Claim ID: PHY-IS01

Claim: Law of Causality

Summary: The Law of Causality states that something cannot be created from nothing. In fact, we have not observed any instance when something occurred without a precipitating cause.

Description: The Law of Causality has garnered much attention over the millennia. It is considered one of the most fundamental laws of the universe.

As it relates to Apologetics, the Law of Causality states that something cannot be created from nothing.

Physical World

The Law of Causality is rooted in the fundamental law of physics [REF-CAU01]. In the physical world, both energy and momentum are conserved over time. This is based on the First Law of Thermodynamics (conservation of energy) and Newton's Laws of Motion (conservation of momentum) respectively. Therefore, the relationship between a cause and its effect is best understood as the transfer of energy or momentum from one object to another.

In simple terms, the Law of Causality can be thought of as a chain reaction where an effect is tightly linked to a physical cause. The effect is inextricably linked to the cause because it is the necessary outcome. To be certain, nothing can occur without a precipitating cause, and a cause will always result in an effect.

Further, this chain is regarded as unbroken since the origin of the universe. Essentially, no effect is uncaused or self-caused. There is no material evidence to support an uncaused or self-caused effect.

Non-Physical World

The Law of Causality extends beyond the physical world to the non-physical world. In the field of Epistemology, the Law of Causality is expressed as causal determinism [REF-CAU02].

Causal determinism - the relationship between cause and effect - is regarded as the rationale upon which we formulate knowledge. In fact, many epistemologists claim that the Law of Causality is axiomatic because it is a self-evident truth and is irrefutable [REF-CAU03].

Observations

Given that the Law of Causality is self-evident and irrefutable, we must conclude that the creation of the universe had a first cause. This conclusion is inescapable.

Since we know something does not come from nothing, we further conclude that this first cause must have been external to or outside of nature. Therefore, we claim that the universe came about by a supernatural, transcendent first cause.

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