Proving God Exists: Part 1

Does God really exist?  Its a question I've discussed with many people.  Can it be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt with 100% certainty?  To be honest, I don't know.  There have been times in my life where I've answered with a yes and there have been times I have answered with a no.  Right now, I'm just not sure if a person can prove God does or does not exist.

However, I do believe that there is enough evidence for the existence of God that it leaves me certain He does exist.  There is certainly enough evidence for the existence of God that you don't have to feel foolish for believing in Him the way you'd feel silly believing in a unicorn or other fairy tales.

There are some pretty solid age old arguments that give lots of evidence for the existence of God and some modern ones as well.  Today I'll share the first of many.  The first is known as The Cosmological Argument.



The Cosmological Argument

Don't be scared by the big title.  This one is actually simple at its core and I would guess you've heard it before.  This argument is attributed to Saint Thomas Aquinas and its often call The First Cause or The Unmoved Mover.  Here is the basic structure of the argument.  I'll give it to you in a complicated way first and then break it down a bit.

1. The universe and everything in it have a cause and a beginning.
2. An endless list of causes and beginnings is illogical.
3. Therefore, there must be something outside of the universe that began and caused the universe.

In simple terms, when you look at a desk, you know that someone built it.  When you look at a bruise on your knee, you know that something hit you.  In the same way, when you look at this planet, you know it had to come from somewhere.  We've all heard the child annoy their parents or teacher by continually asking "Why?"  They ask it over and over until you have no answer left other than "Because I said so!"  If you keep asking the question, "Well where did that come from?" you'll eventually hit a point where the only answer left is God.  Let's try it with the desk.

Where did that desk come from?  Someone made it out of wood.

Where did the wood come from?  From trees that were chopped down.

Where did the trees come from?  Trees grow out of seeds in the forest.

Where did the seed come from?  From other full grown trees.

Where did those trees and those seeds come from?  Um.... At this point, we hit a bit of a wall.  We could say other trees, but... Where did the first ever seed come from? 

Here is where it gets tricky.  Modern science might say that the first seed for that tree evolved from plants before it.  But that answer hasn't solved the problem at all.  Watch, lets keep answering the question as if a modern evolutionist were answering them.

Where did the first trees and seeds come from?  They evolved from less complex plants.

Where did those lesser plants come from? They evolved from even less complex plants.

Where did all of those come from?  Well it all came from the first cell on earth.

Where did that cell come from?  It emerged out of the materials on earth billions of years ago.

Where did the earth come from?  It formed out of the matter in the solar system.

Where did the solar system come from?  It formed out of the matter in our galaxy, the Milky Way.

Where did the Milky Way come from?  It formed out of the collisions of other galaxies.

Where did those galaxies come from?  They formed out of the matter that exploded forth in the Big Bang.

Where did the Big Bang come from?  It was an explosion from the extreme pressure of what was sort of like the first super atom.

Where did the super atom come from?   Ummm....

The bottom line is this:  It doesn't make sense for the universe to have an infinite amount of cause and effects like this.  In fact, scientists know that the universe did indeed have a beginning because of something called entropy.  The whole universe is steadily losing energy and heat and will eventually run out.  It couldn't be infinitely old or all of the energy and heat would be gone.  So... there is the question.  What was the first cause?

Science can speculate all it wants about how the universe started, but what caused it?  There has to be something without a beginning that started the universe.  There has to be something that always existed that set everything else into motion.  The only other option is to have an infinite amount of causes with a list that just keeps on going, but science agrees that this just can't be due to entropy.  There must be an Uncaused Causer, an Unmoved Mover.  There must be someone or something that always existed that started it all.

Ladies and gentleman, allow me to introduce you to the eternal Creator who always was, always is, and always will be.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."  Genesis 1:1

This is the first of more to "Proofs" for God's existence to come.  I'll do this every now and then for Theology Thursday when I haven't gotten a solid question lately.  Check out the poll on the right to vote on what I talk about next Thursday!