The Caused Evidence – Part 3

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The CAUSED Evidence – Part 3

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What other no-God-involved causes of the universe do people believe in?

Could the cause be an abstract object, like a law of nature? One reason why abstract objects are impotent to do anything.

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Aside from having no supportive evidence, failing to meet most of the necessary properties of the first cause (given in the previous blog noting the properties found of the cause of the universe), and facing intractable problems mentioned above, the no-God alternatives one and two could only be held with delusional faith (belief in them against the evidence), which is why in scientific and philosophical literature only two other options are typically offered for the timeless, changeless, immaterial, uncaused, first cause of the universe: an immaterial mind or abstract objects.

Abstract objects proposed include “swirling mathematical points,” like the number “2”, and laws of nature, like quantum gravity, which Stephen Hawking offered in his most recent book, The Grand Design.

3.1 Abstract objects by definition cause nothing. They DON’T EXIST IN CAUSE-AND-EFFECT relationships; they have NO POTENTIAL TO DO ANYTHING. They are impotent to cause any physical thing. So, if you were confused how the number “2” could cause the universe, you should be—because it is nonsensical.

Laws of nature, for example, describe how things change in nature, but never cause the changes. Here is the equation describing the force of gravity:

where m₁ and m₂ are masses and d is the distance between them. There is a force of gravity between you and any other thing that has mass, such as the earth, your car, even me sitting here in Detroit, and we can calculate that force with the equation above.

Now, because there was no mass before the universe began, then the (F)orce of gravity = 0 and can cause nothing. Actually, the equation is invalid as d wouldn’t even have a value. A force of nature does not act without nature. Also, quantum gravity, as well as any natural law, requires both something to act on and time to act, which makes it fail as the other natural causes.

If you disagree, what evidence do you provide for an abstract object creating any physical thing? As Oxford mathematician John Lennox observed in a 2011 lecture, “The laws of arithmetic never added anything to my bank account.”[1]

[1]  Lennox, John C. “God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design Is It Anyway?” Oxford: Lion Hudson, 2011, pp. 41.

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4. An Immaterial Mind?

Could the cause be a personal agent? Testing models for truth.

There’s only one option left: an immaterial mind, precisely the same type predicted accurately and specifically thousands of years ago by the Bible, and that model comes with significant additional supportive evidence.

4.1 Known Properties of the Cause of the Universe

Testing Models for Truth

What model best fits the facts, best explains what we know about the universe and life, has core beliefs supported with evidence, and provides claims (especially predictions) we can test? The evidences from all fields of study and the trends of further discovery point directly to which model’s accuracy?

These are the standards historians, scientists, attorneys, crime scene investigators (CSI), logicians, and everyone associated with evaluating evidence have relied upon. It is extraordinary how far separated the biblical option stands from all other theories. One of the worldviews is not like the others.

1. a) Explanatory power: The biblical model accounts for all the necessary properties of the uncaused first cause, while all other models fail to account for necessary properties.
2. b) Explanatory scope: The biblical model also comprehensively accounts for the fine-tuning evidence, personal agency properties, and other areas of study, such as the existence of objective morality, which natural explanations cannot. This model coherently answers the big questions of life,
3. c) Testability (especially predictability): Models need to be tested for truth. The biblical model provides multiple, clear, specific predictions about the beginning and cause of the universe, against the other belief systems, including atheism, agnosticism, and scientific thought, over 3,000 years before modern scientific discoveries reached the same answers. Nothing else produced by humanity compares. (If you disagree, provide examples.)
4. d) Cumulative case: There is evidence in history, philosophy, biology, etc., and when all fields of study are taken into account, the biblical model’s support is consistently best and growing, while other belief systems have serious and fatal failures in one or more areas of study.
5. e) Trends: As time and discoveries go on, support for the biblical model grows exponentially, while other belief systems have equally steep drops.
6. f) Logic: Biblical beliefs are not ad hoc but given thousands of years in advance of confirmation. For good examples of ad hoc arguments, see the natural models, which provide many.
7. g) Coherent answers: The biggest questions in life are all coherently and elegantly answered by the biblical model, while other models fail to compare.

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What worldview(s) is accurate & which worldview belief(s) conflict with reality?

If you want to believe the no-intelligent-agent-involved options, then these must be faced:

• Failure to meet even the NECESSARY PROPERTIES of the first cause;
• Lack of ANY EVIDENCE to support belief in them; and
• Presence of FATAL PROBLEMS, as shown above on the right side of the chart.

In the meantime, if you have faith that something other than the biblical God caused the universe, then why? Is it due to reason, logic, or evidence? If so, then what are your reasons, logic, or evidence that have greater explanatory power, scope, predictive ability, and other features of an accurate model that surpass the biblical model? If you don’t have a lot, then that says something very significant about how you approach your beliefs.

If you expect (hope) that someday some other cause will be found, you are involved in wishful thinking and you are standing on blind or delusional faith as it goes against the biblical model, which does have significant evidence.

We all can be carried along by false beliefs or invalid thoughts at times, but life in many ways exposes beliefs that are faulty or accurate. Some, for any number of emotional or willful reasons, will live their lives according to beliefs that they want, while others will choose to make sure they have chosen to base their lives on what is supported by reality to lead to the best expected outcome.

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