(April 3, 2013 at 10:54 am)Joel Wrote: What if the universe is an effect and the big bang was the cause?
Well we getting into semantics. You can say the universe at time zero is the big bang. And it would be an uncaused cause possibly.
Therefore this argument doesn't prove either God or the Universe is the not the first cause, but it does show there needs to be an initial cause.
It took me a while thought to realize the cosmological argument ain't so strong.
However, "everything requires a cause" is more comprehensive. A universe surely cannot cause itself to exist out of nothing or be causing it's own existence constantly. However while God can't pop out of nothing obviously, it can be that he constantly causes himself to exist.
Therefore they are two different discussions. "Everything requires a cause" would prove a supernatural cause to the universe.