Apologetics

Looking For God in the Cosmos

by Benjamin Frasca
08/07/18
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Looking For God in the Cosmos

A mighty falcon, adorned in shades of grey and white, spreads its wings and soars amongst the heavens. A thundering wave slowly rises its white tipped head towards the blue sky above and ends with a mighty crash against a pristine seashore. A thousand dots of light illuminates a pitch black midnight sky giving no hint of the massive stars that they are. All these wonders have something very important in common. They each had a beginning. Everything that we can touch or see or hear had a start and there was once a time when they were not. And because there was a time when they were not, everything that our senses behold was caused by something else. And that something was caused by something else, and so on back to the beginning. 

And what of the beginning?  What, or who, brought everything that is into existence? Philosophers and theologians have pondered this question for thousands of years. One of their carefully crafted conclusions has become known as the Cosmological Argument. Simply stated, the argument says that everything that has a beginning has a cause, and that cause had a cause. This constant cycle of cause and effect could not have occurred from eternity. It must have had a beginning. Something or someone originally created the precursors of the cosmos and set them into motion.

What if the beginning was not random? What if it was planned by an intelligent creator? Wouldn’t that creator be, by definition, God? Also, wouldn’t the author of all have to have existed from eternity? After all, nothing could have brought him into being. If he was brought into existence, than he would just be another chain in the process.

Of course some would agree that there was an original cause for everything but disagree that this cause is God. Some believe that the cosmos came from a form of matter or energy that has always existed. But what caused this matter or energy to change into the very ordered, very proficient universe that now exists? Would it not have taken thought? Would it not have taken superior intelligence? Thoughts are characteristic of life and superior intelligence is characteristic of an advanced form of life. Thus, we return to God as the Creator.

Many conclude that belief in God is nonsense. They say that smart people do not consider such myths. They are wrong. Some of the greatest thinkers in history have concluded that there is a God. Many have done so, as we will see, because of the Cosmological Argument.

This argument is not a product of modern thought. It is ancient. The Greek philosopher Aristotle proposed a form of the Cosmological Argument over two thousand years ago when he said that everything that moves must have a mover. He didn’t, however, mean physical movement as when a ball is thrown. He meant change from potentiality to actuality; from what could be to what is. For example, consider a bucket of water. It sits there unmoving. Now suppose someone picks the bucket up and begins to empty it. Water flows out. The possibility of flow was always there, but in order for it to happen, someone or something had to make it happen.

The same is true of the cosmos. Everything that happens does so because of a cause. Everything that exists does so because something prior caused it to exist. There must be a mover and originally there must have been an original mover. Something or someone must have brought all into creation, and that cause must itself have been uncaused and therefore have always existed. If not uncaused, then it does not explain the beginning because it is not the beginning.

Although Aristotle believed in an original mover it is hard to say if he believed in a God or gods. Ancient Greek ideas concerning deities were quite different from our modern conceptions. Perhaps all we can say is that Aristotle was formulating a conception of God but not a complete one. A more complete conception would have to wait another millennia for the ascent of a great Dominican monk and theologian, Saint Thomas Aquinas.

In his historic thirteenth century book Summa Theologica Saint Thomas clearly states that the Cosmological Argument proves the existence of God.He does this by accepting Aristotle’s argument concerning an original mover but expands it to include the physical world as well as potentials. He said that all material things are contingent upon previous causes. There must be, however, a Creator that is not contingent. He does not owe his existence to something or someone else because He is eternally past and therefore was never created. He is therefore God. While a belief in a deity is debatable when discussing Aristotle it is clear when considering Thomas Aquinas.

In our present day scientific thought, the predominant “philosophy” of our time, tends to agree with the Cosmological Argument.  It has been proven that the universe is expanding. This increase is thought to be the result of an initial explosion that created the material world. This explosion is called the “Big Bang.” The theory can be explained in the following manner. When something explodes on earth, for example, fragments are propelled in all directions. Eventually gravity and atmospheric resistance causes these fragments to fall to the ground. When something explodes in space fragments are also propelled in all directions. In this case, however, there is no gravity or atmosphere to stop the propulsion. Pieces just keeps going forever or until something intervenes. So it is with the cosmos. The original blast, or the “Big Bang,” caused primitive forms of matter to be thrust in all directions. In time this material became the stars, the planets and all that we see.  And because there is no galactic gravity or atmosphere to stop the expansion it is still occurring even though billions of years have elapsed.

The Big Bang theory clearly states that the cosmos had a beginning. It says that an initial explosion brought the universe into existence. Of course, the theory leaves many questions unanswered. What caused the initial explosion? What exploded in order to create all? We could hypothesize that this initial act was brought about by thought, which is by a divine plan. Therefore, we are led again to an original creator or God.

The Cosmological Argument in itself does not prove the existence of God. It does, however, offer strong evidence. There are also many other theological arguments that are just as plausible, such as the Argument From Design. When all these opinions are considered together an extremely strong line of reasoning is presented. Could all this evidence be faulty?  Each argument, in itself, can be countered. They cannot, however, be disproved. The real question, however, is whether all of them could be wrong. The odds against such are staggering, therefore, even probability points to the existence of God.

Rev. Ben Frasca