The Kalam Cosmological Argument

I have first hand witnessed your intelligence and wit in the forums and I think this debate will be engaging to say the least. A lot of this debate I will use my own philosophy mixed with sources. I find that the most entertaining debates consist of ones personal revelations on a matter. Since Dr. William Lane Craig secured this argument into the arsenal of Theologians, many quotes and references will be of his work. In defending this argument we have to break down the premises and establish solid evidence for the truth behind them. Most will agree that if you take the premises at face value, if true the conclusion logically follows. Therefore much time on the conclusion is not needed, but rather building of a strong case in support of the premises is key. Premise 1 (P1): Everything that begins to exist has a cause. - As stated many times before this premise is evidenced all around us, and is continued to be seen with everything that begins to exist. I am here as my parents are the cause. This computer is here as the manufacturer is its cause. Rocks are caused by many years of sediment, water, and compression, and many other reasons. All of which are causes. Everything in this entire Universe has or had a cause, and the Universe itself is no exception. To claim that this commits the fallacy of composition would indicate that there are things in this Universe that aren’t caused. If this were true then it would be easy to conclude that possibly the Universe had no cause. However everything does have a cause, and therefore so did the Universe itself. I had a cause, this planet had a cause, this galaxy had a cause, and this home of all existence, the Universe, had a cause. To dismiss something purely on the idea of size, or the idea that everything does have a cause but not the Universe itself, is what Dr. Craig calls the taxicab fallacy. This idea came from the nineteenth-century atheist philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. “Pemise 1 can’t be dismissed like a taxi once you’ve arrived at your desired destination! You can’t say that everything has an explanation of its existence and then suddenly exempt the universe. ” [1]- Philosophical evidence is also in support of P1. As the famous quote by the ancient Greek Philosopher Parmenides goes, “nothing comes from nothing. ” [2] Nothing has ever caused something into existence, and how could it? Nothingness has no properties, and has no ability to cause something into existence. For a causal event to happen there must be the potential for the effect, and the agent to realize it. Nothingness has no potential, and no agent to actualize something into existence. Therefore the premise is sound in saying that everything that begins to exist has a cause. - So P1 is true by the fact that we have philosophical and empirically verifiable evidence in support of it. The key to this premise is also that it states that everything that begins to exist has a cause. So the question is did the Universe begin to exist? There we transition into premise 2. Premise 2 (P2): The Universe began to exist. Scientific evidence:- The expansion of the universe aka The Big Bang! Expansion: We have been able to observe galaxies growing farther in distance from one another. Also to reverse time we can see that all galaxies grow closer together into a singularity. How could this singularity come into existence from nothing? The answer here is that it couldn’t…it was caused as evidenced by everything else that has come into being. Cosmic Radiation: Cosmic radiation was predicted in 1948 by Cosmologist George Gamov. He theorized that there must be left over radiation from the initial rapid expansion of the initial heated universe. Then a Nobel Prize worthy discovery of the radiation was found in 1965 by Arno Penzias & Robert Wilson. [3] - Second Law of Thermodynamics Here is a definition referenced from allaboutscience. org [4]: “The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy. While quantity remains the same (First Law), the quality of matter/energy deteriorates gradually over time. How so? Usable energy is inevitably used for productivity, growth and repair. In the process, usable energy is converted into unusable energy. Thus, usable energy is irretrievably lost in the form of unusable energy. "Entropy" is defined as a measure of unusable energy within a closed or isolated system (the universe for example). As usable energy decreases and unusable energy increases, "entropy" increases. Entropy is also a gauge of randomness or chaos within a closed system. As usable energy is irretrievably lost, disorganization, randomness and chaos increase…” “…The implications of the Second Law of Thermodynamics are considerable. The universe is constantly losing usable energy and never gaining. We logically conclude the universe is not eternal. The universe had a finite beginning -- the moment at which it was at "zero entropy" (its most ordered possible state). ” 3. That second point drives home the point. The Universe had a finite beginning! Philosophical evidence: An infinite number of things cannot exist in reality! No infinite number of things can exist. Absurdities would arise making the reality of an infinite number of things to exist impossible. Infinity only exists in mathematics, but has no place in the physical reality we live in. An excellent example of why an infinite number of things can’t exist is illustrated in the video above showing Hilbert’s Hotel. We could not exist in a single moment if we had an infinite past! If there were an infinite past, we could have never reached this moment in time, yet at the same time would have reached this moment in time an infinite amount of time ago. These absurdities start to become apparent when considering the infinite existing in reality. The universe simply had an absolute beginning. . http://www.youtube.com... Conclusion: Therefore the Universe has a cause. Since P1 and P2 are true, the conclusion logically follows and is true. Now to get from a cause to God we have to analyze what this argument indicates. For one, if all space and time came into existence at a single moment and had an absolute beginning, then the cause of space and time must be not confined by space and is timeless. Since an infinite series of something cannot exist, then it would point to the cause being the first cause, or in other words an uncaused causer. This being must be unimaginably powerful in that it can create this entire Universe, it can bridge the gap between nonexistence and existence, and it can establish a physical reality capable of supporting life. For this causer to create a temporal system, the Universe, even though the causer is timeless, shows a personal attribute. There would have been conscious thought to actualize the creation of the system that is separate from its own. So we have an unbelievably powerful, unembodied mind that is timeless, and is personal. These attributes fit perfectly into the entity that we refer to as God. I turn this debate over to you Con. Referenced Sources[1] The New Atheism and Five Arguments for God by Dr. William Lane Craig (Copyright © 2010 by Christ on Campus Initiative (CCI)), (. http://www.reasonablefaith.org...)[2] Nothing Comes From Nothing, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (. http://en.wikipedia.org...)[3] Gene Smith's Astronomy Tutorial: The Big Bang, University of California, San DiegoCenter for Astrophysics & Space Sciences, ( . http://casswww.ucsd.edu...)[4] Second Law of Thermodynamics. " Science - AllAboutScience. org. (. http://www.allaboutscience.org...)