This is part one of a four part series of articles on the ‘evidences’ of the existence of God.  They aren’t intended to help you win an argument with an unbeliever about the existence of our God, rather they are intended to describe what is considered the ‘basic views’ which point to the existence of a god.  Unless you start with the point of view of belief in the God of the Bible, you will never lead someone to an understanding that includes Him, you will simply lead them to deism.

The Cosmological Argument

/ˌkäzməˈläjikəl/

1. an argument for the existence of God that claims that all things in nature depend on something else for their existence (i.e., are contingent), and that the whole cosmos must therefore itself depend on a being that exists independently or necessarily.

I have a exercise for you to try sometime, and it’s a bit of mind-breaking one.

Sit alone, in a quiet place, and clear your mind of thoughts and distractions.  Imagine the earth, floating in space.  Then, ‘zoom out’ in your mind, and try to hold the entire solar system in your thoughts – you can use the typical model that you learn about in school, or just create it yourself, either one works.  Next, zoom out further, and imagine the whole of the Milky Way galaxy, and then do it again, with the entirety of the universe.

Now make it all disappear, into nothingness.

Pop.  Gone in an instant.

Empty space – devoid of anything at all.

Imagine, then, how in the midst of that nothingness, anything even remotely resembling what you were imagining just moments before could come into being?  Some force must have acted upon the emptiness to create matter and energy, right?

The “Cosmological Argument” posits that in order for there to be existence, any existence at all, that a force greater than the current environment must be present, if not currently, then at the very least, at the beginning of time.  The fact that the universe exists requires the existence of a creator.  Similarly, would a model of the Earth be able to exist should some individual not create it?  Causality, the very idea that everything has an origin, requires that in order for there to be an effect, there also must exist a cause.

Do you take issue with this argument?  We’d love to hear about it in the comments below!  Next, we will be looking into the teleological argument for the existence of God.