Evan Wiggs
What Do The Arguments Tell Us About God?
To create and sustain the universe
would require an extremely powerful God.
Dr. Howard Putoff, researcher in the ZPE (Zero
Point Energy field) stated that this sustaining energy field in one cubic meter
had an energy density per second over 10 trillion times the total world energy
grid for a whole year.
Carl Sagan even admitted that the
design of the universe is far above anything man could devise. Intelligent design begets an intelligent
designer.
A Necessary Being is by definition
an eternal (e = no, tern = time or no-time) being. He has no beginning or end. He is infinite and cannot change; he cannot
become something new nor change to something he is not. His being is necessary for all else that
exists. He is the uncaused cause.
The existence of moral law in the
mind of a moral lawgiver shows us God is a moral being. He is not above morality (like some think
they are!) nor is he beneath morality (like a rock i.e. Hinduism). He is also good because he created good
things. People always expect to be
treated better than things, thus they value themselves as better than amoral
objects or even animals. Even someone
denying human value at least expects you to value his opinion.
We say God is all-powerful, all
knowing, all good, infinite (concretely), uncreated, unchanging, eternal and
omnipresent. There can only be one like
Him. We cannot distinguish between two
infinite beings. There cannot be two of this kind in existence.
The cosmological argument says
more than God exists, but that He is the creator. While God is infinite we can distinguish
between His finite creation and Him. This
gives us real meaning as the finite universe cannot explain its own creation
and is thus meaningless without a creator.
His very character gives us meaning.
God told Moses that His name is “I
AM WHO I AM” (YAHWEH) Ex. 3:14
God is eternal (Col. 1:71, Heb
1:2)
God is unchanging (Mal 3:6, Heb.
6:18)
God is infinite (I Kings 8:27)
God is all-powerful (Heb. 1:3,
Matt. 19:26)
God is all-good (Ps. 86:5, Luke
18:19
IF EVERYTHING NEEDS A CAUSE, THEN WHAT CAUSED GOD?
Some people just don’t listen. Everything that has a
beginning needs a cause. Only finite,
contingent things need a cause. He is
infinite and eternal. He has no
beginning. If God needed a cause, we
would begin an infinite regress of causes that could never answer the question.
IF GOD CREATED ALL THINGS THEN HOW DID HE CREATE HIMSELF?
There are only three kinds of beings potentially
possible:
1. Self caused – which is impossible as the existence cannot be prior to the cause.
IF GOD IS ETERNAL, WHEN DID HE CREATE THE WORLD?
Someone is confused.
We dwell in time and can imagine a moment before time, but such a moment
doesn’t exist. Time is a function of
space, energy and mass. It is part of
the universe and does not exist outside the universe. Time can be dilated by acceleration and mass. Outside of time is eternity or a condition of
no time.
IF GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING, AND HIS KNOWLEDGE CAN’T CHANGE,
THEN EVERYTHING IS PREDETERMINED AND THERE IS NO FREE WILL.
Knowing what men will do with their freedom in not
the same as ordaining what they must do against their free choice. God is responsible for the fact of free will
and man is responsible for the acts of freedom.
There is no illogic in a God who creates free will so man can love Him
freely.
GOD IS NOTHING BUT A PSYCHOLOGICAL CRUTCH, A WISH, A PROJECTION OF WHAT WE HOPE IS TRUE.
This argument has a serious error. How can men know that God is “nothing but” a
projection, unless they have “more than” knowledge? To be sure that man’s consciousness is the
limit of reality and that there is nothing beyond it,
one must go beyond the limits of man’s consciousness. But if one can go beyond, then there are no
limits. This objection says that nothing
exists outside our minds, but a person must go outside the boundaries of his
own mind to say that. This is a self
defeating argument.