God probably does not exist.

AveContemporary philosophers and theologians who affirm the existence of god believe that god is the cause of the first state of time. The theist conception of god as causing the universe logically entails god creating the first state of time. This first state of time includes the beginning of material reality. If there was a first state of time that had a cause, it follows trivially that its cause was outside of time. The pertinent issue becomes: ’’Was there a first state of time?’’. In this debate, I will show that the notion of a first state of time is contradicted by the evidence from physics, primarily the theory of relativity.I will assume, for practical reasons, that the A-theory of time is true. Only the present exists, and past, present, and future really exist. The only way for god to exist, as defined by R1, is for the A-theory of time to be true. Ergo, there should be no complaints from the other side about assuming A-theory.I will start off by defining important terms. A state of time is an instantaneous point. One hour after the Big Bang, two hours after the Big Bang, etc.. A first state of time is an interval of time which is preceded by no other state of time, and is followed by every other state of time that exists. It is represented by a beginning point with no end point. A ray from Euclidean geometry is a good example of this. (A represents the beginning point. The arrow represents the absence of an end point.) A half-open state of time is a state of time that has an endpoint, but no beginning point. It is the opposite of a ray in Euclidean geometry, which has a beginning point but no end point. One could think of a half-open state of time as a backwards ray. There is a point such as C, and to the left of C is a line that extends infinitely. This ‘’backwards ray’’ has an end point, but no beginning point, so it is like a half-open state of time. These terms will be important for the rest of the paper.There are two ‘’types’’ of mechanics, classical mechanics and quantum mechanics. Classical mechanics deals with things on the scale of atoms, and quantum mechanics deals with things below the scale of atoms. Classical mechanics is the most important mechanism for this specific argument. The theory of general relativity is part of classical mechanics, and it describes space-time and how gravity functions. Since Einstein elucidated general relativity in 1915, physicists have derived metrics from his equation that describe the universe. A metric describes the geometric and causal structure of space-time. Physicists such as Alexander Friedmann, Georges Lemaitre, Howard Percy Robertson, and Robert M. Walker have, over time, derived metrics from relativity . These are called Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRK) metrics. The FLRK metric describes a universe that is homogeneous, isotropic, and expanding. These metrics also state that every finite interval of time is half-open (http://plato.stanford.edu...).If every state of time is half-open, then this creates problems for a first state of time. A first state of time has a beginning point, but no end point, as every other state of time follows from it. This contradicts the theory of relativity in one important way. The theory of relativity tells us that every state of time must be represented with an endpoint, but no beginning point. The first state of time is a state of time, but it is represented by a beginning point with no end point. Since every state of time must be represented by an endpoint with no beginning point, and a first state of time is represented by a beginning point with no end point, a first state of time cannot exist. (In simple terms, every state of time must look like the second picture, and not the first picture. A first state of time would look like the first picture. Therefore, it cannot exist.)The problem this presents should be obvious to the careful reader. God is defined as having the attribute of causing the first state of time. No such state of time exists. It not only doesn't exist, but it can't exist, because it contradicts the rule that every state of time is half-open. Now we have a conception of god with an attribute that cannot be actualized. The only conclusion we can reach is that god does not exist, because an attribute of god cannot be made real.The possibility of simultaneous causation also gives the atheist an explanation of matter without reference to god. At the Big Bang, there was simultaneous causation, which is supported by EPR correlations (http://www.worldscientific.com...). Simultaneous causation is the idea that ‘’the causal order must not be the temporal order because of the possibility of cause and effect being contemporaneous.’’ ( http://plato.stanford.edu...) The possibility of simultaneous causation allows us to explain the existence of matter without reference to a personal cause. Imagine atoms A, B, and C. A comes into existence and instantaneously causes B, which instantaneously causes C, which instantaneously causes A. All of the atoms have causal explanation, and they all begin to exist at the exact same time. This diagram should help you understand this idea. The Wavelength Function of the Universe shows us that atheism explains the universe better than theism. The WFU has been developed by scientists such as Stephen Hawking and Alexander Vilenkin. Quentin Smith, professor of the philosophy of physics at West Michigan University, explains the theory: '‘’Hawking's theory is based on assigning numbers to all possible universes. All of the numbers cancel out except for a universe with features our universe possesses.’’ Anyone interested in the physics of this should read about sum-over-histories, which I have included a link about in the references page. Quentin Smith also explains the evidence for this theory: ‘’Hawking’s theory is confirmed by observational evidence. This theory predicts our universe has evenly-distributed matter on a large scale, which would be on scales of super-clusters of galaxies. It predicts that the expansion rate of our universe -- our universe has been expanding ever since -- would be almost exactly between the rate of the universe expanding forever and the rate where it expands and then collapses. It also predicts the very early area of rapid expansion near the beginning of the universe called inflation. Hawking's theory exactly predicted what the COBE satellite discovered about the irregularities of the background radiation in the universe.’’ The problems that the WFU of the universe presents for an omnipotent cause of the universe are also elucidated by Smith: ‘’For the wave function of the universe implies there is a 95% probability that the universe came into existence uncaused. If God created the universe, he would contradict this scientific law in two ways. First, the scientific law says that the universe would come into existence because of its natural, mathematical properties, not because of any supernatural forces. Second, the scientific law says the probability is only 95% that the universe would come into existence. But if God created the universe, the probability would be 100% that it would come into existence because God is all-powerful. If God wills the universe to come into existence, his will is guaranteed to be 100% effective.’’ (http://www.infidels.org...) Once can say that god created the universe with a 95% chance of coming into being, but Ockham's razor would tell us to prefer the naturalistic explanation, as the theistic one is ad hoc. (http://plato.stanford.edu...)From my argument, we can reach the following conclusions. 1: A god who caused the first state of time cannot exist. 2: An omnipotent cause of the universe is improbable.3: The origin of matter can be explained through simultaneous causation. Ergo, god probably does not exist.Vale