Does God exist? The Cosmological Argument

Arguments for the existence of God

INTRODUCTION:

Does God exist? This is the question that we will be considering in today’s podcast episode.  Here’s the claim:

“God exists”

Objective or subjective?

If you remember, the first thing we do when we are confronted with a truth claim is to ask: is this a subjective or objective truth claim?

Category of truth:

In which category of truth does this claim belong? Is it a material, menta/conceptual, metaphysical or moral truth claim? 

Method of inquiry:

Now which academic discipline or method of inquiry is best suited to answer this all-important question?

THREE ARGUMENTS:

The three arguments we will consider today are:

·         The Cosmological Argument

·         The Teleological Argument (Argument from design)

·         Moral Argument

The Cosmological Argument:

CLIP: William Lane Craig 

The argument is formulated as follows:

1)    Whatever begins to exist has a cause

2)    The universe began to exist

3)    Therefore, the universe has a cause

Premise 1: Whatever begins to exist has a cause

Premise 1—also known as the Law of causality—is the fundamental principle of science. Without the Law of Causality science is impossible.

Premise 2: The universe began to exist

The second premise of the cosmological argument states that the universe began to exist.

Philosophical argument:

The philosophical argument goes like this:

1)    An infinite number of days has no end.

2)    But today is the end day of history (History being a collection of all days).

3)    Therefore, there were not an infinite number of days before today (i.e., time had a beginning).

Scientific evidence:

S—The Second Law of Thermodynamics

The second law of thermodynamics (also known as the Law of Entropy) states that the universe is running out of usable energy.

U—The Universe Is Expanding

The second line of evidence is the fact that the universe is expanding.

No Time, No Space, No Matter

Let’s imagine we were watching a video of the history of expansion of the universe in reverse. We will see all matter in the universe collapse back to a point where the expansion started.

R—Radiation from the big bang

The phenomenon is technically known as cosmic background radiation and this afterglow is the light and heat from the initial explosion. The light has become invisible due to the expanding universe, but the heat can still be detected.

G—Great galaxy Seeds

If the Big Bang occurred, scientist expected to see slight variations or ripples in the temperature of the cosmic background that Penzias and Wilson had discovered. 

E—Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity

The E in surge is for Einstein. His theory of general relativity is the fifth line of scientific evidence that the universe had a beginning. Einstein’s theory of general relativity demands an absolute beginning for time, space and matter. 

Conclusion:

Anything that begins to exist has a cause and based on the arguments from SURGE, the universe began to exist. Therefore, the universe has a cause. 

FORECAST TO NEXT EPISODE:

In the next episode we will consider the Teleological (Argument from design) as well as the Moral argument for the existence of God. 

So, until then, remember:

The TRUTH MATTERS and so do YOU!