Reasons for God
October 10, 2009 at 4:32 pm
(This post was last modified: October 10, 2009 at 4:33 pm by solarwave.)
Hey,
I am writing this to put forward my reasons for believe in God. I'll start off with more philosophical arguements and move on from there. It will be interesting to see your answers.
Reason 1: The Kalam Cosmological Arguement
Im taking this from William Lane Craig.
1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause of its existance.
2. The universe began to exist
3. Therefore the universe has a cause of its existance.
4. This cause is God (Not necessarly the Christian God)
1) This is quite straight forward and the only reason would deny this is because of quantum theory. Some claim quantum particles come out of nothing for not reason. But this is not the same as the creation of the universe. In the 'nothingness' of space there is a sea of fields and energy and even then energy and matter are conserved not brought into being like the big bang.
2) There must be a beginning of everything that exists because there can't be an actual infinite number of past events (no infinite regress). If there was an infinite number of past events how would we ever get to the present since it would take an infinite amount of time to get here, which doesn't make sense. There would be no real answer to the causes of events since the cause would just be pushed one level back into the infinite never really giving an answer and so not explaining current events.
3) This follows from 1 and 2.
4) So why does this cause have to be God I hear you say. Well it at the least has to be a personal Creator for these reasons: When the universe began space and time began too. This means the cause of the universe is timeless (eternal) and spaceless. "If the cause were simply a mechanically operating set of necessary and sufficient conditions existing from eternity, then why would not the effect also exist from eternity? For example, if the cause of water's being frozen is the temperature's being below zero degrees, then if the temperature were below zero degrees from eternity, then any water present would be frozen from eternity. The only way to have an eternal cause but a temporal effect would seem to be if the cause is a personal agent who freely chooses to create an effect in time. For example, a man sitting from eternity may will to stand up; hence, a temporal effect may arise from an eternally existing agent. Indeed, the agent may will from eternity to create a temporal effect, so that no change in the agent need be conceived. Thus, we are brought not merely to the first cause of the universe, but to its personal Creator."- Willaim Lane Craig
Solarwave
I am writing this to put forward my reasons for believe in God. I'll start off with more philosophical arguements and move on from there. It will be interesting to see your answers.
Reason 1: The Kalam Cosmological Arguement
Im taking this from William Lane Craig.
1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause of its existance.
2. The universe began to exist
3. Therefore the universe has a cause of its existance.
4. This cause is God (Not necessarly the Christian God)
1) This is quite straight forward and the only reason would deny this is because of quantum theory. Some claim quantum particles come out of nothing for not reason. But this is not the same as the creation of the universe. In the 'nothingness' of space there is a sea of fields and energy and even then energy and matter are conserved not brought into being like the big bang.
2) There must be a beginning of everything that exists because there can't be an actual infinite number of past events (no infinite regress). If there was an infinite number of past events how would we ever get to the present since it would take an infinite amount of time to get here, which doesn't make sense. There would be no real answer to the causes of events since the cause would just be pushed one level back into the infinite never really giving an answer and so not explaining current events.
3) This follows from 1 and 2.
4) So why does this cause have to be God I hear you say. Well it at the least has to be a personal Creator for these reasons: When the universe began space and time began too. This means the cause of the universe is timeless (eternal) and spaceless. "If the cause were simply a mechanically operating set of necessary and sufficient conditions existing from eternity, then why would not the effect also exist from eternity? For example, if the cause of water's being frozen is the temperature's being below zero degrees, then if the temperature were below zero degrees from eternity, then any water present would be frozen from eternity. The only way to have an eternal cause but a temporal effect would seem to be if the cause is a personal agent who freely chooses to create an effect in time. For example, a man sitting from eternity may will to stand up; hence, a temporal effect may arise from an eternally existing agent. Indeed, the agent may will from eternity to create a temporal effect, so that no change in the agent need be conceived. Thus, we are brought not merely to the first cause of the universe, but to its personal Creator."- Willaim Lane Craig
Solarwave
Mark Taylor: "Religious conflict will be less a matter of struggles between belief and unbelief than of clashes between believers who make room for doubt and those who do not."
Einstein: “The most unintelligible thing about nature is that it is intelligible”
Einstein: “The most unintelligible thing about nature is that it is intelligible”
