Just adding my two cents, as I find such philosophical thoughts interesting, and have some of my own, I doubt that they are truly original, most likely picked up from books and conversations and so on, but I play about with them in my own mind often enough that I tend to think of them as mine. I'll say now I can't find reason to have faith in any devine being (except perhaps fear that should such a being exist it will not forgive me for not believing).
God, Omnipotent and Omniscient...hang on if a being is omnipotent, that surely means can do anything, anything includes knowing everything (ie is already omniscient), already seems to have redudancy still moving on... Oh one moment, Omniscient, knows everything...that would include past present and future, darn there goes the freewill I like to believe I have (can't say for sure that I do have it, so I say I like to believe I do). Where was I in this ramble, ah yes Omnipotent, Omniscient, well then knowing exactly what will happen through out the existance of time and a universe to experiance the time, why bother...
Which leads me to suspect that should a creator exist it isn't omnipotent or omniscient, so what other properties could be ascribed to such a being...
Obviously the ability to create a universe, to act and exist outside time and space as they are both parts of the universe that this being supposedly created. this is where my imagination hits a limit I cannot really concieve of something outside of time and space, but as it can have no volume, mass, or indeed any physical property as currently understood, and needs to act without time, and time seems essential in all actions and reactions as currently understood (ie Cause _Then_ Effect, then inherently says after or at a later time (I understand that quantum mechanics may have some evidence for things that happen simultaniously bypassing cause and effect however the events still take time to happen)), so such a being could not be comparable to ourselves in any shape or form. Our process of thinking also takes time, so even in thought this supposed being would have to be completly different.*(see footnote)
So I say this being would be far beyond my comprehension and my ability to test.
Moving onwards, attempting to stretch my imagination I concieve of the afformentioned being, the creator, the natural question arrises how did this being come to be, at this point though we're outside of time, so no time or events or space or matter exist between between the begining of this being (whatever begining might mean in such a context) and his act of creation.
I find that believing in this being requires many more leaps of faith and imagination than believing that the universe spontainously created itself in this realm without space time etc (if the word "in" can be used about something completely dimensionless).
All this before I get to religion, which I'm not going to get to in this forum, as I don't know enough about all the religions of the world to write on them all and it would seem most unfair to pick on those that I do know about, but I will however add one last point, ment to some extent in humour...
Most religions it seems to me have a forgiving devine being (helps recruiting else all those prior years of not worshiping, or of worshiping another deity would stop people getting to heaven and if that already determined, why worship...) so being as most religions agree on this there is a good chance that should a devinity exist then this feature of it is true, hopefuly then this devinity will forgive me for not believing if it happens to exist.
Thanks for reading, apologies if anything I have said here causes offence, I do not attest to the truth of these things merely my own belief in them. Oh and I apologise for the use of nested parenthacies, messy I know, but I like them.
Math
* No doubt it will be noted that I leave out energy, light being a wave partical duality I'm not sure if in theory it could exist beyond space and time, as a wave alone, so for simplisty of thought I leave it out of the list of things that could not exist out side of space and time, in my opinion however it the wave partical duality would break down and light would no longer be recognisable in this context, the wave having no dimension to travel through... but thinking of such realms of non-existence is mind bending, enough for me to express doubt.
PS
Good short story PY, kinda invites thoughts about infitely recursive universes.
