Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/27/2019
Rather than writing on something currently on my mind, I just wanted to upload a response I gave a couple years ago on a Facebook group to someone who posted a meme about theism. The post revolved around how theists cannot provide adequate answers to support their belief in God. I don’t remember which group on Facebook it was, but I think off the top of my head it was either Atheist Beings, Atheism Uncensored, or Atheism United. Either way, I wrote this particular response on Google Docs as well and have just kept it over the years in my Google Drive. So with minor adjustments for clarity and conciseness, here is my response:
Okay I’m back. Sorry for the delay, I had a long day at work and then after work I was busy for quite some time. Finally have a little time to sit down and write back to you all. In a previous comment, I said that I would lay out the Change Argument and William Lane Craig’s Kalam-Cosmological Argument for those who are following this particular thread. First let me start with Dr. Craig’s argument and then proceed with the Change Argument:
The Kalam-Cosmological Argument (Source: On Guard by William Lane Craig)
1) Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
2) The universe began to exist.
3) Therefore, the universe has a cause.
Now this argument is airtight in its premises. The logic likewise flows as follows and is simple in its presentation. The conclusion is that this universe has a cause. Simple enough. Now let’s take this one step further with the Change Argument:
The Change Argument (Source: www.peterkreeft.com)
1) The material world we know is a world of change.
2) When something comes to be in a certain state, such as mature size, that state cannot bring itself into being.
3) Other things must be involved.
4) Nothing can give itself what it does not have, and the changing thing cannot have now, already, what it will come to have then.
5) Nothing changes itself.
6) No matter how many things there are in the series, each one needs something outside itself to actualize its potentiality for change.
7) The universe is the sum total of all these moving things, however many there are.
8) The whole universe is in the process of change.
9) But change in any being requires an outside force to actualize it.
10) Therefore, there is some force outside (in addition to) the universe, some real being transcendent to the universe. This is one of the things meant by “God.”
11) Briefly, if there is nothing outside the material universe, then there is nothing that can cause the universe to change.
12) But it does change.
13) Therefore there must be something in addition to the material universe.
14) But the universe is the sum total of all matter, space and time. These three things depend on each other.
15) Therefore this being outside the universe is outside matter, space and time. It is not a changing thing; it is the unchanging Source of change.
With Craig’s argument and Plantinga’s argument in mind, we can conclude a series of things:
- The universe has a cause.
- This cause logically must be immaterial, spaceless, and timeless.
- It cannot change because it is the unchanging source of change.
- Therefore, the cause of the universe is changeless, immaterial, space-less, and timeless.
Adding these figures together we move onto the next argument that reasonably follows: The Teleological Argument. It is the argument that Christopher Hitchens considered the greatest argument for the existence of God. Even today, many atheists consider it to be the most formidable argument. The argument goes as follows:
The Teleological Argument (Source: On Guard by William Lane Craig)
1) The fine-tuning of the universe is due to either physical necessity, chance, or design.
2) It is not due to physical necessity or chance.
3) Therefore, it is due to design.
Gathering our conclusions together, let’s now attribute factors to this mysterious first-cause. In order for something to be the first-cause it must fit this specific criteria that we have just observed together:
- The universe cannot cause itself into existence nor be the first cause (See: The Kalam-Cosmological Argument).
- The first-cause of the universe must be immaterial, space-less, and timeless (See: The Change Argument).
- The first-cause of the universe must be changeless (See: The Change Argument).
- The first-cause of the universe must be the designer of the universe (See: The Teleological Argument).
- Thus, the most reasonable and logical explanation based off of the evidence is that this first-cause must be and is God.
Lastly, in the Greater Than Argument I argue that God must be multi-personal due to Him being beyond our limits as the first-cause of the universe. My argument goes like this:
The Greater Than Argument
1) Every human is a single person.
2) God is greater than a human.
3) Since God is greater than a human, He therefore must be multi-personal.
4) The Christian Trinity is the best explanation of His multi-personal nature.
5) Therefore, God is a tri-unity of persons, yet remains one nature.
From this lengthy and exhaustive breakdown, we can also conclude that this first-cause (i.e. God) is indeed personal and is a transcendent creative mind. Just as a painter creates a painting with a specific purpose in mind, God must have personally caused and created the universe with a specific purpose in His mind. What purpose did God have in making the universe?
In the Judeo-Christian worldview, God caused and created the universe for His own glory. In other words, everything was caused and created for the glory of God. In Revelation 4:11, it says “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Branching off of this, why should we glorify God? Well He made us and that should be enough reason to glorify Him. We are in eternal gratitude that God would want and will for us to exist because He desired for us to glorify Him by tending to the Earth in response to His love towards us (2). It’s a relationship that God desires from us because it’s in that relationship that those who choose to love Him back are glorifying Him to the fullest extent. As the Gospel of John writes, “We love because He first loved us (3)” and that’s why in the Judeo-Christian worldview, we desire to love everyone equally because Christ loved us first.
But before this can take place, everyone must first repent of their sin. The very thing that separated this relationship God and mankind once had together is blemished by our own sin. Yet, God (the Father) so loved the world (humanity) that He gave His only begotten Son (the Christ) that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
To conclude, you must repent and believe in God, so that you can now determine to glorify God in all that you do. The ultimate aim in Christianity is to know God, to be known by God, and to make God known. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless.
Footnotes
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