God Exists

I'd also like to mention that my opponent has the wrong definition for God. The definition is not "the greatest possible array of compossible great making properties," the real definition is: 'any of various beings conceived of as supernatural, immortal, and having special powers over the lives and affairs of people and the course of nature; deity, esp. a male deity: typically considered objects of worship; in monotheistic religions, the creator and ruler of the universe, regarded as eternal, infinite, all-powerful, and all-knowing; Supreme Being; the Almighty. ' My opponent uses a favorite theist argument known as the cosmological argument. This argument basically states that things exist, so things that began to exist need a cause. Since there would be an infinite regression of causes, there must be an uncaused cause, and for some reason God must be the uncaused cause. Let me ask you something, why does God have to be the uncaused cause? Why can't the Big Bang or the universe itself be the uncaused cause instead? "The first premise is relatively uncontroversial, and is rooted in the metaphysical principle that out of nothing, nothing comes. By definition, nothing has no potentialities. Thus, it is impossible for something to arise out of nothing, for how can its existence be actualized if the potential is not there to begin with? " I don't believe everything came from nothing, and neither does any other atheist. "It must also transcend both matter and time in order to create both matter and time. " Another possibility is that the matter and energy of the universe always existed. You cite laws of physics such as the Second Law of Thermodynamics to back up your claims. Then you must also believe the Law of Conservation stating that matter can not be created or destroyed. According to this law, matter and energy could not be created by 'God,' nor could there be a point in time when there was no matter or energy. "Applied to the universe, the second law implies that it will eventually attain maximum entropy. This is known as the heat death of the universe. At that point, there will be no energy available to do work, and the universe will be locked in a state of changelessness. If the universe were eternal, however, then it should have already attained maximum entropy. But, since it has not yet attained maximum entropy, then it follows that the universe must be finite in its past duration. Picture a toy that has been wound up. If an infinite amount of time had passed, then the toy should have wound down. The fact that it is still running indicates that it was wound up a finite time ago. On the basis of the second law of thermodynamics, we may also conclude that the universe began to exist. " This claim that the universe should have attained maximum entropy is not necessarily true, since it is unknown whether the universe itself is a closed system. Your claim that the universe began to exist violates the Law of Conservation, as I mentioned earlier. "Suppose my opponent responds by asking "Who made God? " This is nothing but a stock reply that has no effect on the cogency of my argument. It misconstrues the very argument. The theist does not believe that everything has a cause, only that "Whatever begins to exist has a cause" (The first premise). Since God did not begin to exist, it follows that God therefore does not need a cause. " "The "Who made God" objection is thus simply a naive and simplistic stock parry that is not given serious attention in academic circles. " My opponent is claiming that responding with the question of 'what caused God,' is misinterpreting the argument, and naive. Why? Isn't the cosmological argument an argument based on the fact that things need to have a cause to exist? Why is God immune to this problem? The answer is because you want God to be the exception in the argument. Because you know that the argument would fall apart if you didn't decide that God was an exception to the cause argument, since there would be an infinite amount of causes. Who made God? Who made the person who made God? Who made the person who made the person who made God etc. The Cosmological Argument is a contradictory argument, or at least my opponent's version is. "However, since actual infinities are impossible" and in another section he claims God has existed forever. "Since God did not begin to exist" I didn't have as much time as I would have liked for this round, since I'm tired and don't have that much time until my argument is due, but I'll step it up for the following rounds. I'll now hand it over to my opponent.