What is the “First Cause” that caused the Universe to exist? As I wrote before, the Creator as described in the Bible seems to be a good candidate.
However, I think it is reasonable for someone to ask as mentioned in the last post: Why can’t we take the Universe itself to be the “First Cause”? Furthermore, if everything has a cause, then God should also have a cause. Then God is not the “First Cause”! Many people raise these objections to the “First Cause” argument.
Actually, Cosmological Argument does not claim that “everything must have a cause”. According to my favorite book on Apologetic, Cosmological Argument claims that “there is something about the universe itself, either its contingency and so need for explanation or its finitude in time, that requires a cause beyond itself, a cause that is self-existent and without the need of a cause”.
Cosmological Argument looks into the Universe and says, “It cannot be its own cause. Something else must have caused it.”
Do you agree with this statement? I think it is an incredible statement.
The quote from the book mentions “contingency”. It means that if everything in the Universe has a cause for its existence, then naturally we expect the Universe as a whole should also have a cause. We can assert or suggest that the Universe itself is an exception to the fact that “everything has a cause”, but why is the Universe as a whole an exception? How can anyone prove that the Universe is an exception?
The quote mentions “its finitude in time”. It means that as long as the Universe is not infinitely old, then it must have a beginning. If it has a beginning, then it must have a cause. Put it in another way, as long as the Universe is not eternal, then something must have caused it to exist.
Does it sound reasonable? Whatever that comes into existence at a certain time, then it must have a cause. Can we imagine a cat that “pops” into existence somewhere in the house? We may not see how it comes into the house, but we are pretty sure that there is a time when it comes into the house. There must be a cause for its existence inside the house. However, if we insist that the cat somehow has been at a certain location from eternity, then it may be easier to entertain the idea that there is no cause for its existence. It is just there!
How do we know that the Universe appear at a certain time, instead of just being there from the infinite past, the eternity?
Science definitely provides the answer! Some people claim. That is what we will discuss in the next post.
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