Is the universe God?

[Lek]

When I talk about the universe, I'm refering to any material thing that ever existed. Now try to wrap your brain around this. I think that we can all agree that either the universe always existed or it came into being at some time from the nothing that was already there. According to christians and many other theists God was not created. He always existed and has the power to create the universe. So either the universe always existed with no beginning or else it created itself, both of which require qualities of God.