First Cause
Posted on 2004-09-17 at 08:01
I've always put some stock in the Cosmological Argument for God:
- Effects have causes
- No effect can cause itself
- Every effect, therefore is caused by something other than itself
- A causal chain cannot stretch back infinitely in time
- There must, therefore be a First Cause that, itself, had no preceding cause
- God uniquely answers the cosmological question by being the Uncaused First Cause
- God, therefore, exists
But I am wondering if maybe there would be some merit to claiming that there could be a causal chain can stretch back infinitely in time. If so, we are left with a different question:
Why is there something instead of nothing?
I mean, if the universe can be said to stretch back infinitely in time, then we should ask why the universe need exist at all. There is still a substantial "Why?" left to explain.
If we follow that train of logic, then God's role is not as initiator of the universe, but as sustainer and creator in a sense that we simply cannot understand. We assume a creation time when we speak of creation, but if the universe stretches back infinitely and God created it, then there is no "When?" question we can ask, but we are left with a timeless, spiritual act of creation that is incomprehensible to me...not incredulous, just incomprehensible. Food for thought.