The Universe Had a Start
Month 2: Does God Exist? · Why We Believe
Today's Scripture
Read together: Hebrews 3:4
4 And every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
Memory Verse
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”— Genesis 1:1 (BSB)
📖 Bible-in-a-Year (optional)
Today's reading: Romans 11–13
Reading the whole Bible in a year — do this when you have extra time. (Paul calls us to offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices.)The Heart of It
"Every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God" (). It's the simplest kind of reasoning, and even a small child can follow it. Imagine you walked into a forest and found a house. It has windows, a roof, and a door that latches. You would never say, "Wow, look what the wind and rain made over millions of years." You would know it right away. Somebody built this. The house is proof of a builder, even though the builder is nowhere in sight. The Bible says the whole universe works the same way. It's a built thing. And built things point to a Builder.
Here's a clue God left right inside His creation. For a long time many people believed the universe had always existed. They thought it had no beginning and needed no Maker. But study after study now agrees with what Genesis said all along. The universe had a start. It came into being. And that little fact is enormous. Anything that begins needs a cause outside itself. A marble doesn't roll on its own. A song doesn't write itself. A universe doesn't start itself. Something had to begin it. Someone uncaused, powerful, and outside of time. The Bible told us His name thousands of years before the telescopes confirmed the start. It said, "In the beginning God created."
Around the Table
Imagine you saw a sandcastle on the beach. Would you say the waves made it? No way! Someone built it. The whole world is like that. God built it.
Let's do it: Build a quick tower of blocks. Then ask, "Did this build itself? Who built it?" Now look around. Who built the world?
says every house has a builder, and God built everything. Things that begin to exist always have a cause.
Let's talk: Name three things in this room. Did any of them make themselves? So what does that tell us about the universe?
Scientists now widely agree that the universe had a beginning. It does not have an eternal past. Whatever begins to exist needs a cause beyond itself. That points to an eternal, powerful Maker.
Let's go deeper: Why can't the universe be its own cause? A thing can't make itself. It would have to exist before it existed!
💬 Conversation Starter
What's the most amazing thing you've ever seen that a person built? Now think bigger. Who built the builder? Who built the wood and the planet they stood on?
🛡️ Defending the Faith
Sometimes someone says, "Nobody made the universe. It just happened." You can kindly reply, "Everything that begins to exist has a cause. And we now know the universe began to exist. So it had a cause too. A house always has a builder (), and the universe is the biggest 'house' of all." Then ask a gentle question of your own. Ask, "What do you think caused it to begin?" Sharing the reason for our hope is meant to be a calm, curious conversation. We speak "with gentleness and respect" (). It's never a fight to win.
For Dad · Go Deeper
The argument in is a child-sized version of what philosophers call the cosmological argument. Whatever begins to exist has a cause. The universe began to exist. Therefore the universe has a cause. Frank Turek and J. Warner Wallace both note how the evidence for a cosmic beginning fits the Bible far better than an eternal, self-existing universe ever did. But teach your kids the manner as much as the matter. The goal is not to produce little debaters who corner their friends. It's to raise confident, humble witnesses who can hold a true thought steadily and ask good questions. Practice with them. State the point, then turn it into a kind question. Truth plus tenderness is the family style.
Draws on: Frank Turek, Stealing from God; J. Warner Wallace, God's Crime Scene.
Let's Pray Together
"Father, thank You that the world You built shouts that You are real. Help us believe with our minds. Help us share with kindness. Then others can see You too. In Jesus' name, amen."
Every house has a builder. And the universe's Builder is God.