RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
July 7, 2023 at 7:40 pm
@Angrboda
This is from the AMNH: "The Big Bang was the moment 13.8 billion years ago when the universe began as a tiny, dense, fireball that exploded. Most astronomers use the Big Bang theory to explain how the universe began. But what caused this explosion in the first place is still a mystery."
Those who know the Principle of Contingent Causation, the First Cause Argument etc know the answer to that question. That the universe began is dead certain. That it is therefore contingent, non-eternal and non-necessary necessarily follows. It remains that B1 in the OP is not the Universe, but the First Cause of the Universe. B2 can be the Universe, B2 being contingent, as are all Bn, for n>=2, but B1 itself is the First Cause of the Universe, Eternal and Non-Contingent, God, dependent on no Prior Being B0.
Grand Nudger, we'll come back to history etc in a minute, but pls note Reinhard Bonnke was born in 1940, began CFAN in 1975, so this was well after the colonial period ended. There are even You Tube videos of healing miracles going on right now in Africa through CFAN Ministry under Kolenda's leadership. Research it if you want.
As for Prayer, well, if you want something from God, including, on topic, to be sufficiently convinced of His Existence, either from (1) Pure Reason, or from (2) Personal Experience, or in any other way, all you need to do is ask, and ask sincerely and perseveringly. Something like: "Lord, if you really exist, give me solid and sufficient evidence of Your Existence, and I promise in turn to believe in and follow you, to gain Eternal Happiness/Eternal Life in Heaven. In Lord Jesus' Name. Amen". If you pray a simple prayer like that, and really mean it, I daresay God will supply the answer, in His own good time, by means of someone or something or the other.
Your claim that, because I believe in answered prayers and healing miracles, therefore, I don't believe in Pure Reason and Philosophical Arguments, is a Non Sequitur. It's a case of Both/And, not Either/Or here.
What I really believe is, man is too blind to the possible reality of Eternal Happiness that he doesn't understand its Inestimable and Immeasurable Value. If even the credible possibility of such Happiness existed, he ought to do everything in his power to investigate and research whether it really existed and how it was possible to attain it. People fall over themselves for the opportunity to become Rich Investment Bankers (as we know through the number of applications we receive, lol), and also fall over themselves, after that, for a 2 week vacation, after 50 weeks of hard work. Fine. All that will give some temporal happiness, admitted. But Eternal Happiness is such a Great Good that only a God of Perfect Goodness could even promise it, for even the hope and confident expectation of it gives great peace and joy. That's what Religion can offer the world, which many today have forgotten. And since Christianity, Catholic Christianity especially, makes the attainment of Eternal Happiness contingent upon Good Works, as Jesus Christ teaches in Mat 25, then Christianity greatly promotes both Eternal and temporal happiness and all that leads to it.
As for: "I can't give you an example of any consistently monotheistic religion from 2000bc to christ time", yes, that's the point. There wasn't any, especially not one that made the Commandment, there is only One Almighty God, and no other god beside Him, the First Commandment of all.
As I said, the Greek Church Fathers knew that this knowledge couldn't have been attained by the Hebrew Prophets naturally, because their own Great Philosophers had just begun establishing and proving it very recently. They thus knew it had come about through Supernatural Revelation.
God Bless,
Xavier.
This is from the AMNH: "The Big Bang was the moment 13.8 billion years ago when the universe began as a tiny, dense, fireball that exploded. Most astronomers use the Big Bang theory to explain how the universe began. But what caused this explosion in the first place is still a mystery."
Those who know the Principle of Contingent Causation, the First Cause Argument etc know the answer to that question. That the universe began is dead certain. That it is therefore contingent, non-eternal and non-necessary necessarily follows. It remains that B1 in the OP is not the Universe, but the First Cause of the Universe. B2 can be the Universe, B2 being contingent, as are all Bn, for n>=2, but B1 itself is the First Cause of the Universe, Eternal and Non-Contingent, God, dependent on no Prior Being B0.
Grand Nudger, we'll come back to history etc in a minute, but pls note Reinhard Bonnke was born in 1940, began CFAN in 1975, so this was well after the colonial period ended. There are even You Tube videos of healing miracles going on right now in Africa through CFAN Ministry under Kolenda's leadership. Research it if you want.
As for Prayer, well, if you want something from God, including, on topic, to be sufficiently convinced of His Existence, either from (1) Pure Reason, or from (2) Personal Experience, or in any other way, all you need to do is ask, and ask sincerely and perseveringly. Something like: "Lord, if you really exist, give me solid and sufficient evidence of Your Existence, and I promise in turn to believe in and follow you, to gain Eternal Happiness/Eternal Life in Heaven. In Lord Jesus' Name. Amen". If you pray a simple prayer like that, and really mean it, I daresay God will supply the answer, in His own good time, by means of someone or something or the other.
Your claim that, because I believe in answered prayers and healing miracles, therefore, I don't believe in Pure Reason and Philosophical Arguments, is a Non Sequitur. It's a case of Both/And, not Either/Or here.
What I really believe is, man is too blind to the possible reality of Eternal Happiness that he doesn't understand its Inestimable and Immeasurable Value. If even the credible possibility of such Happiness existed, he ought to do everything in his power to investigate and research whether it really existed and how it was possible to attain it. People fall over themselves for the opportunity to become Rich Investment Bankers (as we know through the number of applications we receive, lol), and also fall over themselves, after that, for a 2 week vacation, after 50 weeks of hard work. Fine. All that will give some temporal happiness, admitted. But Eternal Happiness is such a Great Good that only a God of Perfect Goodness could even promise it, for even the hope and confident expectation of it gives great peace and joy. That's what Religion can offer the world, which many today have forgotten. And since Christianity, Catholic Christianity especially, makes the attainment of Eternal Happiness contingent upon Good Works, as Jesus Christ teaches in Mat 25, then Christianity greatly promotes both Eternal and temporal happiness and all that leads to it.
As for: "I can't give you an example of any consistently monotheistic religion from 2000bc to christ time", yes, that's the point. There wasn't any, especially not one that made the Commandment, there is only One Almighty God, and no other god beside Him, the First Commandment of all.
As I said, the Greek Church Fathers knew that this knowledge couldn't have been attained by the Hebrew Prophets naturally, because their own Great Philosophers had just begun establishing and proving it very recently. They thus knew it had come about through Supernatural Revelation.
God Bless,
Xavier.
