Answering children’s questions: Who made God?

This is the number one, most asked question by children, teens and even sometimes adults with the simplest answer: no one. But if the answer is so simple, then why do so many children keep on asking the question? 

I once had an email from someone who said their grandson kept asking this question, so they bought my book “Who Made God?” but by the end of it, he wasn’t satisfied with the explanation. I thought I’d done a really good job of exploring the question and offering more than one way to unpack the answer for kids (and plenty of other people gave positive reviews) so it really got me thinking: is there deeper meaning behind the question, “Who created God?”

If the question was “Where can I buy a sandwich?” and the answer was to point at a shop and say “There” then you wouldn’t expect that person to keep asking around for where to buy a sandwich. Unless that’s not really what they’re asking. 

“Who Created God?” is first and foremost a question about creation. In today’s Western world, the word ‘creation’ almost always has a religious connotation. Many non-believers will not even use the word ‘creation’ to describe the world in which we live. Yet the majority of children’s Christian resources begin with creation. So for some children, this may be a novel concept.

These are big ideas for little minds but instead of thinking “they’re too young to understand so I won’t bother right now” it’s good to plant the seeds when the ground is fertile and open

The creation account in Genesis is exhaustive; God created the earth, stars, seas, plants, trees, fish, birds, animals and humans; everything you can see, hear and touch, God created it all. So is it any wonder that the very next question to pop into their minds is ‘that just leaves God. If everything has been created and nothing is by chance or without design then doesn’t it make sense to include God in the list too?’ This question is articulated in the simple phrase ……