Claim CI200:
Every event has a cause. The universe itself had a beginning, so it must
have had a first cause, which must have been a creator God.
Source:
Craig, W. L., 1994. Reasonable Faith: Christian truth and apologetics,
Crossway Books, Wheaton IL.
Morris, Henry M., 1974. Scientific Creationism, Green Forest, AR:
Master Books, pp. 19-20.
Response:
- The assumption that every event has a cause, although common in our
experience, is not necessarily universal. The apparent lack of cause
for some events, such as radioactive decay, suggests that there might
be exceptions. There are also hypotheses, such as alternate dimensions
of time or an eternally oscillating universe, that allow a
universe without a first cause.
- By definition, a cause comes before an event. If time began with the
universe, "before" does not even apply to it, and it is logically
impossible that the universe be caused.
- This claim raises the question of what caused God. If, as some claim,
God does not need a cause, then by the same reasoning, neither does the
universe.
created 1999-9-17, modified 2004-4-22
