In my previous post I discussed the expanding and finite universe. One the most obvious implication of the expanding universe is the fact that expansion necessarily requires a beginning point. And a universe that had a beginning must have been created by an entity outside the physical matter of the created order. Since it is ridiculously obvious that the universe could not have designed and created itself, therefore, the only logical conclusion is that something else must be responsible for the universe’s existence. The question that must be answer is what or who could have started the universe? 

I think it is logical to conclude that the same entity that started the universe is responsible for starting all life, especially human life, on earth. The Bible identifies this entity as God, but not just any god. The God described in the Bible is the One who created “the heavens and the earth.” This is the God who created the universe, and everything contained within it. Let me examine the essential character qualities of this entity that created the universe. I would suggest to you that the entity that created the universe has five non-negotiable qualities. Without these qualities we cannot make sense of life on earth, the solar system, and the rest of the universe. The entity that produced the universe must have all five: Timelessness, Intelligence, Immaterial (spiritual), Consciousness, Volition. Let’s begin.

Timelessness

For thousands of years believers in the God of the Bible have asserted that God is eternal. He is the God who is. Also, for several hundred years, as mentioned earlier, many scientists believe the universe was eternal as well. Scientists used these “competing” truths as being mutually exclusive. They were correct in that God and the universe could not have both being eternal at the same time. The scientists were correct, but they had argued for the wrong entity to be eternal. They believed the universe was eternal, and therefore, the God of the Bible could be. 

All of that changed in 1919. We now know with scientific precision that the universe came into existence 13.87 billion years ago. Therefore, the only logical conclusion is that since the universe is not eternal, then, God must be. 

It is simply not possible to promote that the universe is finite without acknowledging that someone or something must have brought the universe into existence. For no one, outside the most dogmatically insane atheist, can argue that the universe could have created itself. But don’t laugh. Some scientists, in their desperation to reject the God who is, have argued precisely that. I read once a scientist’s opinion that the universe had come into existence on its own out of necessity. No one asked this “genius” how a non-existent and mindless entity (the universe) developed the “necessity” to exist. Let me plead with the reader—“do not say stupid things like that.” It makes you look bad, and it may reveal your ignorance, dogmatism, or worse, your lack of intelligence. 

Children, who are unable to grasp abstract concepts like eternity, ask, and who created God? Some advanced scientists, such as Richard Dawkins have also asked who created God. I am not sure if he is unable to understand the concept of eternity or if his delusions are so strong that he cannot conceive of an eternal being. Regardless, the question about God’s timelessness does not consider the momentous event of the universe coming into existence by the power of God. Now, let’s say that the God that created our universe was created. Then, whoever created him is God. Logic prevents us from going into “eternal regressions” of created beings because all created beings could and would eventually cease to exist, but whoever created them is God. 

However, the fact that the universe is not eternal, eliminates the idea of eternal regressions. The God of the Bible is the One God who created the universe. Before we had any advances in the sciences, especially astronomy, Moses described God’s power to create the universe. Moses’s description was rudimentary and not specifically scientific, but it was an accurate description of God’s action in creation. 

Thomas Aquinas described five ways to prove God’s existence. Let me mention them here with a brief explanation. I will not mention the objections mostly because all the objections fail to consider the timelessness of God in Aquinas’s description. In other words, the people who object to Aquinas do not understand the concept of eternal existence. Here are the five ways to prove God’s existence.

The First Way: God, the Prime Mover

Aquinas proposed that whoever put the universe in motion, he himself, could not have been in motion. The basic premise that all created things are in motion, but since God is not a created thing or creature, he is not in motion, and he is the one who set the universe in motion.

The Second Way: God, the First Cause

Aquinas’s second way to prove God’s existence is that he, as being eternal is the first agent that caused something into being. People always talk about cause and effect. Aquinas argued that there is no effect, and indeed there can never be an effect, without a cause. Some have argued, again ignoring the perspective of eternal existence, that God must have a cause. Others have said that there are effects for which we have not been able to find the cause or an explanation for the effect. This is an argument from silence. The fact that we do not know the cause of an event or of a thing, does not mean a cause does not exist. It only means we do not what caused it. Aquinas argument is that a material universe must have been created by someone outside the universe who is eternal. Therefore, God is the “First Cause” that resulted in the universe, and later in human life on earth.
The Third Way: God, the Necessary Being
This argument starts with the premise that all things that are at one time they were not. This means that the things that are came into existence at some point in time. But if all thing that are came into existence at some point in time, then, this process also goes into the eternal regressions. Aquinas’s point here, which is similar to his previous points, is that at some point in the process there must be a Being that must be necessary and final in order for the other things to exist. 

The British philosopher David Hume argued that if God had a quality that made him necessary, why couldn’t the universe have a similar quality? Obviously, and unfortunately for Hume, when he wrote his philosophical disagreements, he did not know that the universe was not only finite, but that it had a specific beginning. Hume’s objections are muted by the fact that he did not know the universe was in motion and had a specific beginning. Aquinas’s genius is in that he defeated the objections even before the full evidence had come to light.

The Fourth Way: God, the Absolute Being
Like the other arguments, Aquinas stated that all things have a degree of good in them. Some have more good than others. His proposition is that there must a being that has all the good in himself. Aquinas believed, correctly, that God is such a being. 

The Fifth Way: God, the Grand Designer 

It is impossible to look at the world, the universe, and human life and conclude they are the result of an unconscious, unintelligent, and purposeless process. For instance, when we consider the precision in the distances of the earth from the sun that makes life possible on earth, it is impossible to ascribe this design to chance. When atheist Richard Dawkins was confronted with the specific examples of design in the universe, and the world, conceded that life on earth “gives the impression of design.” He could not bring himself to accept the concept of design because that would imply a designer, and Dawkins was not about to renounce his atheism just yet. 

Dr. Stephen Myers wrote a book entitled “The Return of the God Hypothesis” (more about his book later.) He argues that design in the universe and at the molecular level is undeniable. If the universe and life were designed, then, God must have designed them because design requires intelligence, and intelligence requires a person with volition. In other words, design requires the existence of God. (Next: Intelligence as the second necessary element for God’s existence.)