Five Questions to Ask
EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT!
A series of clever Geico Insurance ads begin with a couple of people sitting near each other with one person watching a Geico TV ad’s claim to save 15% or more on your insurance in 15 minutes. The person watching the ad comments, “Huh, 15-minutes can save you 15% or more on your car insurance.” The other person sitting nearby replies in a deadpanned manner, “Everybody knows that!” The first person then states, “Well, did you know…” and ends the statement with a clever, funny, facetious, and supposedly unknown fact.
My favorite Geico ad is the one in which the first person responds to the one replying “Everybody knows that!” with “Well, did you know that words really can hurt you?” The next scene looks like it is from an old-time cowboy movie, in which a woman tries to keep a cowboy on a horse from leaving her, crying “Jesse, don’t go! Jesse, no!” Determined to ride away, Jesse states, “I’m sorry Daisy but I’m a loner and a loner’s got to be alone.”
Jesse then rides off, leaving Daisy on the ground weeping. As he does, the words of a typical ending of old Western movies, “THE END” appear on the screen.
As the words, “THE END” appear, Jesse rides into them, hitting his head and knocking him off his horse. A stunned Daisy watches in shock. The picture below is the moment Jesse’s head hits “THE END.” In the Geico ad, words literally can hurt you. (You can watch the clip at http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7yPY/geico-words-can-hurt-did-you-know)
“DID YOU KNOW….” “EVERYBODY KNOWS….” “WELL THEN, DID YOU KNOW…”
Using the Geico ad sequence of questions and responses, we can interact with people about the origin of the Cosmos. The purpose of these questions is to both determine what other people believe, as well as engage them about their views about God and the Universe.
Question #1 — “Did you know the universe started with a Big Bang?”
Likely Answer — “Everybody knows that!”
Response — “Well then, did you know that the Big Bang fits what the Bible says about creation?”
In Chapter 1 of “Does God Exist or Are We Just Making This Up?” we presented the Big Bang scientific reason why the Universe is not infinite. Big Bang cosmology and scientific evidence points to a massive explosion as the origin of the Universe. This lines up with Genesis 1:1 that says there was a beginning to the universe.
This leads to a second question, likely answer, and response:
Question #2 — “Did you know that if you set down a hot cup of coffee and leave it that it will grow cold?”
Likely Answer — “Everybody knows that!”
Response — “Well then, did you know that the universe is running out of usable energy and will grow cold too?”
In Chapter 2, we talked about the Second Law of Thermodynamics, that there is a limited amount of usable energy in the Universe, resulting in heat loss and eventual heat death. This points to the question, “How can the Universe be infinite, lasting from forever and to forever, if it not only had a beginning but also is losing usable energy and moving toward heat death?
This raises a third question, likely answer, and response:
Question #3 — “Did you know that something finite cannot be infinite?”
Likely Answer — “Everybody knows that!”
Response — “Well then, did you know that the universe is finite?”
A third reason why the Universe is not infinite that we explored is the logical absurdity of what we call an Infinite Causal Regress (ICR), an infinite chain of cause and effect. An actual infinite thing in time and space existence doesn’t exist. This is a hard concept to grasp because we always think of everything in time and space with beginnings and endings. We discussed that anything that can be counted and measured with beginnings and endings are finite and cannot be infinite. As soon as things become physical, they are finite, and we can count them. If something is infinite, you can’t add or subtract from it.
It is logically absurd to add or subtract from something infinite, so there is no such thing as an infinite in time and space. Finite things mean they have limits, while an infinite thing does not. Thus, the finite has nothing to do with the infinite. The Universe is in time and space, possesses matter and energy, and is in a cause-and-effect relationship. Therefore, the Universe is not infinite. Things in cause-and-effect relationships can’t be infinite because it sets up a logical impossibility of an Infinite Causal Regress. To go back in time infinitely is an impossibility of terms. You can’t be in time and say it’s infinite. Infinite is in no-time.
We argue that everything that begins to exist is caused to begin to exist. The question is, what caused it to begin to exist? Our universe wasn’t there and then it came into existence—just as our big bang cosmology tells us. It didn’t exist at some point in the past—and now it does. So, we look at the universe and say it has a cause, because all things that began to exist were caused to exist.
So, here is a fourth question, likely answer, and response:
Question #4 — “Did you know that some people believe the universe just popped up out of nothing…absolutely nothing?”
Likely Answer — “Everybody knows that!”
Response — “Well then, did you know that the only other logical possibility is that the universe was started by what is called ‘AN INFINITE STATE OF AFFAIRS.’”
The scientific data of a Big Bang cosmology, the second law of thermodynamics, (pointing to the loss of usable energy moving the universe toward heat death), and the logical argument of the impossibility of an Infinite Causal Regress (ICR) all push us to acknowledge there was a beginning event that was caused. (That doesn’t mean “God” was responsible for it. We have not arrived at that yet.)
Why does the universe need a cause? Because it began to exist! Things that begin to exist need causes for their beginnings. So, what happened? So, how did the universe get here? How did it come into existence without the irrationality of something popping up from nothing, or setting up an infinite causal regress (ICR)?
The only other possibility for its existence is to posit what we call an INFINITE STATE OF AFFAIRS that always existed and was itself uncaused. If the universe hasn’t always existed, and if it didn’t just pop up out of nothing, the only remaining logical explanation is that an infinite uncaused cause began it.
Now this makes sense logically. If something is uncaused, it has always been, and if it has always been, it is infinite. These are synonyms: “uncaused-cause”, “INFINITE STATE OF AFFAIRS,” “infinite,” “God.” An INFINITE STATE OF AFFAIRS was never caused to come into existence but has always existed. It is outside time and space and is not finite.
As previously indicated, some believe the String Theory gives us the answer to the existence of the universe—but the scientific data points to a beginning event, rather than an infinite and eternal universe. It’s absurd to think that something began to exist without a cause. Yet people argue that the universe has always existed or just popped into existence out of nothing; that is, hydrogen atoms popped into existence out of nothing.
As we have noted, the problem with positing an infinite universe is that science points to having a beginning. Everything that begins to exist is caused to exist. If the thing that caused the universe to come into existence was itself caused, then what caused that? To posit an infinite Universe, we would have to go back infinitely, which sets up an Infinite Causal Regress, resulting in a logical absurdity. We resolve this dilemma, however, by logically positing an infinite uncaused cause, an INFINITE STATE OF AFFAIRS.
Notice that we did not start with God but with an UNCAUSED CAUSE that is not finite. What category is there other than finite? Infinite, an INFINITE STATE OF AFFAIRS, something that is not finite but in(not)-finite, God.
TAKING THE FIFTH — A FIFTH QUESTION (AND A RETURN TO THE FOURTH)
This leads to a fifth Geiko insurance-like question, likely answer, and response, regarding the properties or characteristics of an INFINITE STATE OF AFFAIRS or God:
Question #5 — “Did you know the Bible talks about God?”
Answer — “Everybody knows that!”
Response — “Well then, did you know that you can know a lot about God by examining the Cosmos?”
The Psalmist tells us poetically that the Cosmos reveals the existence and glory of God,
“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is hidden from its heat. (Psalm 19:1-6)
The apostle Paul tells us, as well, that we can discern invisible qualities of God like his eternal power and divine nature from the Universe He created,
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
The alternative to the theories that the Universe just popped up out of nothing or that it has always been here (infinite) in some form is that it was started by an INFINITE STATE OF AFFAIRS, and we can discern the properties or characteristics of AN INFINITE STATE OF AFFAIRS by comparing it to the finite.
Our reasoning that the Universe is finite and created by an INFINITE STATE OF AFFAIRS is based on scientific evidence and sound logic. First, the universe had a beginning, so it is finite. Second, finite things are not infinite so, it is a logical impossibility say that a finite thing (the Universe) is infinite. But, it is logical to say that something that began to exist was caused to exist, and since the Universe began to exist, it was it was caused to begin to exist.
It is then logical to posit an INFINITE STATE OF AFFAIRS to explain the finite stuff of the Universe. Without this, you end up with a logical absurdity. A lot of ideas and theories people develop attempt to get around the logical absurdity of a finite-infinite Universe, which has no empirical basis. In contrast, we are basing our argument on scientific data that we do have, as well as the logical impossibility of an Infinite Causal Regress.
In Part 2 (chapters 5-7) of “Big Issues We Face Today,” we will discover the properties and characteristics of God by reasoning from and contrasting an INFINITE STATE OF AFFAIRS with the finite. By doing so, we will answer the question, “If God exists, what is He like?”
[1] http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7yPY/geico-words-can-hurt-did-you-know
