IF GOD CREATED THE UNIVERSE

WHO CREATED GOD?(BUT FIRST…)

RICHARD DAWKINS

•About Christians, “mock them, ridicule them in public, their beliefs are insane, therefore they should be ridiculed with contempt.”

THE LAW OF CAUSALITY

•One of the most basic laws of science• Every cause must have an effect• The cause must be antecedent and

superior to the effect

ADEQUATE CAUSE

CONTINGENT ENTITIES

•Have a beginning•Cannot account for their own existence•Mount Rushmore

THE UNIVERSE

• Why is there something rather than nothing?• Nothing produces nothing. • There must be a necessary being.• Atheist Bertrand Russle said “The universe is just

there, and that's all.”

BUT…• If the universe is “just there,” then it would have to be

eternal.• Science has repeatedly proven that the universe had a

beginning. (First in 1910)• 2003—Borde, Guth, Vilenkin past-finite universe

theorem

2003—BORDE, GUTH, VILENKIN

• Vilenkin concludes, “there are no models at this time that provide a satisfactory model for a universe without a beginning…None of these scenarios can actually be past-eternal; all the evidence we have says that the universe had a beginning.”

• The Borde-Guth-Vilenkin theorem proves that classical spacetime, under a single, very general condition, cannot be extended to past infinity but must reach a boundary at some time in the finite past.

Vilenkin is blunt about the implications: It is said that an argument is what convinces reasonable men and a proof is what it takes to convince even an unreasonable man. With the proof now in place, cosmologists can no longer hide behind the possibility of a past-eternal universe. There is no escape, they have to face the problem of a cosmic beginning. (Many Worlds in One [New York: Hill and Wang, 2006], p.176).

THREE OPTIONS• So there are two options• It is eternal (proven false)• It is not eternal, and created itself out of nothing

(impossible)• An absolute entity created it

WHY WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS: SOME SCIENTISTS SAY• Stephen Hawking: "Because there is

a law of gravity, the universe can and will create itself out of nothing." • Gravity is not nothing.• So the universe was created out of nothing,

which is something? • But then were did the law of gravity come from?

SOME SCIENTISTS SAY• Stephen Hawking: Just a part of a multiverse.• Why does he think a multiverse needs to exist?• Probability Estimate for Life-Supporting Body

Less than 1 chance in 10282 (million trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion.) Dr, H. Ross, “Predictive Power: Confirming Cosmic Creation”

BACK TO THE TOPIC—THE ENTITY WHICH CREATED THE UNIVERSE

• (a) existed before or outside it, • (b) is superior to it [the creator must be greater

than the created];• (c) is of a different nature, since the finite,

contingent entity (universe) cannot explain itself

SPROUL NOTED• “Reason demands that if something exists...the something

must be self-existent...there must be a self-existent being of some sort somewhere, or nothing would or could exist.”• Everything that exists is either mind or matter.• Something eternal exists, because something exists now• Therefore either mind or matter is eternal• Matter is not eternal.• Therefore a MIND is eternal.

SO IF GOD (MIND) EXISTS, WHO CREATED HIM?• There is an error in heuristic reasoning.• Explanation of explanation. (Only need to

show that it’s most probable.)•Hamster and goldfish examples.

INFINITE REGRESSION

• Occurs when contingent entities try to ascribe their governing laws to absolute entities which created them.• Many religions have attributed laws of nature to various gods.

Thunder, fire, rain, etc.• But their gods were ruled by natural laws.• Zeus had to be born by Cronus and Rhea.• Philophanus, Xeonphanes, and Aquinas: just humans on a grander

scale, ruled by nature.

INFINITE REGRESSION

• Xenophanes noted that gods usually looked like the people who submitted to them. Etiopians had dark Gods, Thracians had redheads. • Said a cow would make a cow god.

• But noted, "There is one God...similar in mortals neither in shape nor thought...remote and effortless he governs all there is."

• Isaiah 55:8-9 records, "“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts." We'll return to this in a second.

OUR GOD IS OUTSIDE OF TIME AND SPACE —NECESSARY• All contingent realities depend for their existence

upon a non-contingent or necessary reality.• The universe is a contingent reality.• Therefore, the universe depends for its existence on

a non-contingent or necessary reality.

OUR GOD IS OUTSIDE OF TIME AND SPACE —ETERNAL• God created time—and will destroy it. • Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before

Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58)• “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He

has also set eternity in the heart of man; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Eccl 3:11)

SELF-EXISTENT• "The God who made the world and all

things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things." (Acts 17:24-25)

INTERESTING PROPERTIES OF INFINITY—GOD CREATED TIME

•∞−∞=?•Coins from 1 to infinity: 1, 2, 3,…so on.•“But do not let this one fact escape your

notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” (2 Pet 3:8)

ENGLISH DOES A HORRIBLE JOB OF DESCRIBING WORSHIP• When you ask people, get confused answers—no BCV.

1. reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.

2. formal or ceremonious rendering of such honor and homage: They attended worship this morning.

3. adoring reverence or regard

4. the object of adoring reverence or regard.

5. (initial capital letter) British. a title of honor

6. to render religious reverence and homage to.

7. to feel an adoring reverence or regard for (any person or thing).

8. to render religious reverence and homage, as to a deity.

9. to attend services of divine worship.

10. to feel an adoring reverence or regard.

ENGLISH: WORSHIP’S ETYMOLOGY

THE 5 AUTHORIZED ACTS OF WORSHIP: PREACHING, PRAYER, GIVING, SINGING, COMMUNION• Singing—that’s an act of worship?• "WHILE the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also

sang and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. Now at the completion of the burnt offerings, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped.“ (2 Chron 29:28-29)• Singing—nope. Trumpeting—nope. So what IS

worship?

WORSHIP: BIBLICAL DEFINITIONS

WORSHIP: BIBLICAL DEFINITIONS

• 2 Chron 29:28 again: “WHILE the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also sang and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.”

WORSHIP: BIBLICAL DEFINITIONS

WORSHIP: IN PICTURES

• The Aleinu is not just a prayer about adoring God; it is a prayer of submitting oneself to God in recognition of God's complete sovereignty over our lives and all creation.

• The prayer's climactic moment. We declare: va'anachnu korim, umishtachavim, umodim lifnei melech mal'chei hamlachim, HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The phrase, literally translated, means: "We bow, and prostrate, and give thanks before the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed is He."

WORSHIP: IN PICTURES

WORSHIP: IN PICTURES

WORSHIP: IN LOCATION

• “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from Sabbath to Sabbath, All flesh will worship Me,” says the Lord.” (Is 66:23)

• People of all nations, 24/7

• “The woman said to Him, […]Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. […] But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:19-24)

WORSHIP: IN SPIRITSERVICE: IN LIFE•“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your rational service.” (Rom 12:1)