Argument ID: COS-DS01
Argument: Creation of the Universe had a Transcendent First Cause
Argument:
(P1) The Universe had a Beginning [COS-IS01]
(P2) Everything that begins to exist has a cause [PHY-IS01]
(P3) Something Cannot Come from Nothing [PHY-IS02]
(C) Therefore, the Universe had a Transcendent First Cause
Summary: Based on credible scientific evidence from many approved sources, scientists have confirmed that the universe had a beginning. Since SOMETHING cannot be created from NOTHING, there must have been a cause outside of the universe responsible for the creation of the universe. This outside cause is referred to as the Transcendent First Cause.
Description: Our understanding of the origin and development of the universe has evolved over the millennia. Before the emergence of the physical sciences, many cosmologists believed that the earth was flat and the center of the universe.
Fortunately, scientific discoveries over the past two hundred years have produced an overwhelming amount of evidence dispelling previously held theories in cosmology. Specifically, this evidence points to a singular beginning of the universe.
The Kamal Cosmological Argument was espoused by Al-Ghazali. Al-Ghazali was a twelfth century Muslim theologian from Persia. He was concerned that Muslim philosophers of his day were being influenced by ancient Greek philosophy to deny God’s creation of the universe. After thoroughly studying the teachings of these philosophers, Ghazali wrote a critique of their views entitled The Incoherence of the Philosophers. He argued that the idea of a beginning less universe is absurd. The universe must have a beginning, and since nothing begins to exist without a cause, there must be a transcendent creator of the universe.
Conversely, Naturalists deny the existence of a transcendent first cause to explain the origin of the universe. They posit that even if a creative force were to exist, it would be within the system, not outside.
The American Humanist Association [REF-AHA01] argues that the universe is a self-existent closed system comprised of space, time, and matter which is uniformly held together from within. This implies the Law of Causality is an inexorable, unbreakable chain of causes and effects without beginning (self-existent) or end (eternal).
We know from modern science that this claim of a self-existent universe is false. Science has proven that the universe had a beginning [COS-IS01] and is progressing toward a final state of heat death [COS-EV06]. The universe is neither uniform nor cyclic.
Based on the Laws of Causality and Non-Contradiction, we know that SOMETHING cannot be created from NOTHING. Since the results of all natural events are the result of natural causes, the original cause of nature itself must been supernatural. Otherwise, nature would not have an origin, which has been proven scientifically as untrue.
Al-Ghazali referred to this supernatural cause as a transcendent cause. By transcendent he meant that the agent by which the universe was created was OUTSIDE the universe. This agent must be independent of space, matter, and time. We refer to this agent as supernatural because this agent is above or outside of nature.
According to Robert Jastrow, an agnostic astronomer at the Mount Wilson observatory,
"There are what I or anyone would call supernatural forces at work is now, I think, a scientifically proven fact." [REF-CTT01]
Jastrow concluded that the External First Cause cannot be explained naturally.
Likewise, Arthur Eddington one of Einstein’s contemporaries came to the same conclusion when he said,
"The beginning seems to present insuperable difficulties unless we agree to look on it as frankly supernatural". [REF-EDD03]
Many other secular scientists have come to the same conclusion.
From the Christian Evidences Series, R. C. Sproul argues that the only plausible and rational explanation for the existence of the universe is a self-existent eternal being [REF-RCS01]. He further argues that the other two popular explanations of a self-existent universe or a self-created universe violate the Laws of Causality and Non-Contradiction.
Sproul claims, the whole notion of self-creation is absurd in that the universe would have to exist before it existed in order to create itself.
Further, the notion of a self-existent, eternal universe, popular in the 1800's, has been proven by the scientific community in the last century as false.
Science demonstrated that the universe has a temporal beginning and the universe is finite, therefore must have been created by a transcendent, self-existent, eternal being or the Christian notion of God.
According to Paul in Romans 1:18-20 NLT , mankind has no excuses for his ignorance.
18 God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God. (Romans 1:18-20)
Paul is saying that God's power and nature are "obvious" in creation. By using logical and empirical methods we can readily observe the transcendent, formative power of God. Modern science bears witness to this.
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