Premise 1:
The universe is either eternal or had a finite beginning.
Premise 2:
The universe cannot be eternal (entropy).
Premise 3:
Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence.
Conclusion:
Since the universe had a finite beginning, there must be an uncaused cause of its existence that is not a product of the universe itself.
Scientific data confirming the universe had a finite beginning:
Reference: Article Measuring the Universe’s Expansion Rate | NASA HUBBLESITE
Reference: Article Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation |The European Space Agency
Reference: Article Could gravitational waves reveal how fast our universe is expanding? | MIT News
Law of Causality – Cause and Effect. In both Einstein’s theory of special and general relativity, causality means that an effect cannot occur from a cause that is not in the back (past) light cone of that event.
2nd Law of Thermodynamics – States that the amount of energy in a system that is available to do work is decreasing. Entropy increases as available energy decreases. In other words, the purely natural tendency of things is to move toward chaos–not order; and available energy necessary for work is lost (mostly as heat) in this process. Eventually, the universe will run down, and all life and motion will cease because all the energy that exists will be, more or less, evenly distributed so that no work can be performed and no life can exist. This is the natural tendency of all things. Batteries run down, machines break, buildings crumble, roads decay, living things die, etc. Left to the natural state, all things would eventually cease to function.
• The universe is not infinitely old because it has not “run down.”
○ If the universe were infinitely old, it would have reached a state where all usable energy was gone.
○ But, we are not in this state; therefore, the universe is not infinitely old and must have had a beginning.
• Because the universe had a beginning, it is not infinite in size.
○ It would require an infinite amount of time to become infinite in size. Since the universe had a beginning, it has not had an infinite amount of time to expand; therefore, it is finite in size.
• All events have causes (Law of Causality)
○ There cannot be an infinite regress of events because that would mean the universe was infinitely old.
♦ We’ve already established that the universe cannot be infinitely old.
♦ If it were infinitely old, the universe would be in a state of unusable energy, which it is not.
♦ If it were infinitely old, the universe would be infinitely large, which it is not.
• Since the universe is finite and had a beginning and there cannot be an infinite number of regressions of causes to bring it into existence, there must be a single uncaused cause of the universe.
○ A single uncaused cause of the universe must be greater in size and duration than the universe it has brought into existence.
♦ Otherwise, we have the uncaused cause bringing into existence something greater than, or equal to, itself.
○ Any cause that is natural to the universe is part of the universe.
♦ An event that is part of the universe cannot cause itself to exist.
♦ Therefore, there must be an uncaused cause outside the universe.
• An uncaused cause cannot be a natural part of the universe, which is finite.
○ An uncaused cause must be external to the dimensions of both space and time because they are properties of the universe caused by the uncaused cause.
• An uncaused cause would be separate from the universe.
○ Being separate from the universe, which was caused to be, it would not be subject to the laws of the universe since it existed independent of the universe and its laws.
○ This would mean that entropy need not be required of the uncaused cause.
• This uncaused cause is supernatural, or completely ‘other’ than the natural universe and is not the product of it.
○ This uncaused cause must be incredibly powerful to bring the universe into existence.
• The Bible teaches that God is uncaused, is not part of the universe, created the universe, and is incredibly powerful.
Premise 1: The universe is either the product of chance, necessity, or design.
Premise 2: The universe is not the product of chance.
Premise 3: The universe is not the product of necessity.
Conclusion: The universe is the product of design.
Premise 1 is of no controversy, given no other possibility remains.
To believe the universe is a product of chance (Premise 2), you must demonstrate the statistical probability of the universe. That presents innumerable difficulties as many of the constants and factors that were required to create the universe and hold it together are independently beyond what is universally considered to be statistically possible.
If the universe expanded any faster, the formation of chemicals, atoms, stars, etc. would not have been possible. Any slower and the universe would have collapsed back in on itself. The expansion rate is just 1 of 30 or so finely tuned constants required for life to be sustained.
The universe is perfectly designed for life on earth, and earth is uniquely situated in the universe. Numerous constants and parameters must be exactly perfect for life to be possible.
Earth is perfectly located, by design, in the only possible intersection of all required habitable zones. Among many other features, the following examples must be just right:
• Distance between stars
• The magnetic field
• The axial tilt
• The oxygen to nitrogen ratio
• Atmospheric electrical discharge rate
• Seismic activity
• The mass of the universe
• Stability of the proton
• Fine structure constants
• Velocity of light
• Weak nuclear force coupling constant
Life would not exist if:
• The neutron’s size was any different
• The strength of the strong nuclear force was any different
• The strength of the electromagnetic force was any different
• The gravitational constant was off by 1 in 10 to the 60th. (There have not even been 10 to the 60th seconds since time began)
• If the expansion rate of the universe was off by 1 in 10 to the 120th.
• If the mass and energy of the early universe had not been evenly distributed to a precision of 1 in 10 to the 10,123rd to expand at the precise rate needed to form planets, stars and other matter with the precise elements that could only be formed under those exact conditions.
• Statistically, there is no reason we should be here.
Premise 3 states that the universe is not the product of necessity. To disagree with this premise, you would need to provide a natural cause for natural laws and a description of how those natural laws alone could have caused this universe, which can’t be done.
Conclusion: The universe is a product of design.
Premise 1: If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist.
Premise 2: Objective moral values and duties do exist.
Conclusion: Therefore, God exists.
We all know some things are always right while others are always wrong, but how do we know that? Murdering a group of innocent 3-year-old children or beating up a small child to steal his lunch money is wrong regardless of someone’s preference. Without a standard of good there would be no true way of defining right or wrong. The reality that some things are right and others are wrong is evidence for the existence of God.
Some moral standards are subjective and a product of each person’s choice or views. Others are objective, as in it is never right to do certain things regardless of personal standards. Objective morality can only exist if an objective moral lawgiver and enforcer (God) exists. If you believe in objective morality, justice and ethics, you agree God must exist.
There are almost as many ancient, non-Christian historical accounts about Jesus as there are about Tiberius Caesar, who ruled the Roman Empire at the time. If you include Christian references, there are many more historical accounts about Jesus.
Here are twelve minimal facts universally accepted by Christian and non-Christian scholars (Habermas).
1. Jesus died by Roman crucifixion.
2. Jesus was buried in a private tomb.
3. Jesus’ disciples were initially discouraged.
4. Jesus’ tomb was found empty shortly after His burial.
5. The disciples and many others were convinced they saw the risen Christ.
6. Their lives were completely transformed, even to the point of being willing to be persecuted and martyred. Many people die for their beliefs; no one dies for what they know is not true.
7. The story of the resurrection took place very early, at the beginning of church history. It is not a myth that evolved.
8. The disciples proclaimed the resurrection first in Jerusalem, the place it occurred and where it could have been easily refuted if it was false.
9. The Christian church began based on the message of the resurrection.
10. Sunday became the primary day for gathering and worshipping. It would have taken something monumental, like the resurrection, to convince Jewish believers to worship on Sunday rather than on the Sabbath (Saturday).
11. The resurrection convinced James, Jesus’ brother, a former skeptic.
12. It did the same for Paul, a persecutor of Christians.
Time and time again, the Bible claims to be a prophetic book. Although some prophecies may be vague, many are clear and convincing. Accurate prophecies confirm the uniqueness of the bible. No other text can compare.
A few examples of the Bible foretelling the future (there are 1,817 in total):
• Daniel 8 predicted that Alexander the Great would destroy the Persian empire 250 years before it happened.
• In 586 BC, Ezekiel 26 said that the then 2,000+ year old city of Tyre’s stones, timber, and soil would be thrown into the sea. Ezekiel’s prophecy accurately describes how Alexander the Great built a land bridge from the mainland to the island of Tyre, when he attacked in 333-332 BC. Alexander’s forces took rubble from Tyre’s mainland and tossed it – stones, timber and soil – into the sea, to build the land bridge (which is still there).
• Cyrus the Great is mentioned by name in Isaiah 44, 150 years before he was born.
• Ezekiel 4 called the year of Israel’s restoration (1948) 2500 years before it happened.
• Jeremiah 13 and Zephaniah 3 prophesied rebirth of Hebrew language 2,500 years before it happened.
Reference: Article Revival of the Hebrew language | Wikipedia
• Israel’s return to their homeland on the air (1948) was predicted in Hosea 11 (c. 760 – 720 BC)
• Babylonian exile prophesied 50 years before it happened in Jeremiah 25.
Thousands of finds support the biblical picture, not one incontrovertible find has ever contradicted the Bible.
References:
Although a collection of 66 books, written by 44 people, over the span of 2,000 years, the Bible is coherent without contradiction.
The Bible is the most authenticated book of antiquity with over 6k manuscripts that prove it was not only translated correctly but written by eyewitnesses within the generation of the time most events occurred.
The Bible tells us many scientific facts about the universe, biology, microbes, mathematics, etc. but it is not a science textbook and was not written for the purpose of science. However, it makes specific statements that can be verified by science and mathematics on all manner of subjects. These statements were written in scripture thousands of years before science discovered them, before the conclusions had the opportunity to unfold, or technology was invented to make observations. The Bible also gives detailed instructions on a variety of topics such as disease transfer, wastewater and sanitation, microbial remediation, blood, how to make lye soap, etc. that imply underlying scientific knowledge without explaining why. In no case has the Bible been scientifically or mathematically incorrect. Here are some examples:
• In the late 19th century, Louis Pasteur disproved the long running, and almost universally accepted, Theory of Abiogenesis by showing that life cannot arise spontaneously from non-life molecules under proper conditions. According to Pasteur’s son in law, his swan-necked flask experiments came about because Pasteur rejected the conventional scientific thinking in favor of his strong belief in creation as described in the Bible. This led to the Law of Biogenesis and several lifesaving vaccines. Around the same time, an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel became the Father of Genetics by establishing the new science’s first 3 laws, which explained why life cannot come from inanimate objects and that traits are inherited by passing genes to offspring. 3,000 years before, Genesis 1 explained life was created and did not spontaneously generate. It goes on to describe procreation as “like begets like”, which is a simple, but remarkable description of how the genetic laws work and how genes pass down through generations.
• In the 1980’s, DNA studies led to the discovery of what would be popularly called Mitochondrial Eve & Y Chromosome Adam. The lack of changes in mitochondria passed down from mother to daughter and certain unchanging parts of the Y chromosome passed from father to son in each generation indicate that all humans came from two original ancestors. In 1,400 BC, Genesis 1 explained that all humans came from 2 people.
• Contrary to the previously held view of a static universe, Edwin Hubble proved in the 1920’s that galaxies are moving away from us and the universe is expanding. The Bible accurately states that “the earth hangs on nothing” in Job 26 and first describes the expansion of the universe as God stretching out the heavens in Job 9. Later the same language is used in Psalms 104. 700 more years pass, and the same description is found in Isaiah 40, 44, and 51.
• The earth’s core was discovered in 1906, when Oldham inferred the existence of a low-velocity region inside the Earth from changes in the amplitude of compressional waves traveling through the Earth’s interior. Analyses of seismic velocities and attenuation revealed that the core has a layered structure, consisting of a solid inner sphere surrounded by a molten outer shell. Millenia before, Job 28:5 described that the earth is melted by fire below.
• The first established thermodynamic principle, which eventually became the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, was formulated by Sadi Carnot in 1824. The Bible described the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (entropy) thousands of years before in Psalms 102:25-27, Isaiah 34, Isaiah 51, and Hebrews 1.
• 2nd Timothy 1:9 and Titus 1:2 tell us that God existed before time, making Him trans-dimensional, or external to the 4 dimensions of length, width, depth, and time we operate in. Psalms 90 and 2nd Peter 3 describe the way God perceives time, as a being who is outside of the dimension of time. Einstein published his paper on general relativity in 1915 which agreed with what time might look like to a being outside of the dimension itself. If String theory is correct, it might reveal a God who lives and operates in the equivalent of at least 11 dimensions of space and time.
• In 1808, chemist John Dalton developed a very persuasive argument that led to an amazing realization: Perhaps all matter is made of tiny, little, Atomic bits. Radioactivity in uranium was later discovered by French physicist Henri Becquerel in 1896. 1,800 years before the discoveries, 2nd Peter 3 described the effects now known as atomic theory or radioactivity (the burning, melting, and destruction associated with the splitting of the building blocks of nature, or atoms).
• The first published thinker to assert that rainfall alone was sufficient for the maintenance of rivers was Bernard Palissy (1580 CE), who is often credited as the “discoverer” of the modern theory of the water cycle. Three thousand years before it was “discovered”, Job 36:27-28 described precipitation in the hydrologic cycle. The entire water cycle was described completely in Ecclesiastes 1:6-7 and behavior of rain coming from clouds that were full was explained in Ecclesiastes 11:3. In 740 BCE, the Book of Amos stated that water comes from the sea and is poured out onto the earth.
• Psalms 8:8 describes “paths of the seas”. In the mid 1800’s Matthew Fontaine Maury read the passage and went looking for the paths as a direct result. He found them and we now call the paths ocean currents. William Maury was nicknamed “Pathfinder of the Seas” and is considered a founder of modern oceanography.
• The Bible claims a flood occurred that wiped out the human population with a solid timeline of 4,500 years ago. At the end of the flood, the Bible says there were only 8 people left. Historical global population statistics can only be estimated until recent times, but reasonable assumptions can be made. Mathematically, the current world population could easily be reached from the time of the flood if the population doubled every 150 years or if the average growth rate had only reached a very low 1/2% per year (it has been recorded as high as 2%). You would have to guess that the human population did not grow at all for a very long time to make a case for a population that began before the timeline presented in the Bible.
• The existence of microscopic organisms was discovered during the period 1665-83 by two Fellows of The Royal Society, Robert Hooke and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. It was not until the final decades of the 19th century, that Robert Koch conclusively established that a particular germ could cause a specific disease. In roughly 1140 BCE, the Bible gave procedures effective in germ control. Biblical instructions for basic sanitation (Leviticus 2:13, 7:17, 7:19, 13:2-6, 13:46, 15:2-13; Deuteronomy 23:12-13, etc.) are more than just compatible with modern germ theory, they’re frequently on par with modern best practices for hygiene and sanitation.
• In 1847 18% of women would die during childbirth in medical facilities because doctors didn’t understand pathogens or know to wash their hands between patients. Numbers 19 describes those who touch a dead body as unclean and requires them to wash with a very specific water purification recipe we now call lye soap. Leviticus 12 says that any woman who gives birth will be unclean for 7 days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. She was required to be purified from her bleeding before resuming normal activities.
• Leprosy was thought to be hereditary until 1873 when it was found to be a bacterial disease. It can survive for three weeks or longer apart from the human body. Leviticus 13 and 14 mention leprosy on walls and on garments. In Leviticus 13:52, God commanded that the garments of leprosy victims should be burned.
• The medical practice of quarantine didn’t exist until the 1800’s. Leviticus 13:46 says sick people are to dwell alone outside the camp. Sick people were also instructed to cover their mouth when in proximity to healthy people, announce they are sick and keep a distance. Further instruction in Leviticus 13, 14, 22 and Numbers 19 contain instructions for quarantined persons to thoroughly shave and wash. Priests who cared for the sick were instructed to change their clothes and wash thoroughly. The Israelites were the only culture to practice quarantine until the 19th century, when medical advances discovered the biblical medical principles and practices.
• Up until the 19th century medical science believed sickness was caused by vapors entering the blood. The practice of bloodletting was thought to remove harmful vapors. Bloodletting was practiced by leading physicians for centuries and was most likely responsible for the death of George Washington. In 1450 BC, Leviticus 17:11 said that the life of the flesh is in the blood, followed by an animals blood sustains its life in Leviticus 17:14.
• Ancient humans had no idea that microorganisms existed. It wasn’t until the 1940’s that a deadly strain of mold was linked to illness when thousands of horses in Ukraine and Russia ate moldy feed and died. Thousands of years before, Leviticus 14 spelled out the first written mold remediation protocol in detail. Outside of items beyond the technology of the time, like HEPA air filtration, the instructions in Leviticus include all of the elements of the modern remediation protocol used today.
• Genesis 6:15 describes the precise build ratio for a large water vessel (30L x 5W x 3H) still used in modern large vessel building today.
References:
Article Can Bible-Based Predictions Lead to Scientific Discoveries? | Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell
YouTube How Genetic Science CONFIRMS the Bible | Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson
YouTube How to Find Noah in our Genes | Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson
YouTube Science in the Bible: Entropy | GCA
YouTube Atheists Will HATE This Video | Ken Ham
YouTube The BEST FACTS – S. Science in the Bible | GCA
YouTube Byond the Cosmos: How Science Reveals God’s Trans-Dimensional Power | Dr. Hugh Ross
YouTube Why This Atheist Became a Believing Christian | Dr. Sy Garte
YouTube Population growth supports biblical account of flood | CMI
YouTube Population Statistics Confirm the Bible | Arlo Moehlenpah
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