The Kalam leads to the God of the Bible
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2877-the-kalaam-leads-to-the-god-of-the-bible
The Kalaam leads to the God of the Bible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOcACl_tJ2c&t=142s
1:08 Properties of the first cause
5:11 Event causation or Agent causation?
8:00 How can a mind exist in a timeless dimension, trigger a Transition from timelessness to time?
13:12 How can a mind exist without a body beyond the universe?
15:06 How could God have created the universe without time?
16:11 Is claiming that God is eternal, special pleading?
18:06 Properties of the first cause
30:29 Philosophical and scientific considerations match with the biblical account about the origin of the Universe
30:53 End notes
The universe had a beginning, therefore a cause
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9UMDiiE0kY&t=75s
1:15 The claim: Something cannot come from nothing does not need to be proven
3:15 Virtual particles do not come from absolutely nothing but require a quantum vacuum
7:36 Premise two: The universe began to exist
9:35 Scientific reasons to conclude that the universe has a beginning
16:32 Further scientific evidence why the universe cannot be past eternal
18:35 Philosophical reasons why the universe nor quantum effect potentials cannot be past eternal
Aquinas showed us that the attributes of a true God are logically deduced. Properties of the first cause:
1. Supernatural in nature, (As it exists outside and beyond of the natural physical universe),
2. Uncaused, beginningless, and eternal (self-existent, as it exists without a cause, outside of time and space, besides the fact that infinite regress of causes is impossible. ),
3. Omnipresent & all-knowing (It created space and is not limited by it),
4. Changeless ( Change depends on physical being )
5. Timeless ( Without physical events, there can be no time, and time began with the Big Bang )
6. Immaterial (Because He transcends space and created matter),
7. Spaceless ( Since it created space)
8. Personal (The impersonal can’t create personality, and only a personal, free agent can cause a change from a changeless state )
9. Enormously Powerful ( Since it brought the entire universe, space-time and matter into existence )
10. Necessary (As everything else depends on it),
11. Absolutely independent and self-existent ( It does not depend on a higher causal agency to exist otherwise there would be infinite regress which is impossible )
12. Infinite and singular (As you cannot have two infinities),
13. Diverse yet has unity (As all multiplicity implies a prior singularity),
14. Intelligent (Supremely, to create everything, in special language, complexity, factories and machines),
15. Purposeful (As it deliberately created everything with goals in mind),
An agent endowed with free will can have a determination in a timeless dimension to operate causally at a (first) moment of time and thereby to produce a temporally first effect
1. God is supernatural in nature Acts 17:24-25
2. God is uncaused, beginningless, and eternal 1 Timothy 1:17
3. God is omnipresent & all-knowing Psalm 139:7-12; Jeremiah 23:24
4. God is unchanging Malachi 3:6
5. God is immaterial (spirit) John 4:24
6. God is personal John 4:24, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Isaiah 25:1, Isaiah 63:7, Psalm 78:1, 1 Chronicles 16:8, Micah 4:12, Job 29:4, 2 Corinthians 13:14
7. God is enormously Powerful Genesis 17:1
8. God is timeless Revelation 1:8
9. God is necessary Genesis 1:1
10. God is omniscient ( All-knowing ) Psalm 147:4-5
11. God is absolutely independent and self-existent Isaiah 46:9
12. God is One, yet He exists in three persons Matthew 3:16-17
13. God is extraordinarily intelligent Jeremiah 32:17
14. God is all-understanding Psalm 147:5
15. God is purposeful Jeremiah 29:11
Each of the inferences based on the properties that the cause of the universe must have, match with the description of the God revealed in the Bible which offers solid support for the creation of the universe, distinguishing it from other religious texts.
Philosophical and scientific considerations match with the biblical account about the origin of the Universe
Remarkably, science, contradicting the Bible hundred years ago, claiming the Universe was eternal, has shifted to the same conclusion: The universe had a beginning, a finite time ago:
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Isaiah 45:18 “For this is what the LORD says – he who created the heavens, he is God.”
Proverbs 8:22 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be.”
Titus 1:2 “in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time…”
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
John 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
Colossians 1:15-16 “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”
1 Peter 1:20 “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”
2 Timothy 1:9 “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time…”
How is God the Creator? Starting at 5:37
APART FROM THE JUDEO CHRISTIAN ISLAMIC TRADITION, THERE REALLY IS NO DOCTRINE OF CREATION OUT OF NOTHING IN THE OTHER MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS. THINK OF THE PANTHEISTIC RELIGIONS OF THE EAST -- HINDUISM, BUDDHISM, DAOISM, OR POLYTHEISTIC RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT ROME AND GREECE OR OTHER SOCIETIES. IN NONE OF THESE DO YOU HAVE A ROBUST DOCTRINE OF CREATION OUT OF NOTHING, SO THAT IF THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION OUT OF NOTHING IS TRUE, IT SERVES TO DISTINGUISH THE JUDEO CHRISTIAN TRADITION FROM ALL OF THE OTHER WORLD'S RELIGIONS, INCLUDING PANTHEISM.
>WHAT ELSE WOULD IT SAY ABOUT GOD'S OWN INTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS?
>>IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE ANY OTHER DOCTRINE THAT WOULD UNDERSCORE GOD'S OMNIPOTENCE, HIS SELF-EXISTENCE, HIS NECESSITY, HIS DISTINCTION FROM THE WORLD, IN A WAY THAT THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION OUT OF NOTHING DOES.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-Ti2wzASfg
The Kalaam leads to the God of the Bible
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2877-the-kalaam-leads-to-the-god-of-the-bible
The Kalaam leads to the God of the Bible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOcACl_tJ2c&t=142s
1:08 Properties of the first cause
5:11 Event causation or Agent causation?
8:00 How can a mind exist in a timeless dimension, trigger a Transition from timelessness to time?
13:12 How can a mind exist without a body beyond the universe?
15:06 How could God have created the universe without time?
16:11 Is claiming that God is eternal, special pleading?
18:06 Properties of the first cause
30:29 Philosophical and scientific considerations match with the biblical account about the origin of the Universe
30:53 End notes
The Kalaam leads to the God of the Bible
So, based on my previous video, we are granted to conclude that the premises one and two of the Kalaam Cosmological argument are rationally sound, that is, that everything that begins to exist, must have a cause. And that the universe, with high certainty, based on scientific and philosophical considerations, began to exist.
The conclusion is: Therefore, the universe had a cause.
The famed atheist Bertrand Russell notoriously said: “If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause.”
Note, that premise one does not claim that everything has a cause, but that EVERYTHING THAT BEGINS TO EXIST has a cause. And herein God is perched up in a category of his own. Something that exists eternally without a
beginning does not need to have a cause.
Properties of the first cause
So, what cause is the best explanation of the origin of the universe? Some claim that we do not know how to identify the cause of the universe
A closer look will provide us with a number of striking properties which the cause of the universe must possess and, as we will see, these properties match strikingly with the description of the God of the Bible.
Existence can be divided into the following categories: physical ( energy/matter, space and time), and mind ( consciousness, intelligence ). or in other words, the Natural, and the supernatural. And furthermore, abstract numbers and objects. which exist independently if there is a physical universe, or not.
1. Since something can not come from nothing, being cannot come from non-being, but we exist, there is being, then something must be uncaused, and has always existed. That must have been either the mind, physical things, or both together.
2. Since the universe had a beginning, therefore it is not eternal, physical existence is not a candidate to explain the origin of the universe.
3. Abstract objects, numbers and mathematical calculus do not stand in causal relations, and as such, cannot cause the universe into existence either.
4. The cause of the universe cannot be a contingent being but must be eternal, otherwise, there would be eternal regress. The cause must be as well changeless, since, once more, an infinite temporal regress of changes cannot exist. That does not mean, that it is not capable of change, but had to be changeless until causing the first physical event. Since the first cause must be changeless, it follows that it was immaterial and spaceless.
It follows, that the cause did also exist in a dimension of timelessness, since time requires change.
Event causation or Agent causation?
There are two types of things that can cause an event to occur. One is a physical object triggering another physical object to change. That would be an event - event causation. One event causes another to occur. If we posit that, then another contingent physical cause would have had to trigger the Big Bang or further back, a cosmos, multiverses etc, leading to an infinite regress, which is impossible. The cause of the universe cannot be physical, space, time, and matter, since that is what it caused into being.
The State - State causation faces the same problem. This causation is like a frozen pond where you have a stone resting on the top of that pond, and this stay is causing this other state of the stone, but that could not trigger a change from one state into another but would remain static, from eternity. And a state - state causation would also have to be physical.
And the second is state event causation by a free agent, which wills to do something which causes physical change. Decisions can have physical consequences. I can decide to touch a domino stone. That mental decision provokes a physical event, where I move my arm, my fingers, and trigger the domino chain reaction.
I don't know HOW that occurs. Nobody knows how this mind-brain interaction can take place, but it does.
This form of causation has to go from a state of timeless mental being to will an event of a transition, from a non-physical to a physical state of being, therefore the only explanation of what triggered the universe or cosmos is intelligent causation based on will and power.
Since that cause created matter, space, and time, it had to be immaterial and exist in a timeless dimension. The only immaterial things we know of being able to cause something into being are conscient minds which are able to make decisions. We know by experience that the mind can cause action solely based on will. Therefore an eternal & necessary first cause is the best explanation of our existence.
How could a mind exist in a timeless dimension, and trigger a transition from timelessness to time?
Time is a huge topic in philosophy. What is time? We all know intuitively what it is, but when asked to formulate and define time, we soon perceive the difficulty. When we go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning, on average 6 to 8 hours did pass. But we did not perceive time passing.
If we were asked but had no watch to check, we would probably not know how much time we slept. If we have a very deep and good sleep, it's almost when we wake up as if we did not perceive any lapse of time. But during this time, we are conscient and dream, there are sequential events in a dream, there is action, but we do not perceive time like when we are awake. What does that mean?
Two things: Time is bound to physical action. That's why there cannot be time if there is no matter, energy, and space. Where there is no action and physical reality, there is no time. And secondly: Even IF there would be time, space, and matter, and action, but no mind and conscience, there is no entity to PERCEIVE it.
So in order to have a sense and perception of time, the following is necessary:
Mental awareness and consciousness that can sensor external reality, space, matter and energy, physical action, and that the mind is in a relationship with external physical reality in action. Then time can be perceived. Some have questioned: How can God exist BEYOND the universe sans universe, and sans time?
If we can dream and perceive a sequence of events in our mind but without EXPERIENCING time, while we can perceive that sequence in our mind, so can God exist timeless beyond the universe, have various mental states and experience sequential events consciously and be aware of, but not EXPERIENCING time.
Time is only something that MINDS EXPERIENCE, upon the perception of physical activity. In dreams, there are external actors. Often in a dream, we just passively OBSERVE events, and in many cases, we REACT. We want to do things during our dreams.
For example, I often dream that do a mental effort and I float, rise and fly. When I stop the mental effort, I start to go down. So I can exercise will during my dream.
When we have nightmare dreams, we experience awfully horrific events, we are in real panic. What is the reaction? We try at all costs to flee that event and wake up in scared So there is an event occurring in the mind, which triggers a PHYSICAL EVENT. We wake up.
God CAN have existed in a timeless dimension without creation, and DECIDED to create the physical cosmos, and provoked its creation upon his mental power, will and decision.
There is nothing absurd about it. I can decide to write the letter a, and in an instant, AT THE SAME TIME that I take the decision, type the letter a. So there has to be no time lapse between a decision process and a physical event. It occurs simultaneously. So God can have existed in an exclusively mental dimension with sequential events, but experiencing no time, then he took the decision to create the universe, and simultaneously to his decision, made it all start, and time begin with the advent of physical reality.
How could God have created the universe without time?
The cause of the Big Bang operated simultaneously (or coincidentally) with the Big Bang. Philosophical discussions of causal directionality routinely treat simultaneous causation, the question being how to distinguish A as the cause and B as the effect when these occur together at the same time. Even on a mundane level, we regularly experience simultaneous causation
How can a mind exist without a body beyond the universe?
Jon Lieff MD psychiatrist, with specialities in geriatric psychiatry and neuropsychiatry, writes :
The fact that OBE’s can be stimulated in the laboratory clearly demonstrates that the sense of “I”, the self-identity, can be separated from the body consciousness. Studies of body maps are also consistent with this view because they show that body consciousness is constantly changing through neuroplasticity.
Therefore, ultimately, the sense of self is independent of the body sense, although normally extremely associated with it. The sense of “I,” or identity, is also ordinarily very attached to the self-perceptions involving our professions, families, and other strongly held beliefs and feelings.
How could God create a material world out of nothing?
The short answer: I don't know.
First of all, it is remarkable when Scientists like Lawrence Kraus make the claim that the universe was created out of nothing, there is immediately a herd of followers which are endorsing the assertions and repeating them without hesitation.
Werner Karl Heisenberg 1901 – 1976 German theoretical physicist, key pioneers of quantum mechanics
Of course, we all know that our own reality depends on the structure of our consciousness; we can objectify no more than a small part of our world. But even when we try to probe into the subjective realm, we cannot ignore the central order…In the final analysis, the central order, or 'the one' as it used to be called and with which we commune in the language of religion, must win out.
Is claiming that God is eternal, special pleading?
What usually immediately follows, when we posit God must be eternal, is the objection of special pleading. A Special Pleading fallacy is wherein people create a rule or apply an existing rule to a situation and then proceed to make someone or something exempt from this rule without providing real justification for that exemption.
Atheists claim that believers argue that the universe needs a cause, but not God. And that, supposedly, is special pleading. The author of this article in patheos says : The Special Pleading fallacy deserves to be called out more, especially because as far as I can tell it’s a fairly common one.
Pointing out the obvious is not special pleading. Scientific evidence and philosophical considerations point to the fact that the natural universe had a beginning. If logic does not account for justifiable special pleading then such logic is clearly flawed. Of course, an Infinite Creator who created everything would involve a justifiable special pleading.
Such Creator would not be like the rest of us. It is as simple as seeing the difference between an Infinite Being and billions of "finite beings." The One Infinite Being Who created all existence is quite different than those finite beings who are created by such Being. It is as easy as seeing the difference between "those who have a beginning" who are finite verses an "Infinite Creator"
Properties of the first cause:
1. Supernatural in nature, (As it exists outside and beyond of the natural physical universe),
2. Uncaused, beginningless, and eternal (self-existent, as it exists without a cause, outside of time and space, besides the fact that infinite regress of causes is impossible. ),
3. Omnipresent & all-knowing (It created space and is not limited by it),
4. Changeless ( Change depends on physical being )
5. Timeless ( Without physical events, there can be no time, and time began with the Big Bang )
6. Immaterial (Because He transcends space and created matter),
7. Spaceless ( Since it created space)
8. Personal (The impersonal can’t create personality, and only a personal, free agent can cause a change from a changeless state )
9. Enormously Powerful ( Since it brought the entire universe, space-time and matter into existence )
10. Necessary (As everything else depends on it),
11. Absolutely independent and self-existent ( It does not depend on a higher causal agency to exist otherwise there would be infinite regress which is impossible )
12. Infinite and singular (As you cannot have two infinities),
13. Diverse yet has unity (As all multiplicity implies a prior singularity),
14. Intelligent (Supremely, to create everything, in special language, complexity, factories and machines),
15. Purposeful (As it deliberately created everything with goals in mind),
Only based on the two premises of the Kalaam Cosmological Argument, rather than confessing ignorance, and saying: We can't know about the nature of the cause of the universe, we can say a supernatural, uncaused, beginningless, eternal, omnipresent and all-knowing, changeless, timeless, immaterial, spaceless, personal, enormously powerful, necessary, absolutely independent and self-existent, infinite and singular, diverse yet united, intelligent and purposeful creator is the best explanation as the cause of the universe and our existence.
An agent endowed with free will can have a determination in a timeless dimension to operate causally at a (first) moment of time and thereby to produce a temporally first effect
1. God is supernatural in nature Acts 17:24-25
2. God is uncaused, beginningless, and eternal 1 Timothy 1:17
3. God is omnipresent & all-knowing Psalm 139:7-12; Jeremiah 23:24
4. God is unchanging Malachi 3:6
5. God is immaterial (spirit) John 4:24
6. God is personal John 4:24, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Isaiah 25:1, Isaiah 63:7, Psalm 78:1, 1 Chronicles 16:8, Micah 4:12, Job 29:4, 2 Corinthians 13:14
7. God is enormously Powerful Genesis 17:1
8. God is timeless Revelation 1:8
9. God is necessary Genesis 1:1
10. God is omniscient ( All-knowing ) Psalm 147:4-5
11. God is absolutely independent and self-existent Isaiah 46:9
12. God is One, yet He exists in three persons Matthew 3:16-17
13. God is extraordinarily intelligent Jeremiah 32:17
14. God is all-understanding Psalm 147:5
15. God is purposeful
Remarkably, each of the inferences based on the properties that the cause of the universe must have, match with the description of the God revealed in the Bible which offers solid support for the creation of the universe, distinguishing it from other religious texts.
1. God is supernatural in nature (As it exists outside, above and beyond of the natural physical universe)
Acts 17:24-25 "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things,"
2. God is uncaused, beginningless, and eternal (self-existent, as it exists without a cause, outside of time and space, besides the fact that infinite regress of causes is impossible. )
1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
3. God is omnipresent & all-knowing (It created space and is not limited by it)
Psalm 139:7-12 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
Jeremiah 23:24 Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.
4. God is unchanging ( Change depends on physical being )
Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
5. God is immaterial ( spirit ) ( Since he created matter, he is not made of matter ) & Spaceless ( Since it created space and transcends space)
John 4:21-23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers
First Timothy 1:17 “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.”
6. God is personal (The impersonal can’t create personality, and only a personal, free agent can cause a change from a changeless state )
God is Spirit (John 4:24)
1 Thessalonians 5:18 God's will
Isaiah 25:1 His plans
Isaiah 63:7 His compassion, goodness, and lovingkindness
Psalm 78:1 His words
1 Chronicles 16:8 His deeds
Micah 4:12 His thoughts and purposes
Job 29:4 God is capable of friendship
2 Corinthians 13:14 love, and fellowship
Deuteronomy 1:11 makes promises
Deuteronomy 7:8 swears oaths
Genesis 6:6 God knows grief
Isaiah 42:21 pleasure
Nahum 1:2 wrath
God is Spirit, God wills, He plans, He is compassionate, good, and loving and kind, He uses words, His deeds, His thoughts and purposes, God is capable of friendship, love, and fellowship, he makes promises, swears oath, God knows grief, pleasure, and wrath.
7. God is all powerful ( Since it brought the entire universe, space-time and matter into existence )
Genesis 17:1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty’...”
Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
Matthew 19:26 “Jesus looked at them and said. ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”
8. God is timeless ( Without physical events, there can be no time, and time began with the Big Bang )
Revelation 1:8 - “I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was, and who is to come. The Almighty.”
Revelation 4:8d - “Even under his wings, Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’”
9. God is necessary (As everything else depends on it)
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Colossians 1:16[/size] For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
Psalm 115:3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
10. God is omniscient ( All-knowing ) (It created all contingent being, and is not limited by it)
Psalm 147:4-5 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
Psalm 33:13 From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place, he watches all who live on earth…
1 Chronicles 28:9 For the Lord searches every heart, and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, we will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.
11. God is absolutely independent and self-existent ( It does not depend on a higher causal agency to exist )
Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
12. God is infinite and singular (As you cannot have two infinities)
God is diverse yet has unity (As all multiplicity implies a prior singularity) God is One, yet He exists in three persons
Matthew 3:16-17 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
13. God is extraordinarily intelligent (Supremely, to create everything, in special language, complexity, factories and machines),
14. God is all-understanding ( He created all contingent being, the universe, space, matter, and life )
Psalm 147:5 - “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”
Isaiah 40:28 - “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, He will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom.”
15. God is purposeful (As it deliberately created everything with goals in mind)
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Not only do philosophical inferences of the Kalaam point to a creator which must have 15 distinct characteristics which coincide with the description of the God revealed in the Bible, but the Bible does confirm in many ways God as the creator of the universe
Psalm 19:1“For the heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
Philosophical and scientific considerations match with the biblical account about the origin of the Universe
Remarkably, science, contradicting the Bible hundred years ago, claiming the Universe was eternal, has shifted to the same conclusion: The universe had a beginning, a finite time ago:
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Isaiah 45:18 “For this is what the LORD says – he who created the heavens, he is God.”
Proverbs 8:22 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be.”
Titus 1:2 “in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time…”
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
John 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
Colossians 1:15-16 “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”
1 Peter 1:20 “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”
2 Timothy 1:9 “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time…”
A continuous, universal cosmic expansion
Job 9:8 “He alone stretches out the heavens.”
Psalm 104:2 “The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent.
Isaiah 42:5 “This is what God the LORD says – the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out.”
Zechariah 12:1 “The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundations of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person…”
The claim that the Kalaam Cosmological Argument does not permit to infer a specific creator is not justified. Science, Philosophy and Biblical theology converge together to one clear direction:
The universe had a beginning, and therefore a cause. And that cause does staggeringly match with the description of the God that is revealed in the Bible.
A common question follows when God is claimed to be the cause of the universe: Where did God come from? Who created God?
What caused the uncaused creator into being? God must be eternal, otherwise, we would have to ask: And what caused the cause of the creator into existence? Turtles all the way down. The first cause is necessary and uncaused.
You might claim that the description of the nature of the creator is unproven, and can, therefore, be dismissed. Such assertions are the consequence of an unsophisticated epistemological framework, a philosophical framework based on scientism, or verificationism, where the claim is, that in order for a claim to be meaningful, it must be proven to be true. That is not the case.
A solid epistemological framework in order to come to reliable conclusions about origins is based on science, philosophy, and theology. What we try, is to come up with, is the best explanation. Nobody has proofs either of Gods existence or that the natural world is all there is.
What will you do with this evidence at hand? Are you an unbeliever? Then you have no rational excuses to keep being so. The Kalaam Cosmological Argument alone provides powerful evidence for the God of the Bible, and strong or positive atheism is an unjustified worldview and position.
Many atheists resist, to permit the evidence to lead wherever it is, no matter what. They want their preconceived worldview to be true at any cost. I can testify that the God which i am experiencing since i converted 35 years ago,
to be loving, just, graceful, and caring, and he receives anyone that comes to him. He is far from that caricature which is often portrayed. If you seek him, be assured, you will find him, or better, he will find you.
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2877-the-kalaam-leads-to-the-god-of-the-bible
The Kalaam leads to the God of the Bible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOcACl_tJ2c&t=142s
1:08 Properties of the first cause
5:11 Event causation or Agent causation?
8:00 How can a mind exist in a timeless dimension, trigger a Transition from timelessness to time?
13:12 How can a mind exist without a body beyond the universe?
15:06 How could God have created the universe without time?
16:11 Is claiming that God is eternal, special pleading?
18:06 Properties of the first cause
30:29 Philosophical and scientific considerations match with the biblical account about the origin of the Universe
30:53 End notes
The universe had a beginning, therefore a cause
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9UMDiiE0kY&t=75s
1:15 The claim: Something cannot come from nothing does not need to be proven
3:15 Virtual particles do not come from absolutely nothing but require a quantum vacuum
7:36 Premise two: The universe began to exist
9:35 Scientific reasons to conclude that the universe has a beginning
16:32 Further scientific evidence why the universe cannot be past eternal
18:35 Philosophical reasons why the universe nor quantum effect potentials cannot be past eternal
Aquinas showed us that the attributes of a true God are logically deduced. Properties of the first cause:
1. Supernatural in nature, (As it exists outside and beyond of the natural physical universe),
2. Uncaused, beginningless, and eternal (self-existent, as it exists without a cause, outside of time and space, besides the fact that infinite regress of causes is impossible. ),
3. Omnipresent & all-knowing (It created space and is not limited by it),
4. Changeless ( Change depends on physical being )
5. Timeless ( Without physical events, there can be no time, and time began with the Big Bang )
6. Immaterial (Because He transcends space and created matter),
7. Spaceless ( Since it created space)
8. Personal (The impersonal can’t create personality, and only a personal, free agent can cause a change from a changeless state )
9. Enormously Powerful ( Since it brought the entire universe, space-time and matter into existence )
10. Necessary (As everything else depends on it),
11. Absolutely independent and self-existent ( It does not depend on a higher causal agency to exist otherwise there would be infinite regress which is impossible )
12. Infinite and singular (As you cannot have two infinities),
13. Diverse yet has unity (As all multiplicity implies a prior singularity),
14. Intelligent (Supremely, to create everything, in special language, complexity, factories and machines),
15. Purposeful (As it deliberately created everything with goals in mind),
An agent endowed with free will can have a determination in a timeless dimension to operate causally at a (first) moment of time and thereby to produce a temporally first effect
1. God is supernatural in nature Acts 17:24-25
2. God is uncaused, beginningless, and eternal 1 Timothy 1:17
3. God is omnipresent & all-knowing Psalm 139:7-12; Jeremiah 23:24
4. God is unchanging Malachi 3:6
5. God is immaterial (spirit) John 4:24
6. God is personal John 4:24, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Isaiah 25:1, Isaiah 63:7, Psalm 78:1, 1 Chronicles 16:8, Micah 4:12, Job 29:4, 2 Corinthians 13:14
7. God is enormously Powerful Genesis 17:1
8. God is timeless Revelation 1:8
9. God is necessary Genesis 1:1
10. God is omniscient ( All-knowing ) Psalm 147:4-5
11. God is absolutely independent and self-existent Isaiah 46:9
12. God is One, yet He exists in three persons Matthew 3:16-17
13. God is extraordinarily intelligent Jeremiah 32:17
14. God is all-understanding Psalm 147:5
15. God is purposeful Jeremiah 29:11
Each of the inferences based on the properties that the cause of the universe must have, match with the description of the God revealed in the Bible which offers solid support for the creation of the universe, distinguishing it from other religious texts.
Philosophical and scientific considerations match with the biblical account about the origin of the Universe
Remarkably, science, contradicting the Bible hundred years ago, claiming the Universe was eternal, has shifted to the same conclusion: The universe had a beginning, a finite time ago:
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Isaiah 45:18 “For this is what the LORD says – he who created the heavens, he is God.”
Proverbs 8:22 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be.”
Titus 1:2 “in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time…”
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
John 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
Colossians 1:15-16 “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”
1 Peter 1:20 “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”
2 Timothy 1:9 “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time…”
How is God the Creator? Starting at 5:37
APART FROM THE JUDEO CHRISTIAN ISLAMIC TRADITION, THERE REALLY IS NO DOCTRINE OF CREATION OUT OF NOTHING IN THE OTHER MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS. THINK OF THE PANTHEISTIC RELIGIONS OF THE EAST -- HINDUISM, BUDDHISM, DAOISM, OR POLYTHEISTIC RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT ROME AND GREECE OR OTHER SOCIETIES. IN NONE OF THESE DO YOU HAVE A ROBUST DOCTRINE OF CREATION OUT OF NOTHING, SO THAT IF THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION OUT OF NOTHING IS TRUE, IT SERVES TO DISTINGUISH THE JUDEO CHRISTIAN TRADITION FROM ALL OF THE OTHER WORLD'S RELIGIONS, INCLUDING PANTHEISM.
>WHAT ELSE WOULD IT SAY ABOUT GOD'S OWN INTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS?
>>IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE ANY OTHER DOCTRINE THAT WOULD UNDERSCORE GOD'S OMNIPOTENCE, HIS SELF-EXISTENCE, HIS NECESSITY, HIS DISTINCTION FROM THE WORLD, IN A WAY THAT THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION OUT OF NOTHING DOES.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-Ti2wzASfg
The Kalaam leads to the God of the Bible
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2877-the-kalaam-leads-to-the-god-of-the-bible
The Kalaam leads to the God of the Bible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOcACl_tJ2c&t=142s
1:08 Properties of the first cause
5:11 Event causation or Agent causation?
8:00 How can a mind exist in a timeless dimension, trigger a Transition from timelessness to time?
13:12 How can a mind exist without a body beyond the universe?
15:06 How could God have created the universe without time?
16:11 Is claiming that God is eternal, special pleading?
18:06 Properties of the first cause
30:29 Philosophical and scientific considerations match with the biblical account about the origin of the Universe
30:53 End notes
The Kalaam leads to the God of the Bible
So, based on my previous video, we are granted to conclude that the premises one and two of the Kalaam Cosmological argument are rationally sound, that is, that everything that begins to exist, must have a cause. And that the universe, with high certainty, based on scientific and philosophical considerations, began to exist.
The conclusion is: Therefore, the universe had a cause.
The famed atheist Bertrand Russell notoriously said: “If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause.”
Note, that premise one does not claim that everything has a cause, but that EVERYTHING THAT BEGINS TO EXIST has a cause. And herein God is perched up in a category of his own. Something that exists eternally without a
beginning does not need to have a cause.
Properties of the first cause
So, what cause is the best explanation of the origin of the universe? Some claim that we do not know how to identify the cause of the universe
A closer look will provide us with a number of striking properties which the cause of the universe must possess and, as we will see, these properties match strikingly with the description of the God of the Bible.
Existence can be divided into the following categories: physical ( energy/matter, space and time), and mind ( consciousness, intelligence ). or in other words, the Natural, and the supernatural. And furthermore, abstract numbers and objects. which exist independently if there is a physical universe, or not.
1. Since something can not come from nothing, being cannot come from non-being, but we exist, there is being, then something must be uncaused, and has always existed. That must have been either the mind, physical things, or both together.
2. Since the universe had a beginning, therefore it is not eternal, physical existence is not a candidate to explain the origin of the universe.
3. Abstract objects, numbers and mathematical calculus do not stand in causal relations, and as such, cannot cause the universe into existence either.
4. The cause of the universe cannot be a contingent being but must be eternal, otherwise, there would be eternal regress. The cause must be as well changeless, since, once more, an infinite temporal regress of changes cannot exist. That does not mean, that it is not capable of change, but had to be changeless until causing the first physical event. Since the first cause must be changeless, it follows that it was immaterial and spaceless.
It follows, that the cause did also exist in a dimension of timelessness, since time requires change.
Event causation or Agent causation?
There are two types of things that can cause an event to occur. One is a physical object triggering another physical object to change. That would be an event - event causation. One event causes another to occur. If we posit that, then another contingent physical cause would have had to trigger the Big Bang or further back, a cosmos, multiverses etc, leading to an infinite regress, which is impossible. The cause of the universe cannot be physical, space, time, and matter, since that is what it caused into being.
The State - State causation faces the same problem. This causation is like a frozen pond where you have a stone resting on the top of that pond, and this stay is causing this other state of the stone, but that could not trigger a change from one state into another but would remain static, from eternity. And a state - state causation would also have to be physical.
And the second is state event causation by a free agent, which wills to do something which causes physical change. Decisions can have physical consequences. I can decide to touch a domino stone. That mental decision provokes a physical event, where I move my arm, my fingers, and trigger the domino chain reaction.
I don't know HOW that occurs. Nobody knows how this mind-brain interaction can take place, but it does.
This form of causation has to go from a state of timeless mental being to will an event of a transition, from a non-physical to a physical state of being, therefore the only explanation of what triggered the universe or cosmos is intelligent causation based on will and power.
Since that cause created matter, space, and time, it had to be immaterial and exist in a timeless dimension. The only immaterial things we know of being able to cause something into being are conscient minds which are able to make decisions. We know by experience that the mind can cause action solely based on will. Therefore an eternal & necessary first cause is the best explanation of our existence.
How could a mind exist in a timeless dimension, and trigger a transition from timelessness to time?
Time is a huge topic in philosophy. What is time? We all know intuitively what it is, but when asked to formulate and define time, we soon perceive the difficulty. When we go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning, on average 6 to 8 hours did pass. But we did not perceive time passing.
If we were asked but had no watch to check, we would probably not know how much time we slept. If we have a very deep and good sleep, it's almost when we wake up as if we did not perceive any lapse of time. But during this time, we are conscient and dream, there are sequential events in a dream, there is action, but we do not perceive time like when we are awake. What does that mean?
Two things: Time is bound to physical action. That's why there cannot be time if there is no matter, energy, and space. Where there is no action and physical reality, there is no time. And secondly: Even IF there would be time, space, and matter, and action, but no mind and conscience, there is no entity to PERCEIVE it.
So in order to have a sense and perception of time, the following is necessary:
Mental awareness and consciousness that can sensor external reality, space, matter and energy, physical action, and that the mind is in a relationship with external physical reality in action. Then time can be perceived. Some have questioned: How can God exist BEYOND the universe sans universe, and sans time?
If we can dream and perceive a sequence of events in our mind but without EXPERIENCING time, while we can perceive that sequence in our mind, so can God exist timeless beyond the universe, have various mental states and experience sequential events consciously and be aware of, but not EXPERIENCING time.
Time is only something that MINDS EXPERIENCE, upon the perception of physical activity. In dreams, there are external actors. Often in a dream, we just passively OBSERVE events, and in many cases, we REACT. We want to do things during our dreams.
For example, I often dream that do a mental effort and I float, rise and fly. When I stop the mental effort, I start to go down. So I can exercise will during my dream.
When we have nightmare dreams, we experience awfully horrific events, we are in real panic. What is the reaction? We try at all costs to flee that event and wake up in scared So there is an event occurring in the mind, which triggers a PHYSICAL EVENT. We wake up.
God CAN have existed in a timeless dimension without creation, and DECIDED to create the physical cosmos, and provoked its creation upon his mental power, will and decision.
There is nothing absurd about it. I can decide to write the letter a, and in an instant, AT THE SAME TIME that I take the decision, type the letter a. So there has to be no time lapse between a decision process and a physical event. It occurs simultaneously. So God can have existed in an exclusively mental dimension with sequential events, but experiencing no time, then he took the decision to create the universe, and simultaneously to his decision, made it all start, and time begin with the advent of physical reality.
How could God have created the universe without time?
The cause of the Big Bang operated simultaneously (or coincidentally) with the Big Bang. Philosophical discussions of causal directionality routinely treat simultaneous causation, the question being how to distinguish A as the cause and B as the effect when these occur together at the same time. Even on a mundane level, we regularly experience simultaneous causation
How can a mind exist without a body beyond the universe?
Jon Lieff MD psychiatrist, with specialities in geriatric psychiatry and neuropsychiatry, writes :
The fact that OBE’s can be stimulated in the laboratory clearly demonstrates that the sense of “I”, the self-identity, can be separated from the body consciousness. Studies of body maps are also consistent with this view because they show that body consciousness is constantly changing through neuroplasticity.
Therefore, ultimately, the sense of self is independent of the body sense, although normally extremely associated with it. The sense of “I,” or identity, is also ordinarily very attached to the self-perceptions involving our professions, families, and other strongly held beliefs and feelings.
How could God create a material world out of nothing?
The short answer: I don't know.
First of all, it is remarkable when Scientists like Lawrence Kraus make the claim that the universe was created out of nothing, there is immediately a herd of followers which are endorsing the assertions and repeating them without hesitation.
Werner Karl Heisenberg 1901 – 1976 German theoretical physicist, key pioneers of quantum mechanics
Of course, we all know that our own reality depends on the structure of our consciousness; we can objectify no more than a small part of our world. But even when we try to probe into the subjective realm, we cannot ignore the central order…In the final analysis, the central order, or 'the one' as it used to be called and with which we commune in the language of religion, must win out.
Is claiming that God is eternal, special pleading?
What usually immediately follows, when we posit God must be eternal, is the objection of special pleading. A Special Pleading fallacy is wherein people create a rule or apply an existing rule to a situation and then proceed to make someone or something exempt from this rule without providing real justification for that exemption.
Atheists claim that believers argue that the universe needs a cause, but not God. And that, supposedly, is special pleading. The author of this article in patheos says : The Special Pleading fallacy deserves to be called out more, especially because as far as I can tell it’s a fairly common one.
Pointing out the obvious is not special pleading. Scientific evidence and philosophical considerations point to the fact that the natural universe had a beginning. If logic does not account for justifiable special pleading then such logic is clearly flawed. Of course, an Infinite Creator who created everything would involve a justifiable special pleading.
Such Creator would not be like the rest of us. It is as simple as seeing the difference between an Infinite Being and billions of "finite beings." The One Infinite Being Who created all existence is quite different than those finite beings who are created by such Being. It is as easy as seeing the difference between "those who have a beginning" who are finite verses an "Infinite Creator"
Properties of the first cause:
1. Supernatural in nature, (As it exists outside and beyond of the natural physical universe),
2. Uncaused, beginningless, and eternal (self-existent, as it exists without a cause, outside of time and space, besides the fact that infinite regress of causes is impossible. ),
3. Omnipresent & all-knowing (It created space and is not limited by it),
4. Changeless ( Change depends on physical being )
5. Timeless ( Without physical events, there can be no time, and time began with the Big Bang )
6. Immaterial (Because He transcends space and created matter),
7. Spaceless ( Since it created space)
8. Personal (The impersonal can’t create personality, and only a personal, free agent can cause a change from a changeless state )
9. Enormously Powerful ( Since it brought the entire universe, space-time and matter into existence )
10. Necessary (As everything else depends on it),
11. Absolutely independent and self-existent ( It does not depend on a higher causal agency to exist otherwise there would be infinite regress which is impossible )
12. Infinite and singular (As you cannot have two infinities),
13. Diverse yet has unity (As all multiplicity implies a prior singularity),
14. Intelligent (Supremely, to create everything, in special language, complexity, factories and machines),
15. Purposeful (As it deliberately created everything with goals in mind),
Only based on the two premises of the Kalaam Cosmological Argument, rather than confessing ignorance, and saying: We can't know about the nature of the cause of the universe, we can say a supernatural, uncaused, beginningless, eternal, omnipresent and all-knowing, changeless, timeless, immaterial, spaceless, personal, enormously powerful, necessary, absolutely independent and self-existent, infinite and singular, diverse yet united, intelligent and purposeful creator is the best explanation as the cause of the universe and our existence.
An agent endowed with free will can have a determination in a timeless dimension to operate causally at a (first) moment of time and thereby to produce a temporally first effect
1. God is supernatural in nature Acts 17:24-25
2. God is uncaused, beginningless, and eternal 1 Timothy 1:17
3. God is omnipresent & all-knowing Psalm 139:7-12; Jeremiah 23:24
4. God is unchanging Malachi 3:6
5. God is immaterial (spirit) John 4:24
6. God is personal John 4:24, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Isaiah 25:1, Isaiah 63:7, Psalm 78:1, 1 Chronicles 16:8, Micah 4:12, Job 29:4, 2 Corinthians 13:14
7. God is enormously Powerful Genesis 17:1
8. God is timeless Revelation 1:8
9. God is necessary Genesis 1:1
10. God is omniscient ( All-knowing ) Psalm 147:4-5
11. God is absolutely independent and self-existent Isaiah 46:9
12. God is One, yet He exists in three persons Matthew 3:16-17
13. God is extraordinarily intelligent Jeremiah 32:17
14. God is all-understanding Psalm 147:5
15. God is purposeful
Remarkably, each of the inferences based on the properties that the cause of the universe must have, match with the description of the God revealed in the Bible which offers solid support for the creation of the universe, distinguishing it from other religious texts.
1. God is supernatural in nature (As it exists outside, above and beyond of the natural physical universe)
Acts 17:24-25 "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things,"
2. God is uncaused, beginningless, and eternal (self-existent, as it exists without a cause, outside of time and space, besides the fact that infinite regress of causes is impossible. )
1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
3. God is omnipresent & all-knowing (It created space and is not limited by it)
Psalm 139:7-12 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
Jeremiah 23:24 Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.
4. God is unchanging ( Change depends on physical being )
Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
5. God is immaterial ( spirit ) ( Since he created matter, he is not made of matter ) & Spaceless ( Since it created space and transcends space)
John 4:21-23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers
First Timothy 1:17 “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.”
6. God is personal (The impersonal can’t create personality, and only a personal, free agent can cause a change from a changeless state )
God is Spirit (John 4:24)
1 Thessalonians 5:18 God's will
Isaiah 25:1 His plans
Isaiah 63:7 His compassion, goodness, and lovingkindness
Psalm 78:1 His words
1 Chronicles 16:8 His deeds
Micah 4:12 His thoughts and purposes
Job 29:4 God is capable of friendship
2 Corinthians 13:14 love, and fellowship
Deuteronomy 1:11 makes promises
Deuteronomy 7:8 swears oaths
Genesis 6:6 God knows grief
Isaiah 42:21 pleasure
Nahum 1:2 wrath
God is Spirit, God wills, He plans, He is compassionate, good, and loving and kind, He uses words, His deeds, His thoughts and purposes, God is capable of friendship, love, and fellowship, he makes promises, swears oath, God knows grief, pleasure, and wrath.
7. God is all powerful ( Since it brought the entire universe, space-time and matter into existence )
Genesis 17:1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty’...”
Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
Matthew 19:26 “Jesus looked at them and said. ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”
8. God is timeless ( Without physical events, there can be no time, and time began with the Big Bang )
Revelation 1:8 - “I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was, and who is to come. The Almighty.”
Revelation 4:8d - “Even under his wings, Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’”
9. God is necessary (As everything else depends on it)
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Colossians 1:16[/size] For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
Psalm 115:3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
10. God is omniscient ( All-knowing ) (It created all contingent being, and is not limited by it)
Psalm 147:4-5 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
Psalm 33:13 From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place, he watches all who live on earth…
1 Chronicles 28:9 For the Lord searches every heart, and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, we will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.
11. God is absolutely independent and self-existent ( It does not depend on a higher causal agency to exist )
Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
12. God is infinite and singular (As you cannot have two infinities)
God is diverse yet has unity (As all multiplicity implies a prior singularity) God is One, yet He exists in three persons
Matthew 3:16-17 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
13. God is extraordinarily intelligent (Supremely, to create everything, in special language, complexity, factories and machines),
14. God is all-understanding ( He created all contingent being, the universe, space, matter, and life )
Psalm 147:5 - “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”
Isaiah 40:28 - “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, He will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom.”
15. God is purposeful (As it deliberately created everything with goals in mind)
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Not only do philosophical inferences of the Kalaam point to a creator which must have 15 distinct characteristics which coincide with the description of the God revealed in the Bible, but the Bible does confirm in many ways God as the creator of the universe
Psalm 19:1“For the heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
Philosophical and scientific considerations match with the biblical account about the origin of the Universe
Remarkably, science, contradicting the Bible hundred years ago, claiming the Universe was eternal, has shifted to the same conclusion: The universe had a beginning, a finite time ago:
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Isaiah 45:18 “For this is what the LORD says – he who created the heavens, he is God.”
Proverbs 8:22 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be.”
Titus 1:2 “in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time…”
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
John 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
Colossians 1:15-16 “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”
1 Peter 1:20 “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”
2 Timothy 1:9 “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time…”
A continuous, universal cosmic expansion
Job 9:8 “He alone stretches out the heavens.”
Psalm 104:2 “The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent.
Isaiah 42:5 “This is what God the LORD says – the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out.”
Zechariah 12:1 “The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundations of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person…”
The claim that the Kalaam Cosmological Argument does not permit to infer a specific creator is not justified. Science, Philosophy and Biblical theology converge together to one clear direction:
The universe had a beginning, and therefore a cause. And that cause does staggeringly match with the description of the God that is revealed in the Bible.
A common question follows when God is claimed to be the cause of the universe: Where did God come from? Who created God?
What caused the uncaused creator into being? God must be eternal, otherwise, we would have to ask: And what caused the cause of the creator into existence? Turtles all the way down. The first cause is necessary and uncaused.
You might claim that the description of the nature of the creator is unproven, and can, therefore, be dismissed. Such assertions are the consequence of an unsophisticated epistemological framework, a philosophical framework based on scientism, or verificationism, where the claim is, that in order for a claim to be meaningful, it must be proven to be true. That is not the case.
A solid epistemological framework in order to come to reliable conclusions about origins is based on science, philosophy, and theology. What we try, is to come up with, is the best explanation. Nobody has proofs either of Gods existence or that the natural world is all there is.
What will you do with this evidence at hand? Are you an unbeliever? Then you have no rational excuses to keep being so. The Kalaam Cosmological Argument alone provides powerful evidence for the God of the Bible, and strong or positive atheism is an unjustified worldview and position.
Many atheists resist, to permit the evidence to lead wherever it is, no matter what. They want their preconceived worldview to be true at any cost. I can testify that the God which i am experiencing since i converted 35 years ago,
to be loving, just, graceful, and caring, and he receives anyone that comes to him. He is far from that caricature which is often portrayed. If you seek him, be assured, you will find him, or better, he will find you.
Last edited by Otangelo on Sat Jul 06, 2024 2:47 pm; edited 6 times in total