Continuing from last weeks comment, in which we looked at the other side of the debate and said that the universe did not have a beginning, and then gave three options where this could not be true. We then gave a fourth possibility: that there had to be a Beginner. The following is taken from the book "Creation and Evolution 101" by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz.
" The First Big Cause - We think we made our point, but just in case you missed it, here it is again: Everything in the universe has a cause. But there's something else to think about. As you go back further and further in the "chain of causes," you must eventually come to a First Cause that got the whole thing going. Without the First Cause (which we like to call the First Big Cause), nothing else (including you) would exist.
Without a First Big Cause, you would have nothing to begin with, which means all the other causes in the universe wouldn't exist either. But because we have a universe, there must have been something there before the universe existed that caused the universe to exist (isn't this fun?).
Fred Heeren, a respected science writer, put it this way in his book "Show Me God": "A series of causes cannot be infinite. There must have been a first cause, which itself is uncaused."
Another way to say it is this: The First Big Cause had to be "self-existent." In other words, it had to always exist. And if something had to be self-existent, then what or who is it? To put it another way, what or who is the First Big Cause?
We thought you would never ask. When it comes to the First Big Cause, there are only two choices: Choice #1 - The universe is the First Big Cause. Choice #2 - God is the First Big Cause.
There are no other choices. These are the only two you get.
The Universe is the First Big Cause - Okay, we've already been over this ground. We have already said that the universe can't create itself, and it can't cause itself either. The universe can cause all kinds of other effects, but by itself the universe can't be a cause. Something else outside the universe had to cause the universe.
The word "universe" comes from two different words - unity and diversity - that are blended into one.
God is the First Big Cause - Since the universe can't be the First Big Cause, then we are left with one other choice. God is the First Big Cause. In his book "Not a Chance", R.C. Sproul writes that "there must be a self-existent being of some sort somewhere, or nothing would or could exist. A self-existent being is both logically and ontologically necessary."
By "ontologically necessary," Dr. Sproul means that there must be a self-existent being in order for anything to exist. This being must be eternal, and it must have no "antecedent cause," or else it would be dependent on something else for existence.
Why does God have to be the First Big Cause? Recently we were listening to a talk show where the subject was God (He gets a lot of attention these days). A man called in, and he was mad. He said it was ridiculous to believe in God, and it wasn't us humans who needed God, but just the opposite. "God needs us more than we need God."
What this caller was implying was that humankind is the center of the universe, we are the products of an endless process of evolution, and someday we are going to evolve into perfect beings. Meanwhile, we invented God for our convenience. God can pretty much be who we want Him to be. Without us, He wouldn't exist.
You don't hear many people express their views about God this openly, but a lot of people think this way. They believe in God, but He is a fairy-tale God. He is a God with human qualities and human frailties, and He exists only because we think about Him. When you confront these same people with the undeniable evidence that there had to be a First Big Cause, they respond by saying, "Why do you have to call this higher power God? Why can't we call it Mother Earth or the Cosmic Being?
God Is: There's a very good reason why the great Beginner, the original Originator, and the First Big Cause is God. Because God Is. He isn't our invention. He isn't an abstract concept. God Is, and above Him there is no other. God exists apart from us, but we do not exist apart from Him. We didn't invent Him. The only reason we can think about God in the first place is because He put those thoughts into our very beings (Romans 1:19-20)...
God is a personal Being who has communicated with us in a profound and personal way. But don't take our word for it. Read what God says about Himself in the Bible, His personal message to all humankind: "I Am the One Who Always Is" (Exodus 3:14). "
If you would like to meet my God, my Jesus, who is the First Big Cause, the One Who always is, the Beginner of all creation, then turn your life over to Him. He will be more than glad to hear from you. He's knocking at your door right now. If you don't know what to do or say to get a close relationship with God, then read our comment on 4/18/04 Abandonment of Your Will to God (Praying for Salvation) and follow the instructions.
By George Konig
12/3/2006
www.georgekonig.org
Related article from AboutBibleProphecy.com:
Does the theory of evolution truly conflict with the Bible?
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