Hey everyone, I am going to be writing a few articles on the cosmological evidence for God, but be doing it in a few parts. This article will be written on the limitations of science, the necessity of philosophy, what kind of God is God, and the Kalam cosmological argument. I think that this series of letters will be very helpful in deciding if there is a God or not. The idea of this article and future ones to come are to try and share the hope that I have in everyone's Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So I sincerely that everyone enjoys and again if there are any questions, please write me.When viewing the universe as being created by an all powerful being, we must first understand that there are limits to science. The biggest limit to science when it comes to understanding this creator is that science can simply NOT know the supernatural. In the case of God, God would be considered supernatural. Since it would be logical that you can not have God in a test tube, or their is no mathematical equation to get God. God is simply above that.
Now that we understand the limitations of science, we must then understand that their is a need for philosophy where science can not fill in the blanks with God. In philosophy there is a term that is very important to know. This term is called the Prime Reality. The Prime Reality of philosophy simply means this: The origin of cause from which everything comes that needs no cause or beginning. This is important for one big reason. God is the source and needs no cause because he is the Prime Reality.
Now that we know a few terms to get this discussion going, there is one big important feature of God that needs to be addressed. Is God and external or internal creator? This is a very big question when trying to find the character of God. I would say that God could be considered an external God instead of an internal God. For most eastern religions, God is seen through a pantheistic view which means that God is in everything, and that everything came from a part or within God himself. This can not be correct if we are talking about creating something. In this case God would be an internal God. As for God being an external God, this means that very much like a potter to his clay, God formed the universe. He is not in everything, but made everything. This kind of creation is evident in everything that is created in the world today, so it would be nonsensical to say that God is any different in creating his work.
Now we can move on to the argument itself. We will be discussing what is called the Kalam Cosmological argument. Kalam is an Arabic word meaning "talk" or "speech". So this is to say talk about the cosmos. Cosmos is Greek for everything that exists, the universe and all it contains. This idea was first thought of by Christians philosophers, and it wasn’t until medieval Islamic thinkers completed the idea. This argument for God deals with answering the question of weather or not the universe is infinite or not. It does this by talking about two types of infinities: Actual and Potential Infinites. Potential infinities are numbers that can be started and then added on by increments of one. For example: if you started a stop watch, it would have the potential of going forever, but since it was started it would never actually be infinite. Therefore they are potential. These are what kind of infinities the world consists of. The other type is Actual infinities. When dealing with these, no time can be added on since by nature they are infinite. If we were to see these types of infinites in the world, there would be disaster. Let me give a few examples. The first one we will look at is this: suppose you have an infinite number of cds in a cd collection. Each cd has an infinite number of songs on them. If you listen to just one cd in the collection, you would have listened to as many songs on one cd as you would have the whole collection. You can not have this, they are two different sizes of infinites. Therefore it a nonsensical notion. Another example would be this: suppose a son and a father are both doing laps, the son on his tri-cycle in the in-field of a baseball field, and his father in a car on a track. If the son does three laps to his father's one and they have been going an infinite number of times, then they would have completed the same amount of laps even though the son did three to his father's one. Again we see a nonsensical notion. Not only the problem of two sizes of infinites occur, you also find that in infinity there is no scale of time. In infinity you can not have a past, present, or future since time has never began. This is a nonsensical notion as well. So you can see where the problems lie with actual infinites.
What does this all mean? Well, the fact that you can not have actual infinites means that the universe and time are not infinite. Just as the argument suggests, two sizes of infinites are a nonsensical notion to have in the world we live in, it would be disaster. But to prevent the disaster, we see that their are only potential infinities. This means that the universe and time were created. If they were created this means that a force no other than God could be the cause. This is my conclusion. My personal belief is that God is the creator and sustainer of life. He is fully present in our time and space.
Just to give a little side note, remember I am writing these articles in behalf of the Savior I live to serve. He is the way the truth and the life, and no one goes to the father except through him, and that person is Jesus Christ. I long to live in the light that he has promised each and everyone of us. So if there are any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I thank you all so much and you all are in my prayers. Please do not be afraid of where the truth can lead you. I know that God is all knowing and all powerful.
Now that we understand the limitations of science, we must then understand that their is a need for philosophy where science can not fill in the blanks with God. In philosophy there is a term that is very important to know. This term is called the Prime Reality. The Prime Reality of philosophy simply means this: The origin of cause from which everything comes that needs no cause or beginning. This is important for one big reason. God is the source and needs no cause because he is the Prime Reality.
Now that we know a few terms to get this discussion going, there is one big important feature of God that needs to be addressed. Is God and external or internal creator? This is a very big question when trying to find the character of God. I would say that God could be considered an external God instead of an internal God. For most eastern religions, God is seen through a pantheistic view which means that God is in everything, and that everything came from a part or within God himself. This can not be correct if we are talking about creating something. In this case God would be an internal God. As for God being an external God, this means that very much like a potter to his clay, God formed the universe. He is not in everything, but made everything. This kind of creation is evident in everything that is created in the world today, so it would be nonsensical to say that God is any different in creating his work.
Now we can move on to the argument itself. We will be discussing what is called the Kalam Cosmological argument. Kalam is an Arabic word meaning "talk" or "speech". So this is to say talk about the cosmos. Cosmos is Greek for everything that exists, the universe and all it contains. This idea was first thought of by Christians philosophers, and it wasn’t until medieval Islamic thinkers completed the idea. This argument for God deals with answering the question of weather or not the universe is infinite or not. It does this by talking about two types of infinities: Actual and Potential Infinites. Potential infinities are numbers that can be started and then added on by increments of one. For example: if you started a stop watch, it would have the potential of going forever, but since it was started it would never actually be infinite. Therefore they are potential. These are what kind of infinities the world consists of. The other type is Actual infinities. When dealing with these, no time can be added on since by nature they are infinite. If we were to see these types of infinites in the world, there would be disaster. Let me give a few examples. The first one we will look at is this: suppose you have an infinite number of cds in a cd collection. Each cd has an infinite number of songs on them. If you listen to just one cd in the collection, you would have listened to as many songs on one cd as you would have the whole collection. You can not have this, they are two different sizes of infinites. Therefore it a nonsensical notion. Another example would be this: suppose a son and a father are both doing laps, the son on his tri-cycle in the in-field of a baseball field, and his father in a car on a track. If the son does three laps to his father's one and they have been going an infinite number of times, then they would have completed the same amount of laps even though the son did three to his father's one. Again we see a nonsensical notion. Not only the problem of two sizes of infinites occur, you also find that in infinity there is no scale of time. In infinity you can not have a past, present, or future since time has never began. This is a nonsensical notion as well. So you can see where the problems lie with actual infinites.
What does this all mean? Well, the fact that you can not have actual infinites means that the universe and time are not infinite. Just as the argument suggests, two sizes of infinites are a nonsensical notion to have in the world we live in, it would be disaster. But to prevent the disaster, we see that their are only potential infinities. This means that the universe and time were created. If they were created this means that a force no other than God could be the cause. This is my conclusion. My personal belief is that God is the creator and sustainer of life. He is fully present in our time and space.
Just to give a little side note, remember I am writing these articles in behalf of the Savior I live to serve. He is the way the truth and the life, and no one goes to the father except through him, and that person is Jesus Christ. I long to live in the light that he has promised each and everyone of us. So if there are any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I thank you all so much and you all are in my prayers. Please do not be afraid of where the truth can lead you. I know that God is all knowing and all powerful.
In Christ our Lord,
Dylan
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