If one believed that the universe had a beginning, the obvious question was: What happened before the beginning What was God doing before He made the world Was He preparing Hell for people who asked such questions The problem of whether or not the universe had a beginning was a great concern to the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant. He felt there were logical contradictions, or Antinomies, either way. If the universe had a beginning, why did it wait an infinite time before it began He called that file thesis. On the other hand, if the universe had existed forever, why did it take an infinite time to reach the present stage He called that the antithesis. Both the thesis, and the antithesis, depended on Kant’s assumption, along with almost everyone else, that time was Absolute. That is to say, it went from the infinite past, to the infinite future, independently of any universe that might or might not exist in this background.