Last time, we began to examine the Law of Causality by looking at the beautiful, magnificent cathedral in Strasbourg, France. There, we said that every stone in the structure exists and is so placed only by some causal agent, namely, the stonemason and God’s will. Very much the same can be said of the universe as a whole, which has not existed from all eternity, but has a beginning in time. Philosophical cosmology tells us that 1) Everything that begins to exist has a cause; 2) The universe began to exist; 3) Therefore, the universe had a Cause. Such is the formal argument known in philosophy and apologetics as the Kalam cosmological argument. Whiletheargumentissoundandits conclusion naturally follows, critics counter by asking whether it is valid and, if everything that begins to exist has a cause, who caused the Cause? Or, more precisely, who made God? It is an important question that bears directly on the Law of Causality, the foundational basis of all scientific discovery. In its pure form, science looks at “effects” and makes scientific assumptions about their “causes.” We have all heard of cause and effect. At the ground level, that is what good science is based upon. And from extensive observation throughout science, we know that every effect has a cause. So, it drives the question, “If everything that begins to exist has a cause, who caused the Cause?” or, we might ask, “Who created the Creator?”
Looking at the argument above, we can say the first premise does not apply to the First Cause because the Christian claim is that the Cause of the universe did not “begin” to exist but has always existed in a timeless, spaceless realm. That is, before the universe was created, there was absolutely nothing existing except for the Cause . . . nothing. (Aristotle once defined nothing as “the thing that rocks think about”). At any rate, the Law of Causality applies only to things that “begin” to exist. That means the First Cause existed from all eternity, outside of space and time, because space and time did not exist until the universe came into being. Christian apologist Norman Geisler put it this way: “When you get right down to it, there are only two possibilities for anything that exists: 1) it has always existed and is, therefore, uncaused, or 2) it had a beginning and was caused by something else.” ThatiswhyAristotlereasonedthere hadtobean“unmovedmover”ofthe universe: a First Cause that exists outside the Law of Causality that caused everything else.
With only this information, we cannot yet say this is the God of Christianity; we can say some significant things about what type of Cause the evidence suggests. Paul told the Romans that we can learn about God’s “eternal power and divine nature” from what “can be clearly seen” in nature (Rom 1:19-20). The evidence from nature suggests that the First Cause is beginningless because He is uncaused. Also, we can say that the First Cause is changeless because He exists outside of time. However, we can still say more: that the First Cause is immaterial because material things involve changes, at least at the molecular and atomic level, and that the First Cause is timeless. Given that time had a beginning, the Cause of time’s beginning must be Itself timeless. The First Cause is spaceless since He transcends both time and space. And we can say that the First Cause is enormously powerful by virtue of creation ex nihilo (out of nothing). But more importantly, we can deduce from the evidence so far that the creation of the universe can only be explained by a volitional (willful) Agent. Since an Agent acting to satisfy his will is a personal action, we can say the creation of the universe was a personal demonstration of the will of the First Cause. Creation ex nihilo also eliminates all pantheistic gods since the Creator and the creation cannot be one and the same. Further, we can deduce that there exists an uncaused, personal Creator of the universe, who in relation to the universe, is beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless, and enormously powerful.
As we look to new evidence in our questtoanswerthequestion,“IsGod dead?” I leave you with a sobering thought. In his PhD dissertation, the brilliant physicist Steven Hawking argues convincingly that time had a beginning; sadly, he spent the rest of his life trying to disprove what his own conclusion points to: a Creator. Nonetheless, both atheists and Christians alike come to the same conclusion: it seems that the universe (and time) have not always been here. Robert Jastrow summarizes the significance of the evidence this way: “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has 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 abandoftheologianswhohavebeen sitting there for centuries.”
Until next time, I ask again: Is God dead?
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics, and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife Vicki are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore. You can contact him at: dr.kerley@isGoddead.com.