Earthrise: Bearing Witness to Our Planet
‘If the universe needs a cause, then why doesn’t God need a cause?
The definition of “cause” used here is “the chief agent causing something to be made.”
Someone may quote ‘The law of causality’ which says that if everything has a cause then God must have a cause. If “everything needs a cause” then it does make sense to ask what caused God; but it is not true that everything that exists must have a cause – there is no such law that says everything must have a cause.
BUT anything that exists either exists in and of itself or is produced by something else. Every effect must have a cause because for something to be an effect or come into being; or in other words, every contingent or dependent must have a cause. “Contingent” means that everything that begins – or is caused – owes its origin to something else. A contingent reality is something that is caused (begins), is dependent (an effect), and lacks an explanation in itself (unexplained). A contingent reality definitely could not bring itself into existence from nothing.
That does not mean that everything that is, is contingent or is an effect. Though Self-Creation is a nonstarter, Self-Existence is not. If it’s not eternal, it’s not self-existent.
God asserts and revealed to mankind that He is an eternal being who exists in and of Himself. He is not an effect and He is not contingent. He is not created and He did not have a beginning. He is eternal and nothing produce Him. There is no law of logic that this concept violates because there is nothing baseless or irrational about the idea of an eternal uncaused being. It is reasonable and necessary that there be such a being if anything were to exist at all. Something must have the power of being independent from some precursor causal agent or nothing could exist.
It is a flawed postulation that everything came from nothing (ex nihilo). There’s plenty of prevailing engrossing scientific cosmological evidence that the universe is finite and had a beginning. (In fact, it can be measured as a span of the hand of God, as in Isaiah 40:12a “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, …)
The evidence for the beginning of the universe points to an external cause outside of space, time, and matter. The physical universe of space, time, and matter cannot create itself.
Moreover, the universe isn’t personal and therefore would lack the volition to create other things. The universe cannot be “causa sui” or “self-caused” (a preposterous notion, for how can something that has no being, produce other beings like humans, for instance?), but rather, only God is “sine causa” or “without a cause”. Something, after all, always had to have existed, the physical came from a state of non-matter, non-space, non-time. But it didn’t come from absolute nothingness, because how may no thing create some thing. Who created the universe from its non-existent state at the beginning?
Cosmologist Paul Davies, recognising the dilemma presented by the evidence, writes, “One might consider some supernatural force, some agency beyond space and time as being responsible . . . or one might prefer to regard the [beginning of the universe] as an event without a cause. It seems to me that we don’t have too much choice. Either… something outside of the physical world… or… an event without a cause.” This inference of a cause “outside the room” is reasonable, given the strength of diverse evidence for a caused universe, and the inadequacy of efforts to stay “inside the room” of the universe for an explanation.
Either the universe has self-existence, or something beyond the universe does. Otherwise, nothing would exist. Since the universe is not self-existent (it began to exist at the Big Bang, for those who believe in the Big Bang theory), it is consummately logical to assume that something beyond the universe has the attribute of self-existence. It must be something that itself has no cause (outside the room) and that caused everything else. This reality is logically inescapable, though many people debate over what—or who— has no cause: is it a personal Being or it is “non personal – a thing”?
Logically, the “One outside the room” must be eternal. Since it is not itself “caused,” it cannot have a beginning. God, according to the Bible, fits this description, as the only thing in existence that was not “made.” John 1:3 makes a specific distinction between things that are made and things that are not made. God, as it stands, is the only “Being” that was not made. He is eternal, always existing (“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. ” Psalm 90:2). Combining reasons with observation not only leads us to the idea with a description that’s identical to the God of the Bible, who reveal Himself to us. God is, in fact, philosophy’s “outside the room”; the best fit. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:3
The non-contingent Being is necessary – without it, nothing else can exist. So, “the one outside the room” must exist, and there can be no reality where it does not. God, again, matches this description, as the One who simply “is” and must be and as the One who created—who caused—all other things.
According to God’s revealed truth, the Bible, God is self-existent. God’s attribute of aseity means God does not need, nor does he depend upon, anything outside himself, such as the creation for His continued existence. Unlike all creatures, the source of God’s everlasting existence is found within Himself, as He is self-sufficient. As the only uncreated and uncaused being, everything else that exists in the entire created order, depends upon His creative and sustaining power. God’s eternality is His aseity; with respect to time – He is Lord of time, existing apart and above it and absolutely free to enter it to accomplish His purposes. God’s attribute of self-existence or aseity is revealed in Acts 17:24-25 “God made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;”
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Hebrews 1:3a – “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power,” In the context of the passage, “his” refers to Christ Jesus. Genesis 2:3 “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Colossians 1:16 “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” Again, in the context of the passage, “him” refers to Jesus Christ.
Observation of the universe suggests additional details about “the One outside the room”. The existence of intelligent life in a finely tuned universe to make life possible, the mind-boggling and staggering structure and intricate complexity of the universe, with a great deal of multiplicity diversity in the natural world, suggests the Being is creative, personal, phenomenally intelligent, astoundingly mighty and powerful. He must be; in order to create and sustain all of these things. The same is true of “personal” concepts such as morality.
The Bible speaks of exactly this outside of the room Being. “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Job 38:1–7
Logic and observation also suggest that God is ONE God – as a triune being, is easily the best explanation of the Being who is outside the room. The universe exhibits both uniqueness and unity—different parts but a single system. The universe exhibits both diversity and unity, it makes sense for that cause to be both diverse and unified, as is the Trinity – to reflect His identity as He has revealed to His creation.
Einstein’s general relativity, which has much experimental support, shows that time is linked to matter and space. Therefore, time itself would have begun along with matter and space. Since God, by definition, is the creator of the whole universe, he is the creator of time; as such He is not limited by the time dimension He created, so has no beginning in time—God is ‘the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity’ (Isaiah. 57:15). Thus, He doesn’t have a cause.
God, as creator of time, is outside of time. Since therefore He has no beginning in time, He has always existed, so doesn’t need a cause. “The first moment of time is the moment of God’s creative act and of creation’s simultaneous coming to be.”
The same logic and explanations that lead us to conclude there is a Being outside the room – which point toward the God of the Bible. While the terminology might be different, depending on whether one approaches through philosophy, science, or theology, the end result is the same – God, as defined according to the Bible; where God has revealed Himself to mankind through His inspired Word to various men (about 40 men) who were from different cultural, economic, geographical and educational backgrounds over the course of some 1,500 years, from three continents, namely Asia, Africa and Europe, and in three languages, specifically Hebrew, everyday Greek (called “Koine”), and a dash of Aramaic (an ancient language originating in Syria) with one unified message in a collection of 66 books – 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament.
Dr. Cheong Kok Weng Aug 17, 2024