A
Does God exist? This is a question that has been debated for ages. One of the arguments in favour of God's existence is the cosmological argument. The argument goes this way:
1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause
2. The Universe begins to exist
3. Universe has a cause
4. The cause is God.
5. Hence, God exists.
Explanation:
1. This appears rather self explanatory. If I begin to exist, then I must have a cause -- my parents. If my parent begins to exist, then she must have a cause. And so on and so on.
2. And as one pushes backward, it goes back to the beginning of the universe. Does the universe have a beginning? As of today Big Bang theory is the main cosmological theory. And one cannot go beyond the Big Bang. And it's fair to say that the moment of Big Bang is the moment of the beginning of the universe.
3. But if the universe has a beginning, then it must have a cause. This is as stated in proposition 1.
4. The universe that contains mind, matter and energy must be attributed to a cause for its beginning. Since the effect cannot be bigger than the cause, the cause of matter, mind, energy within time-space has to be attributed to as God.
5. Hence, God exists.
B
Now if someone does not want to accept this syllogism, there are two other options:
1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
2. The universe has a cause
3. This cause also has a cause, which again has a cause and so on.
This position is to affirm infinite regress.
C
The other position is this:
1. The universe emerges from nothingness.
D
About 'nothingness' Aristotle says something to this effect: That which rocks dream about is nothingness. What do non-living objects like rocks and stones dream about? It is nothingness.
Infinite regress does not sound that appealing. When we talk about infinite regress, we talk about infinity. This is to mean that before we arrive at this present moment i.e now, an infinite unit of time would have elapsed. But how is this possible? Suppose now is t=2015, before arriving at t=2015, there would have to be an infinite unit of time to elapse. But if an infinite amount of time would have to elapse before arriving at t=2015, we would never ever be able to even start. We could only arrive at t=3015 if there was a point of time we could start; counting from infinity, we could never ever arrive at the present. But the fact that we have arrived at the present moment shows that there was a point of time the whole thing started.
This brings us back to the first option. That God would have been the cause of the universe to exist. This God is a being (with Mind) and there is mystery in this Mind. The fact that He would have been the cause for Big Bang suggests that He is really outside of our understanding of time and space. And this necessitates the element of mystery in our understanding.
I would say the first option is absurdity; the second impossibility and the third mystery. I prefer the third!
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