Apologetics Pt 9

An exploration of the conclusion of the Cosmological Argument

3) Therefore, the universe had a cause

Now, remember how our thinking is progressing here. I explained at the beginning that a deductive argument leads the thinker to either agree or disagree with the premises. If you agree with the premises, you are logically bound to agree with the conclusion. That is what makes a good deductive argument – true premises and sound logic. If you agree with the first two premises (1) everything that begins to exist has a cause and (2) the universe began to exist, then you have to agree with (3) therefore, the universe had a cause.

So all that’s left for us to do is figure out what that cause is! If you are talking to your friends about this concept, it is too far to go to say that God is the cause. The argument doesn’t get us there – but it does give us some massive, un-ignorable conclusions that point us towards something like God.

Here’s the conclusions we can make and why. Some of them are a little technical, but take your time and refer back to earlier blog posts for some clarity!

The cause of the universe must be:

• Unbelievably powerful – to create time, energy, matter and space itself is no small feat!
• Timeless – the cause of the universe was also the cause of time which means it had to be without time prior to the beginning of the universe
• Spaceless – the cause of the universe also created space itself which means it had to be spaceless or without dimensions, i.e. not a thing that is in anything, or next to anything etc. It would be entirely spaceless.
• Eternal – we have learned that it is impossible to have an infinite number of past events, and therefore we can’t have an infinite number of causes in the past. The buck must stop with a cause of everything – a first cause, an unmoved mover – that must have existed eternally in the past (or without time).
• Personal – to initiate the beginning of the universe implies choice. For argument’s sake, let’s say the universe is 14 billion years old. Why that number of years? The cause of the universe must have decided (and in deciding, created time!) to create the universe.

On it’s own, the Cosmological Argument at the very most takes us to theism (God exists), but not mono-theism (one God). You can be a poly-theist (more than one god) and agree with the Cosmological Argument. The challenge for the Apologist is to take the next step and explore other arguments which lead us to monotheism and then Christianity.

At the end of this argument – is there anything you didn’t understand? Is there any point you disagree with? Anything I’ve missed? Leave your comments!