Kalam Cosmological Argument _ Point Three

March Madness is beginning, and the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament pairings will announced later today. Although the Gophers will not be in it, they should be a participant in the NIT Tournament. And the Big 10 will be well represented in the NCAA Big Dance, with both Michigan State and Ohio State looking strong enough to go deep into the tourney. Go Big 10!

On my bog, I am discussing the Kalam Cosmological argument with my old friends Ed and John. In today's post, we will be focusing our discussion on the third part of the Kalam argument, that the universe was created, and more importantly, that the universe was created by God. Here again, is the Kalam argument:

1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
   
2. The universe began to exist.
   
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.
   

For this post, we are assuming that the first two parts of the Kalam argument are proven true. So does this allow us to logically assume that the third point means that the universe was created by God? I believe it does, and I will bring up two arguments in support of my position: first, only a supernatural "cause" can be the agent of the universe's creation. And second, the Christian God as described in the Bible best describes Who is this supernatural Creator. So let's go, on to the argument!

Because Ed concedes that the universe started with the 'Big Bang', we have taken the idea of an eternal universe off of the table (See, Kalam Arg. #2). This also means that something outside of the universe is the agent for the universe's creation. The idea that the universe created itself is an absurdity – something cannot be created by nothing. And so, the assumption is that there is that something outside of the universe which is the cause of its creation.

Let's think about the points that the Kalam argument has argued for: a) that the ultimate cause of the universe must be supernatural (i.e., it must lie outside the natural universe) and b) the ultimate cause of the universe must itself be uncaused. Think about how many things fit the following set of descriptions:

x is powerful enough to bring the universe into existence.

x is sufficiently knowledgeable to create a universe like ours with all of its natural laws and complex configurations of matter and energy.

x is not made out of matter or energy and is not located in four-dimensional space-time (i.e., x is not part of the natural universe).

x does not depend upon anything besides itself for its existence.

(I got this last section from somewhere on the web, but I don't remember the website.) I suggest that only one thing that fits that description: God. Consequently, this means that the Kalam argument proves the existence of God.

To support this conclusion, is my second point in today's post. There is only one religion which best describes the identity of the supernatural agent Who created the universe – the God of the Bible. There are many reasons to suggest that the Bible is itself a supernatural creation, including a number of prophecies which came true. But most importantly, the Bible best describes the main problem of humanity – the sin of people. And further it describes God's solution to this problem when He sent His Son Jesus the Messiah to die on the Cross for humanity's sins. That through faith in Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross in our place (sin's punishment is death), we receive absolution for our sins (release from guilt, obligation, and punishment), and just as important, we receive the ability to start living like Jesus Himself. The fruit of this new life includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (See, Galatians 5:22). With a new life in Jesus, we are blessed not only in this life, but also in the life to come. /s/Tom Wolff