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Topic: The first _good_ argument for god (Read 11342 times)
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lakota.james
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Posts: 111
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I am a Christian, but i have never actually seen a good argument against atheism before. most of the time I try to stay out of arguements about religion, because I didn't ever see a good way to not loose. Of course, this matters not, because if you don't believe in a god, most likely it doesnt matter what people tell you otherwise, and vise versa. oh, well. here it is.
http://www.provethebible.net/T2-Intro/A-0201.htm
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meep-eep
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Enlightened
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(1) The concepts of "cause and effect" only have meaning with respect to time. If time itself began at the beginning of the universe, there is no "before", and there can be no "cause" within our universe.
This makes "everything must have a cause" unapplicable if you talk about things that happen outside of time as we know it.
Now there can be some concept of time outside of our universe, which means that you could have cause and effect outside of our universe; you could imagine the universe as one large computer-simulation, with the universe in which the computer exists having its own time.
(2) But then the claims "If the cause is eternal, it: (a) never began to exist; (b) can never cease to exist; and (c) is itself uncaused and self-existent." are still only applicable to our own universe. The cause never began to exist in our universe; it can never cease to exist in our universe (because it can never exist there); it has no cause within our universe.
(3) If we suppose that there is a cause outside of our universe, then that still does not preclude other things from existing outside of our universe. So "The only thing that could have prompted an uncaused cause to act before the universe existed is itself." is not correct either.
(4) If outside of our universe the same rules of cause and effect apply, the cause of our universe would still need a cause itself there. (If they don't apply, the point of our universe needing a cause is moot.)
(5) Even if there is no outside influence prompting a cause to create the universe, that does not make that creation a volitional act.
(6) Even if the creation of this universe is a volitional act from some being existing outside of our universe, it does not follow that this is the god as described in any particular scripture.
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“When Juffo-Wup is complete
when at last there is no Void, no Non
when the Creators return
then we can finally rest.”
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lakota.james
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Posts: 111
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Oh, well. I thought it was good, anyway. But I guess it wasn't, it only took two and a half hours... 
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RTyp06
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"Indeed, why does anything exist at all? "
I love that question. We just don't know.
I take issue with this part though:
"2.4 What caused the universe?
The universe, by definition, is space, time, and matter. Anything consisting of, or limited by, space, time, and matter is itself merely a component part of that natural universe. So whatever caused the universe could not have consisted of those characteristics which it subsequently produced. Therefore we reason the causal force has to be:
independent of space (limitless),
independent of time (eternal), and
independent of matter (immaterial). "
This part is ridiculous imo. It's a huge supposition based on, well nothing.
For argument's sake, what if absolutely nothing existed? Couldn't everything just be deep vacuum space, devoid of matter and energy? Wouldn't the potential to move in the X,Y and Z axis still be there? So in a nutshell, did the big bang create space as we know it or is space just the backdrop or enviornment if you will where the BB took place?
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« Last Edit: December 14, 2007, 12:04:12 am by RTyp06 »
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meep-eep
Forum Admin
Enlightened
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Posts: 2847
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I take issue with this part though:
"2.4 What caused the universe?
The universe, by definition, is space, time, and matter. Anything consisting of, or limited by, space, time, and matter is itself merely a component part of that natural universe. So whatever caused the universe could not have consisted of those characteristics which it subsequently produced. Therefore we reason the causal force has to be:
independent of space (limitless),
independent of time (eternal), and
independent of matter (immaterial). "
This part is ridiculous imo. It's a huge supposition based on, well nothing.
I actually roughly agree that reasoning.
Whatever created this universe, it could not be a part of it, because the universe was not around yet. If space did not exist, the Cause can not have been part of space. If time did not exist, the Cause can not have existed in time. If matter did not exist, the Cause can not have consisted of matter.
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“When Juffo-Wup is complete
when at last there is no Void, no Non
when the Creators return
then we can finally rest.”
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