DAY 47
CHALLENGE
“The kalam argument for God’s existence is flawed: (1) Quantum physics shows that things can begin without a cause; (2) the argument deals with the visible universe, but there may also be other universes; (3) if all things must have a cause, then God would need a cause, too; and (4) God can’t be his own cause because that would be nonsensical.”
DEFENSE
None of these objections overturn the kalam argument.
First, quantum physics does not show things can begin without a cause. It has provided evidence that apparently empty space contains energy that can give rise to briefly existing pairs of what are known as “virtual particles” in events known as “quantum fluctuations.”
However, these fluctuations and particles behave in a lawlike manner. Because of the limits imposed on our ability to observe subatomic phenomena (by Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle), we must describe their behavior in terms of probability, but it is clear there are laws— and if laws then causes—governing these events. Any phenomenon describable in terms of laws is subject to causation, and that includes the phenomena studied by quantum physics.
Second, although some physicists have speculated about the possibility of other universes, we do not presently have evidence that any other universes exist.
Even if other universes do exist, that does not undermine the kalam argument. God can make any number of universes he chooses. In order to undermine the kalam argument, one would have to show not only that other universes exist, but that our universe was born from a series of previous universes that stretch back infinitely far in time, so that there was no original beginning.
One can speculate about prior universes, but we have no proof of them. The evidence we have currently shows a single universe beginning in the Big Bang.
Third, the claim is not that everything has a cause. If this were the case then God would require a cause. Instead, the claim is that every- thing that has a beginning has a cause. Since God transcends space and time, he does not have a beginning. As a timeless, eternal Being, God does not require a cause.
Fourth, God is not his own cause. The idea of self-causation is incoherent. Therefore, God has no cause.