http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=1601
The Law of Causality and the Uncaused Cause
The
law of science known as the Law of Causality, or Law of Cause and
Effect, says that every material effect must have an adequate antecedent
or simultaneous cause (
Miller,
2011). The Universe is a material effect that demands an adequate
Cause, and atheism cannot provide one. The truth is, God exists. Often
the atheist or skeptic, attempting to distract from and side-step the
truth of this law without responding to it, retorts, “But if everything
had to have a beginning, why does the same concept not apply to God? God
needs a cause, too! Who caused God?”
First, notice that this statement is based on a misunderstanding of
what the Law of Cause and Effect claims concerning the Universe. The law
states that every
material effect must have an
adequate antecedent or simultaneous cause. A law of science is
determined through the observation of nature—not supernature. The laws
of nature do not apply to non-material entities. The God of the Bible is
a spiritual Being (John 4:24), and therefore is not governed by
physical law. In 1934, professor of philosophy at Princeton University,
W.T. Stace, wrote in
A Critical History of Greek Philosophy concerning causality: “[E]verything
which has a beginning
has a cause” (1934, p. 6, emp. added). God, according to the Bible, had
no beginning. Psalm 90:2 says concerning God, “Before the mountains
were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even
from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (emp.
added). The Bible describes God as a Being Who has always been and
always will be—“from everlasting to everlasting.” He, therefore, had no
beginning. Hebrews 3:4 again states, “every house is built by someone,
but He who built all things is God,” indicating that God is not
constrained by the Law of Cause and Effect as are houses, but rather, is
the Chief Builder—the Uncaused Causer—the Being who initially set all
effects into motion.
Further, scientists and philosophers recognize that, logically, there
must be an initial, uncaused Cause of the Universe. [Those who attempt
to argue the eternality of the Universe are in direct contradiction to
the Law of Causality (since the Universe is a physical effect that
demands a cause), as well as the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which
indicates that nothing physical lasts forever (see
Miller, 2007).] Aristotle, in
Physics,
discusses the logical line of reasoning that leads to the conclusion
that the initial cause of motion must be something that is not, itself,
in motion—an unmoved mover (1984, 1:428). Thomas Aquinas built on
Aristotle’s reasoning and said:
Now whatever is in motion is put in motion by another.... For motion
is nothing else than the reduction of something from potentiality to
actuality.... It is therefore impossible that in the same respect and in
the same way a thing should be both mover and moved, i.e., that it
should move itself. If that by which it is put in motion be itself put
in motion, then this also must needs be put in motion by another, and
that by another again. But this cannot go on to infinity, because then
there would be no first mover, and, consequently, no other mover.... Therefore it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which everyone gives the name of God (1952, 19:12,13, emp. added).
God, not being a physical, finite being, but an eternal, spiritual
being (by definition), would not be subject to the condition of
requiring a beginning. Therefore, the law does not apply to Him.
Concerning the Law of Causality, renowned German philosopher, Immanuel
Kant, said that “everything
which is contingent has a
cause, which, if itself contingent, must also have a cause; and so on,
till the series of subordinated causes must end with an
absolutely necessary cause,
without which it would not possess completeness” (Kant, 2008, p. 284,
emp. added). An uncaused Cause is necessary. Only God sufficiently fills
that void.
Consider: if there ever were a time in history, when absolutely nothing
existed—not even God—then nothing would exist today, since nothing
comes from nothing (in keeping with common sense and the Law of
Thermodynamics,
Miller,
2007). However, something exists (e.g., the Universe)—which means
something had to exist eternally. That something could not be physical
or material, since such things do not last forever (cf. Second Law of
Thermodynamics,
Miller, 2007). It follows that the eternal something must be non-physical or non-material. It must be
mind rather than
matter.
Logically, there must be a Mind that has existed forever. That Mind,
according to the Bible (which has characteristics proving it to be of
supernatural origin, cf.
Butt, 2007), is God. He, being spirit, is not subject to the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will change them, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will have no end (Psalm 102:25-27, emp. added).
The point stands. The Law of Cause and Effect supports the creation
model, not the atheistic evolutionary model. [NOTE: For more on the
subject of an Uncaused Cause, see
Colley, 2010;
Lyons, 2007]
REFERENCES
Aquinas, Thomas (1952),
Summa Theologica, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago).
Aristotle (1984),
Physics, in
The Complete Works of Aristotle, ed. Jonathan Barnes (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).
Butt, Kyle (2007),
Behold! The Word of God (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press),
http://www.apologeticspress.org/pdfs/e-books_pdf/Behold%20the%20Word%20of%20God.pdf.
Colley, Caleb (2010), “Aristotle’s ‘Unmoved Mover’ and Those Who Are ‘Without Excuse,” Apologetics Press,
http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=3795.
Kant, Immanuel (2008),
Kant’s Critiques: The Critique of Pure Reason, the Critique of Practical Reason, the Critique of Judgment (Radford, VA: Wilder Publications).
Lyons, Eric (2007), “What Caused God?,” Apologetics Press,
http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=2216&topic=93.
Miller, Jeff (2007), “God and the Laws of Thermodynamics: A Mechanical Engineer’s Perspective,”
Reason & Revelation, 27[4]:25-31, April,
http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/3293.
Miller, Jeff (2011), “God and the Laws of Science: The Law of Causality,” Apologetics Press,
http://www.apologeticspress.org/article/3716.
Stace, W.T. (1934),
A Critical History of Greek Philosophy (London: Macmillan).
