whole before creation?
What does the universe give God that God could not get without it?
Is there a limit and, if so, what is it that limits The Creator's ability to experience the universe?
Why did The Creator create imperfect, short-lived, material human beings?
What is the role of individuals in their relationship to The Creator and the reasons God created them and the universe?
What is God's relationship to the universe?
Am I supposed to take the creation of the universe personally?
What is God's relationship to me?
What is my relationship to God?
What is my relationship to the universe?
Is there some sort of agenda or purpose for my life?
Does God have a plan for my life? If so, what is it?!
These may sound like very weighty and tedious questions to answer, but necessary to help us understand what our experience in the universe is all about: Existence is a personal experience for The Creator and for The Creator's human children. It becomes even more personal and intimate when we consciously invite The Creator to share in our experiences of living.
As you can see, I have already jumped ahead of myself. We tend to take for granted that experience is concomitant to existence. Yet, we have not begun the explanation of experience and its purpose for The Creator. In this treatise, we must begin at that point.