Let's Argue: The Cosmological Argument
The Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham debate motivated me to write a series of blogs on philosophical arguments for God's existence. Here's the first one:
LET'S ARGUE
LET'S ARGUE
Arguments aren’t just a shouting match between two people
who disagree. Sometimes the connotation
of the word “argument” can make people think that’s what argumentation is. However, when we talk about “arguments” for
God’s existence, we mean something else entirely.
A “good” argument is a series of statements, or premises,
that lead to a conclusion. These
premises must be logically sound (the conclusion follows the premises by the
rules of logic), and its premises are true.
Along with this, it must be shown that there is good reason to believe
that what this argument is stating is true.
PROVE IT
These arguments we’re going to look at are not “undeniable
proof” of God’s existence. Rather, we
ask the question: is the reason being stated more plausibly true than plausibly
false?
THE COSMOLOGICAL
ARGUMENT
Currently my favorite argument for God’s existence is The
Cosmological Argument, and a variation of it popularized by Dr. William Lane
Craig called The Kalam Cosmological
Argument. The Cosmological Argument goes
as follows:
1. Everything that exists has an
explanation of its existence, either in the necessity of its own nature or an
external cause
2. If the
universe has an explanation of it’s existence, that explanation is God.
3. The
universe exists.
4.
Therefore, the Universe has an explanation of its existence.
5.
Therefore, the explanation of the universe’s existence is God.
The Kalam Cosmological
Argument goes as follows:
1.
Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
2. The
universe began to exist.
3.
Therefore, the universe has a cause.
From here on we must show the validity of the premises.
THE UNIVERSE BEGAN?
How do we know that the universe began?
Everything we observe in nature always has a
cause. This cause is either external, or
it exists necessarily. Nothing in the
universe is uncaused. Most leading
physicists today agree that the universe has a beginning.
The logic of infinity is another way we can show
this. Infinity exists conceptually, but
cannot truly exist in real life.
Imagine
having an infinite amount of coins starting at 1, 2, 3, and so on to
infinity. Now subtract all of the even
coins from this amount. How many coins
are you left with? The answer is all of the
even coins, which is an infinite amount!
Now
imagine, instead, subtracting all of the coins that are above 3. Now how many coins are you left with? The answer is 3…but this means that infinity
minus infinity is equal to 3.
∞ - ∞ = 3
This does not work.
This
shows that infinity only exists as a concept in our minds, but not as something
tangible. This exact scenario applies to
the universe as well. The idea of a
forever-existing universe is not logically sound. It must have had a beginning.
The fact that the universe is expanding is also
evidence of this. We arrived at The Big
Bang Theory because of the universe is constantly getting bigger. This means that yesterday the universe was
closer together, and even closer last year, etc. …until you reach the
beginning, where everything was condensed to one small point. Thus, the universe had to have a beginning
point.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics further shows
this. This law of nature states that
anything that is in a state of decay will continue to decay. AKA our universe is in a state of decay
(stars are dying, even our own sun), and will eventually die out and become
lifeless.
THEN WHO CAUSED THE
UNIVERSE?
So we’ve established that the universe has a cause. How is God the best explanation? This explanation must be greater than the universe.
This means it must be spaceless,
timeless, and uncaused. There are only two
possible explanations that fit this description:
1. Abstract
Objects
2. An
un-embodied mind
What do we mean as an abstract object? Numbers are a great example. Abstract objects are greater than the
universe; they are spaceless and timeless, and would exist regardless of the
universe’s existence. However, we can
rule out abstract objects because they are not causal in nature; they don’t
cause anything to happen.
For
example: although the number 7 is beyond space and time, it does not cause
anything. It simply exists.
This leaves us with one candidate: an un-embodied mind, or what
we call “God”. God as the eternal,
spaceless cause of the universe is more plausibly
true than plausibly false, as
shown through this argument. God is the best explanation of the cause of the universe.
BUT WHO CAUSED GOD?
Well sure, God caused the universe, but who caused God? And who made that guy? And the guy before him?
By definition, God must be eternal and uncaused. Otherwise, the cycle would continue
forever. This is what we mean by
eternal. And substituting “God” for
anything else doesn’t change anything…whoever/whatever caused the universe must
be eternal (always existed) and
uncaused. This means that while everything
else began to exist, God does not begin to exist because He is outside
time and space, and in fact created these.
CONCLUSION
We’ve seen that these premises are logically valid and true. We have seen that there is good reason to
believe that what this argument is saying is more plausibly true than plausibly
false.
Thus, this argument shows that
God’s existence is more plausibly true than plausibly false.
Once again, this argument by itself is not enough reason to
“give up everything and follow Jesus.”
More must be considered. But if
we can see through multiple arguments and evidences that there is greater
reason to believe in God’s existence than not to, and specifically that Jesus
Himself is God, then we can make an informed decision about the God we choose
to follow.
“Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian
hope, always be ready to explain it,” (1
Peter 3:15)
*Much of the above content was borrowed from Reasonable
Faith. For more see this resource:
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/the-new-atheism-and-five-arguments-for-god
UPDATE 4/4/14
This video does a fantastic job of explaining The Kalam Cosmological Argument:
UPDATE 4/4/14
This video does a fantastic job of explaining The Kalam Cosmological Argument:
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment