Chapter II: Foundation of Belief
(2) The second basic principle is the knowledge that God is eternal. He has got no beginning and no end. He is the final of everything and before everything living or dead. Its proofis this.
If He were an originated thing and not eternal. He would have need of a Creator who would also have need of a Creator. Thus it would have continued without end. Whatever comes in succession ends in an ancient creator which is the first. For this reason, the Creator is the First and the Last, the Creator of the world and its Fashioner.
(3). Third basic principle. It is that God is everlasting wihtout end. He is the first and the last, the open and the secret.
When the attribute of eternity has been established, his end becomes impossible. Its proof is this. If He had an end, He would have remained in two conditions, either he would come to nought by Himself or through an oposing annihilating agent. If it is possible for a thing which is self-existing to come to nought, it is also possible for that thing to come into existence. The reason is that if a thing requires a cause to come to existence, it also requires a cause to come to nought. It is not possible that a thing comes to nought after meeting with an opposing agent. If that thing which comes to nought is eternal, how does the form of existence of a thing become? It is not also possible, than an originated thing coming before an eternal thing loses its identity and existence. God is eternal as we have learnt it from previous
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discussions. How then did He exist in eternity with His opposite?
If the opposite is an originated thing, its existence from eternity is impossible.
(4) Fourth basic principle. It is that God is wihtout form not occupying any space and free from space, motion and rest. Its proof is this. Every form occupies a space and moves and stays in it. Body has got motion and rest which are the characterof originated things. What is not free from changes is an originated thing. If any form is limited by space and is eternal, it is understood that the sustance of the creation of the world is eternal. If a man says that God has got body and occupies space, he commits blunder for using such word and not for its meaning.
(5) Fifth basic principle. It is that ood is not comoposed of abody having different substances. When He does not occupy any space, He has got no body as every body is limited by space and composed of different substances. The substances of the body are not free from division, composition, motion, rest, form and quantity. These are the qualities of an originated thing. If it were possible to believe that the Creator of the world has got a body, then it would be possible to attribute divinity of the sun and the moon and other heavenly bodies. If a designer wishes to make a body without the substance of body, he will commit mistake.