Apologetics for the Masses #336 - The Case for God (Part 2)

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Something Instead of Nothing - The Case for God (Part 2)

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General Comments

Hey folks,

For those of you in the Birmingham diocese, and adjoining areas, we are going to be having an awesome Women's Conference here in Birmingham, on Saturday, December 8th. It will begin with Mass at 8:30 AM (which fulfils your holy day obligation) and will conclude at around 2:30 PM. The registration fee - $20 - includes lunch. Seating is limited, so you need to register sooner rather than later.

Our speakers will be: Leah Darrow, Kelly Nieto, and Johnnette Benkovic. An absolutely awesome lineup! To register, go to: http://www.bhmcatholicwomen.com/events.html and click anywhere on the flyer to register.

Introduction

Is the belief in God solely a religious belief? Is it based only on faith? Or is there evidence, apart from religious faith, for the existence of God? (Part 2)

Challenge/Response/Strategy

Something Instead of Nothing

Another reason why it takes less faith to believe in an intelligent Creator, as opposed to not believing in one, is the answer to the question: Why is there something instead of nothing? Think about that for a moment: Why IS there something instead of nothing? Why is there this magnificent, wondrous, incredibly beautiful, complex, and fascinating thing we call the universe, as opposed to there being nothing at all? Why?!

The atheist, ultimately, has no answer. At least, no answer that is consistent with their professed beliefs in science as an explanation for everything. Oh, they will give you an answer, but there are problems with every answer they give. For example, some will say that there is something rather than nothing because of the Big Bang. As I mentioned in the last newsletter, though, the Big Bang is a theory that explains how the universe expanded after it was created. It does not explain how the universe was created. Or, in terms of our question, it does not explain why there is something rather than nothing.

Then we have the atheists who are a bit more informed in regard to science. One such person was the physicist Stephen Hawking. In his book, The Grand Design, Hawking states that, given the existence of gravity, "the universe can and will create itself from nothing." He goes on to say, "Spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist."

There's just one problem with that - Hawking is using circular reasoning. Gravity is, in its basic definition, the attraction between any two masses. It's the force that attracts one thing with mass towards another thing with mass. But, if that's the case, then gravity, as a function of mass, did not exist before matter was created. Therefore, for Hawking to say that, given gravity, the universe will create itself from nothing, turns out to be a bit of a ridiculous thing to say. If matter requires gravity in order for it to come into existence, but there is no gravity without matter, then matter will never be created.

In Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, gravity is seen not as a force, but as a warping of space. This warping of space, though, is essentially a function of mass. The problem is, for Hawking, there is no space and there is no mass before the universe began - which means there is no gravity before the universe began. So, again, Hawking's statement comes off as circular reasoning. How can you have gravity, before you have space and mass, if gravity is dependent on space and mass?

And you'll get other explanations that sound very scientific and use a lot of nifty terms and such, but they all basically come down to this: speculation, pure and simple. No one has ever observed something coming from nothing. No one has ever done an experiment where they got something from nothing. There is no mathematical equation that shows something coming from nothing. There is no chemical formula that shows something coming from nothing. In other words, the atheist, depending solely on the scientific method, cannot answer the question. He simply has to have faith that something came from nothing.

And his faith is based more on the fact that he denies God's existence, than it does on scientific evidence. He has no scientific evidence to support his faith. What he has is a denial of God's existence, and, since there is no God - yet the universe obviously exists - something just came from nothing for no apparent reason. The Poof! Theory for the creation of the universe. No rhyme. No reason. He denies the hand of a Creator in the creation of the universe by essentially using circular reasoning, just like Hawking did: Is the existence of the universe evidence of God's existence? No. Why not? It is a given that God does not exist, therefore God could not have created the universe. Poof!

Also, and this must be maddening for the atheist, even if science could ultimately give us a technical explanation of HOW something came from nothing, it still does not tell us WHY something came from nothing. Science will never ever be able to tell us why. It is a question, the answer of which, is outside the realm of science.

So, ultimately, the atheist has no answer to the question of why there is something rather than nothing. The theist, however, does have an answer: Love.

Closing Comments

Next week - The Case for God, Part 3

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