Not only is there evidence for God’s existence from biblical revelation but there are also the philosophical arguments supporting the concept of God’s existence. Admittedly, these arguments may not convince those antagonistic to the Christian faith of its validity. However, they do provide a thought provoking response to those who contend that Christianity does not contain any assemblage of reasoning or logical thought.
What then are the philosophical arguments for God’s existence? They include the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, the moral argument, the anthropological argument, the religious experience argument and the argument from the existence of miracles: most notably Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
The Modal Cosmological Argument, the argument from contingency, suggests that because the universe might not have existed (i.e. is contingent), we need some explanation of why it does. This is the argument of cause and effect.
The Cosmological Argument is the argument from the existence of the world. The universe exists. This implies the existence of a God that brought the universe into existence and continually sustains its existence. This philosophical argument for the existence of God comes in two forms: one modal (having to do with possibility) and the other temporal (having to do with time).
Wherever there are cause and effect possibilities, this suggests something must determine not only the reality of the effect, but also offer an explanation for the cause of said effect. Since the universe is conditional to some cause for its existence, and since there must be some reason for its existence, there must be a corresponding cause which give the universe a reason to exist. That necessary being is God.
The Temporal Cosmological Argument argues that the past is finite. The idea that the universe has an infinite past stretching back into infinity is, the argument notes, both philosophically and scientifically problematic. All indications are that there is a point in time at which the universe began to exist. This beginning must either have been caused or uncaused. It cannot have been uncaused for the idea of an uncaused event is absurd; nothing comes from nothing. The universe must therefore have been brought into existence by something outside of itself. That something, or someone, outside of the created universe is none other than God.
Dr. R. C. Sproul explains, The law of causality is one of those axioms that is indisputable. Every effect must have a cause, for an effect, by definition, is some-thing that is caused. Thus, for anything to exist, an uncaused some-thing—or someone—must exist. This “uncaused cause,” as it were, must have the power of being in itself and must be the first, primary cause of everything else. It must depend on nothing else. It must not be an effect, for if it is an effect of something else, it cannot be the very first cause that brought everything into existence. Nothing created qualifies as this first, primary cause. Only God, the eternal Creator, can be the reason why there is something rather than nothing.
Take the opportunity today to look at the all the effects around you. Creation itself evidences the reasonableness of a preceding cause. The preceding cause is none other than God.
Soli deo Gloria!
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