Most of the arguments against have already been covered. I'll add one.
Whilst things that exist within the universe have a cause (actually a material cause for physical objects which eliminates the "God made the universe from nothing" argument anyway) this does not mean that outside the universe things work the same way. Note that I didn't say before the universe - that concept may not have any meaning.
The universe is referred to as "space-time." It is the combination of both. Time itself may not apply outside the universe or may work entirely differently.
Causality is based on time. In our world you cannot have the effect before the cause. This may or may not be true outside the universe. Everything outside the universe may happen simultaneously. Time may run backwards outside the universe for all we know.
Everything that has a begining has a cause - but time itself?
Simplistic application of common knowledge down here on earth does not seem to work when physics gets going. Those days ended with Newton. As soon as Einstein showed that time changes with speed all common knowledge flew out of the window. You may as well say "What goes up, must come down," and attempt to apply that adage to the universe.
Whilst things that exist within the universe have a cause (actually a material cause for physical objects which eliminates the "God made the universe from nothing" argument anyway) this does not mean that outside the universe things work the same way. Note that I didn't say before the universe - that concept may not have any meaning.
The universe is referred to as "space-time." It is the combination of both. Time itself may not apply outside the universe or may work entirely differently.
Causality is based on time. In our world you cannot have the effect before the cause. This may or may not be true outside the universe. Everything outside the universe may happen simultaneously. Time may run backwards outside the universe for all we know.
Everything that has a begining has a cause - but time itself?
Simplistic application of common knowledge down here on earth does not seem to work when physics gets going. Those days ended with Newton. As soon as Einstein showed that time changes with speed all common knowledge flew out of the window. You may as well say "What goes up, must come down," and attempt to apply that adage to the universe.
Kuusi palaa, ja on viimeinen kerta kun annan vaimoni laittaa jouluvalot!
