Apologetics - Contingency Argument for the Existence of God

Contingency Argument for the Existence of God

All philosophy falls along a spectrum between full throttle Theism (Christianity, in my opinion the true north and clearest understanding of reality and revelation from God) -- to full throttle Nihilism -- a brew of materialistic atheism, hedonism and ruthless will to power.  All philosophies between those polar opposites "borrow" from one side or the other.  Either God exists or He does not, so both sides cannot be correct, and all in between are simply "hedging their bets", but not accepting the logical conclusions of their world views.

On meaning and purpose

To your friends, neighbors, loved ones and co-workers you can readily show that the materialistic world view, regardless of its various distinctives is at the end "meaningless".  Ecclesiastes refers to this as "vanity of vanities", which is just a superlative way to explain that life without God is "supreme futility".  You start life by accident from a meaningless event, proceed to live for a time with some form of consciousness of your mortality, then you die, returning to elements that in turn will decay into cosmic dust some day in an ever darkening, dead universe that had no meaning or purpose.  Long forgotten and having had no impact on the destiny of the universe.

Albert Camus, an atheist philosopher, commented that the only serious topic left for Philosophy, having rejected the God Hypothesis, was whether or not to commit suicide to shorten one's time of suffering.  Jean Paul Sartre described life a "nausea" and people as "useless passion".  To reconcile the philosophy of reality without God you must address the reality that everyone you love, everything you cherish, all that you hold dear and believe in is useless and meaningless.  Love is irrelevant and wasted emotion.  

Virtue and Vice are simply matters of preference.  Nothing you do matters or ever will.  You have no hope and no way to restore what you destroy.  The irreligious and weak believers instinctively know this because they fashion their lives around endless distractions and "causes" they define meaning to in order to achieve the impossible:  significance in a meaningless reality.

The "crutch" of Christianity

Meanwhile, Christians are accused of having a "crutch" of religion. Ted Turner was quoted as saying that "Christianity is for losers".  He is absolutely right.  Of course Christianity is for losers - but without it, we are bigger losers -- we lose eternity.  And what exactly makes a hedonist a "winner"?  I don't see very many of them as happy.

Only Christ offers real hope, and that is what everyone deep down is really seeking.   Without Christ there is no real justice - ever.   There is no significance or meaning in life.   But non-believers feel they should have the right to live their lives in any way that they choose, giving no allegiance or gratitude to their Creator, and then expect a Righteous and Holy God to simply accept them when their lives expire in this dimension.

The logic of faith

Blaise Pascal gave us his famous wager in Pensées 233 which simply ask people to weigh the consequences of one's decisions and lifestyle here during a short life on Earth against the eternal rewards or punishments that await us.   Christians have simply looked at the evidence and taken Pascal's wager.   It is better to choose Christ and live as a servant of God than to be one's own master for a short time and be consigned to hell or annihilation.  

         If the Christian is wrong and God does not exist, it doesn't matter

         If the Atheists is wrong, and God exists, everything matters, forever.

Why should theists bear the burden of proof that God exists?  Faith is both logical and popular -- it has been the assumption of all mankind throughout history that a deity or creator exists.  What rationale do atheists have to avoid the burden of proving  their own arguments?  Where is their thoughtful response to Pascal's wager?

The Ontological Argument (Contingency)

From Parmenides's Argument we ask – "why does anything exist at all"? 

"Ex nihilo nihil fit."   Nothing comes from nothing.

If ever there was a time when there was nothing, then there would still be nothing.

Something cannot "not" exist, then create itself and then shazam! it exists.   That's like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat with no rabbit and no hat... This shows that either the universe must be eternal, or something else must be eternal, otherwise there can never be a time when there is “no thing”. 

Does the universe necessarily "have" to exist?

Why does the universe exist?  Science cannot explain this, or why anything exists at all.  So the universe is dependent on "something else".  When something must have an explanation for its existence, it is called "contingent".  

The property of contingency is the need to have something else be the explanation for something that exists.

Children are contingent upon parents or genetic engineers, chairs are contingent upon raw materials and a workshop or factory, dew on the grass is contingent upon atmosphere with the right temperature and humidity, huge footprints in the woods are dependent upon Sasquatch.  The church is contingent upon Christ.  "Contingency" is depending on something else in order to exist.

Leibniz' Contingency Argument  

(Gottfried Leibniz – 18th century German mathematician proposed this in 1714)

1 - Everything that exists has an explanation for its existence

2 - If the universe has an explanation for its existence, that explanation is God

3 - The universe exists

4 - (Therefore from 1 & 3) The universe has an explanation for its existence

5 - (Therefore from 2 & 4) The explanation for the existence of the universe is God

1 - Everything that exists has an explanation for its existence

• “How did it get here”  
• "What is the reason for its existence" 
• "How is its presence explained"

2 - If the universe has an explanation for its existence, that explanation has to be God

• If God does not exist, then the universe is “just here” for no explainable reason.    

3 - The universe exists

• Other arguments such as the universe is just my imagination or is an illusion are rendered incoherent in any discussion because I can have the thought that it is someone else's illusion and doubt that it is someone's illusion.
• If the person you are having a dialog with won't accept this premise you are wasting your time anyway.

4 - The universe has an explanation for its existence

• This follows or nothing in logic can be considered coherent

5 - The explanation for the existence of the universe is God

Leibniz proposed this in 1714 and it has yet to be credibly refuted.

Isaiah 55:6-9  Seek the Lord while He may be found; call to Him while He is near.  Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive.  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration.  “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. HCSB

For more articles related to Christian Apologetics, see:

Why Engage in Apologetics?

Is Something Right Because It's Legal?

Faith or Materialism: Which is More Rational?

The Design Argument for the Existence of God

The Axiological (Moral) Argument for the Existence of God

The Kalam Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God

The Failure of the Materialist Worldview

 

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Scripture citations are from:  Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN

Apologetics - Reality Must Necessarily Be "Created"

When your friend, family member, neighbor or co-worker questions the reliability of the Bible or rejects its truth claim that God is Sovereign and Eternal, remember this:

• They may call upon scientific "facts"... but the facts seem to change every few years
• Their best "logical" arguments are always flawed
• They rationalize their position or philosophy to justify their immoral lifestyles

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?  HCSB

Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, “God does not exist.” They are corrupt; they do vile deeds  HCSB

When cornered most people admit that they "don't know if God exists and really don't want to look too hard because they are afraid they will find Him".  Yet the universe shouts out the majesty and sovereignty and omnipotence and glory of God.

Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.  Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.  There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard.  Their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.  HCSB

We are engaged in a struggle of World Views

Paul explains in Romans 1 that people know God exists, but they suppress that knowledge.  God reveals Himself to all mankind through His creation as "General Revelation":

• The vastness and power of the universe
• The logical order and intricate balance that denotes design
• Our built-in moral compass that tells us the way things "ought" to be
• Our yearning for meaning and relationship

One side says that we are an accident, living on a speck of dust in a vast, impersonal, empty universe with no purpose, no future and no meaning to our existence.  The other side tells us we are special, loved, created with a purpose by an All Wise, All Loving Creator who desires a relationship with us forever.  

Why is it more logical to believe the former than the latter?  Let us employ pure logic to deduce what is truth and ultimate reality.  

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;  all who follow His instructions have good insight.  His praise endures forever.  HCSB

Principal Rules of Logic

• Law of Non-Contradiction - part of the scientific method, and foundation for all logic.  Something cannot both be "true" and "false" at the same time and in the same relationship.

• Law of Causality - for every Effect there must be a Cause.

• Assumption of the Reliability of Sense Perception – while realizing the limitations of our senses, and knowing we can be fooled, ultimately our five senses confirm logical outcomes. 

Science assumes and depends upon these self-evident or "rationally grounded" truths.  We take them for granted and base decisions -- even making legal judgments based on evidence that follows these rules.

Can Pure Logic Reveal Ultimate Truth?

There are only four ways we can explain "how we are here"

1. Reality is an illusion
2. Reality created itself
3. Reality has always 'been'
4. Reality was created by an intelligent, all Powerful Being that has always 'been' 

Let's look at each "explanation" for reality using the rules of logic and our reasoning skills.

Option 1 - Reality is an Illusion

Some Eastern religions teach reality is an illusion, but practically speaking they do not “live” according to their beliefs.  They ignore the Assumption of the Reliability of Sense Perception when it is convenient.  Besides, several "logical" questions are left unanswered by their explanation:

• Whose illusion is it?
• How can you tell reality is an illusion?  Could reality be "real" but appear as an illusion?
• Aren't illusions at their core just deceptions?   Who is trying to deceive us then?
• If we are in an illusion, why do we have the illusion that this is all "real"?

This thought system was disproven logically in 1637 by Renee Descartes - "Cogito ergo Sum" "I am thinking, therefore I exist"

• Thinking about one’s existence proves—in and of itself—that an "I" exists to do the thinking; or, as Descartes explains, "We cannot doubt of our existence while we doubt … ."   
• The act of doubting one's own existence proves the reality of one's own existence.
• This proposition became a foundation for all logical thought and the basis for all knowledge (how you "know" you know something, or Epistemology).

Option 2 - Reality Created Itself

David Hume and others philosophers have tried to decouple cause and effect, and say reality created itself.  But that is both bad science, and logically contradictory. Also, again, it's not “real” in the sense Mr. Hume believed in cause and effect as he conducted his daily life.

The “Enlightenment” of the 18^th century argued that the “God Hypothesis” was no longer necessary, and that material things come into being from “spontaneous generation”.  Yet, while scientists ridicule the idea of spontaneous generation today, they still hold that the universe exploded from nothing.  On a random Tuesday afternoon, "Nothing" exploded and "created" everything.

Nothing + Chance = Everything

The idea of chance “being” anything is a myth.  Chance is simply a method to put boundaries around what we don't know.  After all, if we were omniscient, we would always know what will happen next without "odds" or probability.  

The flaw here is that scientists try to apply the Law of Causality to chance, when chance is merely a way to measure the outcome of forces at work with different possible outcomes.  Chance does not “cause” a coin to flip.  It is only a way to measure what happens when a coin is flipped (by some other force) over a number of trials.  Chance has no “being” or "power" to affect anything, it is simply a report of what could happen when other forces interact.

Option 3 - Reality Has Always Been

Until about 30 years ago, this was the standard model of the universe.  Carl Sagan's “The Cosmos” stated as a fact that “the universe is all there is, ever was, and ever will be",  which is presumptuous at best, since we have no idea what will be forever in the future.  Now, with Big Bang Cosmology, the scientific community is across the horns of a dilemma.  The universe clearly "began" to exist, and yet scientists don't want to recognize the "Cause". 

Another flaw with the infinitely old universe:  entropy as explained by the Second Law of Thermodynamics.  Essentially this law proves that if the universe were infinitely old,  it would be cold and dead and bereft of structure.  If, as the universe appears to now, continue to expand eternally, it would also be infinitely large and infinitely far apart.  The only "workaround" is to violate the Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy, and conjecture that new matter and energy spontaneously erupts out of "nothing" to explain why we see so much energy, structure and matter. 

You cannot argue (as you can for the existence of an eternal God) that the universe has the “power of being” within itself, as there was a time when the universe did NOT exist.  All materialist scientists can do is go back to Option 2, which violates the logical Law of Non-Contradiction.

Option 4 – Reality Has Been Created by a Divine Eternal Being

Has there ever been a time when there was nothing?  

If there ever had been such a time, then there would still be nothing.  "Ex Nihilio Nihil Fit" - the Latin phrase "out of nothing, nothing comes" is an axiom we all seem to understand.   Things don't just "pop" into existence…or do they?  

Assuming an Immaterial uncreated eternal being with omnipotence and omniscience does not violate the logical Law of Non-Contradiction. This Being did not have to create Himself or be created.

Additionally, since the Law of Causality states that every Effect must have a Cause,  it is perfectly logical to have an “Uncaused Cause”.  This option is also rationally necessary, since "something" always had to exist for anything existing now.

Conclusion:  Logically, God Must Exist

Using the deductive power of science we can conclude:

• Nature cannot create itself:  disproving the idea of pantheism that nature created itself.
• Materialism must be false: matter and energy cannot create themselves (they can convert, but the Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy does not allow new matter or energy to be created out of nothing).
• Nature could not have existed eternally based on observations to date and due to entropy (explained by the second law of thermodynamics).
• Nature had to be "created" and by a Cause sufficient in Power and Intellect to create the specified complexity, fine tuning and design observed.

The Bible has rigorously explained this in non-technical terms for thousands of years.  Our reality is created by an eternal, omnipotent, omniscient Creator who loves us. 

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

John 2:1-5. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.

Nehemiah 9:6  You alone are Yahweh. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them, and the heavenly host worships You.

Colossians 1:15-17 For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.

Psalm 90:2  Before the mountains were born, before You gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity (past) to eternity (future), You are God.

Psalm 93:2  Your throne has been established from the beginning; You are from eternity

Psalm 139:13 For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Psalm 41:13 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen

Jeremiah 10:10  But Yahweh is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King

Job 36:26 How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.

Jude 25: to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!

Job 9:4   God is wise and all-powerful.  Who has opposed Him and come out unharmed?

Job 28:24: For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, watching the evil and the good.

Isaiah 42: 5 This is what God, Yahweh, says— who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk on it

Isaiah 46:10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: My plan will take place, and I will do all My will.

Romans 11:33-36: Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became his counselor? Or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to Him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen

For more articles related to Christian Apologetics, see:

Why Engage in Apologetics?

Is Something Right Because It's Legal?

Faith or Materialism: Which is More Rational?

The Contingency Argument for the Existence of God

The Design Argument for the Existence of God

The Axiological (Moral) Argument for the Existence of God

The Kalam Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God

The Failure of the Materialist Worldview

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Scripture citations are from:  Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN or New King James Version®. (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson

Knowing God: 3 - The Contingency Argument

Everything Has an Explanation for Its Existence

Looking at creation, it is self-evident there is a reason this is all 'here'.  Everything that exists has an explanation for its existence.  To give glory to God and credit Him as the sufficient (and necessary!) reason for the existence of the universe, some devoted materialists have resorted to trying to explain how the universe just "popped" into existence by itself: no reason needed!

To give the veneer of scientific reasoning to this conjecture, teams of philosophers, mathematicians and scientists who are willing to 'bend the rules' on the scientific method have gone back to the drawing board to redesign the standard model for the Big Bang.  Even so, with Hoyle's "Continuous Creation Model" and the "Oscillating Universe Model", which has already been largely discredited.  Devoted materialists have had to struggle lately coming up with explanations for the existence of the universe without a Creator. 

Continuous Creations and Oscillating Universe Theories

This post includes several short video clips from a series by Dr. Stephen Meyer entitled "True U - Does God Exist?:  Building the Scientific Case", from Ligonier Ministries.  He summarizes the current state of cosmology as the battle to introduce common sense into the scientific discussion rages on.

Dr. Stephen Meyer entitled "True U - Does God Exist?:  Building the Scientific Case"  © Ligonier Ministries  Tyndale House Publishers, ISBN  9781589973398    Used by permission of Ligonier Ministries. All rights reserved.  

Beginnings - Introduction

Beginnings - Alternate Theories

Beginnings - Oscillating Universe Theory

Beginnings - Creatio ex Nihilo

Beginnings - God is the Cause

To acquire the DVD and watch the full lessons, go to:  Ligonier Ministries Store

Review:  Continuous Creation Model  (Fred Hoyle)

Basic premise:   stuff just keeps “popping into existence”.

Scientific evaluation of the theory:  "background radiation" of the Big Bang was discovered rendering this theory dead.

Review: Oscillating Universe Model

Basic premise:  universe is eternal, it just expands and contracts like an accordion; "sort of a circular reincarnation thing…”

Scientific evaluation of the theory:  Hubble's red shift disproves this model -- the expansion of the universe expansion is accelerating and not enough mass to pull us back has been discovered. 

Sidebar discussion: Dark Matter

Note the search for dark matter while possibly real, is more adequately explained by the electrical /magnetic forces.   There are a number of excellent videos on that specific subject I've copied links to here:

Plasma Physic's Answers to the New Cosmological Questions by Dr. Donald E Scott (NASA) 

The Electric Universe

Our Electric Sun and Its Environment

The Electric Comet

Given the detailed explanations of these videos that more effectively model behaviors actually observed in the universe, This author thinks it highly unlikely that enough "dark matter" will be discovered to resurrect the Oscillating Universe Model.

Revisiting Scientific Materialist's Assumptions

Are they interpreting the data obtained by the scientific method and making their conclusions based on …

A)  evidence?

B)  ideology?

Given the clear failure of alternative models to the "Big Bang", and no viable explanation for how "nothing" just happened to explode and generate all the complexity and "apparent" design (not to mention miraculous nature of life itself), there MUST be a Cause for all this.    Let's examine the philosopher's dilemma:

Parmenides's Argument – why does anything exist at all?

Ex nihilo nihil fit. (from nothing, nothing comes)

If ever there was a time when there was nothing, then there would still be nothing.  And Science cannot explain why anything exists at all...

This shows that either the universe must be eternal, or something else must be eternal, otherwise there can be “no thing” because something cannot create itself without violating the Law of Non-Contradiction, which is the basis for all reasoning and logic.  Something cannot "not" exist, then create itself and then shazam! it exists.   That's like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat with no magician and no hat...

The Universe does NOT HAVE to exist - it is contingent, and not necessary.

Therefore, the universe must have an explanation for its existence.  This is called Contingency

Contingency Argument

This was first postulated in 1714 by Gottfried Leibniz, a German mathematician:

1 - Everything that exists has an explanation for its existence

2 - If the universe has an explanation for its existence, that explanation is God

3 - The universe exists

4 - (Therefore from 1 & 3) The universe has an explanation for its existence

5 - (Therefore from 2 & 4) The explanation for the existence of the universe is God

Premise 1 - simply states a rational "properly basic belief" that we all accept.  Nothing is just "there" by no cause or reason and everyone practically speaking must accept this.  All of the scientific method rests on this for causality and experimentation.

Premise 2 - put in the inverse:  if God does not exist, then the universe has no explanation for its existence.

Premise 3 - This is the "Duh" premise.  We won't address those who assume we are all a dream, or part of one person's consciousness as conversations about life, purpose, existence and meaning are moot.

4-Conclusion 1 - derives from 1 & 3 and logically follows.   

5-Conclusion 2 - people don't "like" this conclusion, but it logically follows.   Don't preach to me about how Materialists are "evidence and logic-based" in their thinking and then reject out of hand a logical argument because they don't like the conclusion (which is logically air tight - well formed and true).

Listen to Wisdom

Isaiah 55:5-11  Seek the Lord while He may be found; call to Him while He is near.   Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration.  “For as heaven is higher than earth,  so My ways are higher than your ways,  and My thoughts [higher] than your thoughts.  For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.”  HSCB

God's Word is a faithful representation of God's revealed will for our lives.   Those who doubt the Scriptures (without any basis except that they don't "like" what the Scriptures say) doubt that God can "say what He means and mean what He says".  Those who ignore God's wisdom are left with no answers to life's biggest questions:

• Where do I come from?
• Why am I here?
• What is the meaning of life?
• Where am I going after I die?
• Why is there evil in the world?                                 

Remember that there really aren't any "unbelievers".  Just people who suppress the truth they already know. 

Romans 1:18-20 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse   HSCB

<<   Knowing God: 2 - The Failure of Materialism

>>   Knowing God: 4 - The Teleological Argument

For more articles related to Christian Apologetics, see:

Why Engage in Apologetics?

Is Something Right Because It's Legal?

Faith or Materialism: Which is More Rational?

The Design Argument for the Existence of God

The Axiological (Moral) Argument for the Existence of God

The Kalam Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God

The Failure of the Materialist Worldview

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DVD excerpts from purchased DVD,  TrueU: Does God Exist? by Dr. Stephen Meyer. © Ligonier Ministries  Tyndale House Publishers, ISBN  9781589973398  Used by permission of Ligonier Ministries. All rights reserved.

Scripture citations are from:  Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN or New King James Version®. (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson