Introduction 

The Law of Causality states that every change in nature must have a cause. It’s extremely difficult to deny this concept as if the law of causality is false, then random objects should appear out of nowhere without reason. This doesn’t happen, however, because every effect must have something that caused it.

 

Furthermore, everything that has a beginning, and therefore is an effect, must have a cause. The cosmological argument states that since the universe had a beginning (which is not disputed) then it must have a cause. Here’s it in a syllogistic form:

 

1. Everything that has a beginning has a cause.

 

2. The Universe had a beginning.

 

3. Therefore, the universe had a cause.

 

So What Is This Cause?

 

Well, there’s many good reasons to believe God is the cause. If space, time, and matter had a beginning when the universe was created, then the cause must transcend space, time, and matter. In other words, the cause must be spaceless, timeless, and immaterial.

 

Who created God?

 

Atheists will commonly object and state that this means that God must have a cause. There’s a major problem with this. God is timeless. Therefore, He has no beginning and doesn’t need a cause. God is the uncaused first cause. Something that’s eternal needs no cause in the first place.

 

Refuting Objections to the Cosmological Argument

 

Some skeptics object to this argument by stating something that is immaterial, spaceless, and timeless doesn’t exist. Frank Turek in his book “Stealing from God” refutes this claim significantly.

 

In his book he claims the laws of logic exist but are outside of time, outside of space, and are not made of material. One example of said laws is the law of Noncontradiction, which states that opposite ideas cannot be true at the same time and in the same sense.

 

The Law of Causality doesn’t apply?

 

The Law of Causality states that any effect (beginning) has a cause. However, some skeptics have objected to this argument by claiming since there was no space or time prior to the creation, then the Law of causality doesn’t apply. This argument can be presented in a syllogism:

 

1. The Law of Causality only applies to physical things in space-time.

 

2. The Creation of the universe did not occur in space-time because it was the creation of space-time.

 

3. Therefore the Law of Causality does not apply to the creation of the universe.

 

This argument doesn’t work because the first premise is incorrect. Notice that there is no physical relation ship between premises 1 and 2 and the conclusion. If the above argument were sound, then no argument is sound. If the Law of Causality only applied to physical things, then no argument would work because premises and conclusions are not physical things. For any argument to work the Law of Causality must apply to the immaterial realm because the components of arguments are immaterial.

 

Sources:

 

Craig, William Lane. The Kalam Cosmological Argument. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2000.

 

Turek, Frank. Stealing from God: Why Atheists Need God to Make Their Case. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2014.