The Case for God: In the beginning . . .

The phrase “In the beginning . . .” is synonymous with the first three words of the Holy Bible, contending that there was an actual beginning to existence. But this parlance is not confined to the Christian community. It is an idea that reverberates throughout the myriad of differing metaphysical belief systems.

Now for the Christian the next two words in the aforementioned phrase, “. . . God created . . . ,” provides the framework, or rather the Framer, for the three preceding words. It is this context that provides the structure for understanding how the universe, and reality as we know it, came into existence. “In the beginning God created . . .” presupposes two things: 1. There was an actual beginning to this universe; 2. That its creator was God.

But there are also many skeptics who posit "natural causes" as their rationale for the origin of the universe. They do not believe there was a beginning to the universe, and therefore, no Beginner. Some claim to oppose the notion of a beginning and/or Creator for scientific reasons, some posit "philosophical" objections, and some appear to have an aversion to what seems to be the inevitable conclusion . . . that there is a Creator, i.e., God.

In this post I will lay out a deductive argument and a subsequent cumulative case for the evidence of God from the beginning of the universe. I will show not only that science corroborates this belief, but also that the most logical conclusion is that God is the Creator.*

The Cosmological Argument

The cosmological argument demonstrates that the existence of the world or universe is strong evidence for the existence of a God who created it. The existence of the universe, the argument claims, stands in need of explanation, and the only adequate explanation of its existence is that it was created by God.[1]

Although the cosmological argument is demonstrated in various forms, I presented it in my first blog post on Why I Am A Christian as follows:

Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
The universe began to exist.
Therefore, the universe has a Cause.
This Cause must be Eternal and Uncaused.
This Cause is God.

Premise (1): Whatever begins to exist has a cause.

The Principle of Causality is a basic scientific law which states that anything that comes into existence must have an antecedent (prior to) cause. If this were not the case, then things could pop in and out of existence at any time! Yet we have no fear of sitting at home watching television and a shark arbitrarily popping into existence beside us. Or driving on a freeway and a boat suddenly appears without explanation. It is fair to say that we would think of such things as illogical and its implications akin to a fairy tale type world. Therefore, if something begins to exist it must have a cause.

“I never asserted so absurd a proposition as that anything might arise without a cause.”

-David Hume, Scottish philosopher and one of the most distinguished empiricists and skeptics of the Western tradition

Premise (2): The universe began to exist.

There are several scientific reasons that declare that the universe is finite and came into existence at some point in the past. Here are a few:

· The Second Law of Thermodynamics basically states that the universe is slowly running out of usable energy (i.e., increasing entropy). The first law of thermodynamics tells us that the actual amount of energy in the universe does not change. If the actual amount of energy does not change and, from the second law, we know that the universe is running out of energy, then there could not have been an infinite amount to begin with. It would be like filling a glass with a finite amount of orange juice then drinking it . . . the glass will eventually be empty! If the universe had existed infinitely than it would have run out of energy by now. Therefore, the universe had to have a beginning.

· Let’s take a closer look at the possibility of an infinite universe. If this universe were infinitely old than how would we arrive at today? It would be impossible since there would also have to be an infinite amount of time crossed. There could not be a “beginning” of time, so there could not be a “today.” (This is also known as the Philosophy of Infinite Regress.) Infinites work as conceptual ideas, not in actuality (or the physical world).

For example, imagine a CD collection that is infinitely large. Listening to one CD with an infinite amount of songs would be the same as listening to all the CDs. Yet, those CDs have different sizes, or a different number of songs. This is nonsensical.

One more example, take Nascar. The cars line up at the start line, go around the track a certain number of times and the first one that crosses the finish line is the winner. Well thinking of this in terms of an infinite, there could no "start" line or no "finish" line. The cars would go around the track an infinite amount of times with a winner never being declared. The absurdities in this example could be taken further but I will stop there. Are you confused by both of these example? That's the point. Infinites can't exist in the actual world. They are illogical.

· The expansion of the universe is another reason that the universe had a beginning. Scientists, beginning with Albert Einstein, have made many observations to this fact. Since it is increasing, matter is moving away from the center. But if we were to reverse the process, we would find that it had a beginning.

· Lastly, the Radiation Echo (or the radiation emanating throughout the universe) is evidence of remnants from the Big Bang. It is consistent with what we would expect to be lingering from a massive past explosion.

Premise (3): Therefore, the Universe has a Cause.

Given the abundance of evidence that has been presented, it is logical and most plausible to believe that the universe had a beginning. Arguments to the contrary require abandoning a substantial amount of widely held empirical data.

Premise (4): This Cause must be Eternal and Uncaused.

Remembering the Principle of Causality (and that it applies to this universe), it’s safe to assume that the First Cause must be beyond the space-time universe. It must be spaceless, changeless, immaterial, and incredibly powerful. These attributes describe God.

Premise (5): This Cause is God.

As shown, the Cosmological Argument gives strong evidence to rationally believe not only did the universe have a beginning, but that God caused it. We have seen that the universe does not exist necessarily (meaning the data shows it had a beginning), but is contingent, therefore it cannot cause itself. Faced with this conclusion, skeptics have tried to supplant this argument, but their efforts have been futile and ultimately fall short of plausibly explaining the abundance of information to the contrary. Hence, it is clearly more reasonable to believe that “In the beginning God created . . .”

"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He had scaled the mountains of ignorance, he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."

-Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers

Possible Responses/Objections

There are many responses that a skeptic could give to this argument. Here are a couple:

"Well, if you're saying everything has a cause, then who created God?"

Many times the skeptic thinks this is an insuperable question. But the question is, in fact, illogical. The Principle of Causality does not state that everything has a cause, but that everything that comes into existence has a cause. If the skeptic is posing this to a Christian than they must use the Christian notion of 'God' when trying to refute it, lest they be guilty of equivocation. By definition, (for the Christian) God is eternal, therefore, He had no beginning. He did not come into existence. While this may be hard to apprehend, it does not undermine the argument. If the First Cause, namely God, did not exist eternally than the result would be an infinite regression which has already been shown to be logically impossible.

Also, regarding an infinite regression, as stated before it is not possible in the actual world. But it is possible in mathematics where negative and positive numbers can reach infinity. Given this fact, number series provide further evidence for God. For if there were no first positive integer, there could not be a succession of additional units. Without a first, there would be no second, third, etc.

"I don't see how you've proven your case. Why must the First Cause be God, and moreover, why must the God be "Personal?"

Whenever the word "prove" comes up in discussion with a skeptic be sure to ask what they mean by "prove." There are varying levels of "proof" so this must be established up front. One can "prove" that 1+1=2 conclusively. One can also "prove" love for a spouse. "Proof" in this circumstance is validated in a non conclusively manner as opposed to the previous example, but with evidence being more plausible that not.

In the argument for the existence of God, "proof" is used in the second way. While it's not as conclusively irrefutable as the number example, it is much more plausible given the overwhelming amount of data that God is the First Cause.

Still, why a Personal God? Let's recap and add a fifth "personal" dimension to the argument.

-Necessary Being: if It were dependent It would have to have something preceding it.
-Transcendent: must exist outside this universe.
-Immaterial: if it were material it would have to exist within the universe.
-Immensely powerful: it must possess great power to create something as vast as the universe.
-Willful: it had to have a desire to create. This is a "personal" attribute.

*(This post is not intended to give reasons for the Christian “God,” but that a God exists.)

[1] http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/theistic-proofs/the-cosmological-argument/

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