DOCSLIB.ORG

Of Paul Davies and the Mind of God

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Of Paul Davies and the Mind of God Commentary Of Paul Davies and The Mind of God MARC KAY ABSTRACT The misleading title and 'consumer-friendly' text of Paul Davies' book The Mind of God have captured the interest of many, including Christian apologists. However, close examination of his arguments for a supposed rationalistic, naturalistic and evolutionary explanation for the universe's origin and existence show them to be seriously flawed. Something cannot come from nothing, as Davies supposes with cosmological speculations that are definitely not physics. God cannot be replaced by laws of physics, and even Davies admits that clear evidence for design exists in nature. Man cannot possess complete knowledge of reality nor understand ultimate things outside of the Creator God of the Bible and the revelation of Himself to us in Jesus Christ, the Logos. The epigraph to The Mind of God in supernatural events personally. captures the book's essence by Although I obviously can't prove that borrowing Stephen Hawking's they never happen, I see no reason to conclusion to his A Brief History of suppose that they do.' In one terse Time: sentence Davies has removed God. 'If we do discover a complete theory. If we find the answer to COSMOLOGICAL that, it would be the ultimate SPECULATIONS triumph of human reason —for ARE NOT PHYSICS then we would truly know the mind of God.' Recently, Dr James McCaughan, If nothing else, this is disquieting Senior Lecturer in physics at the for its intellectual hubris and reason's University of Sydney, released his exaltation over revelation. lecture notes that examine Davies' book. Davies' books are popular. This McCaughan's thrust is that Davies arises from being well-marketed, has departed from common-sense and 'consumer-friendly' text, and Davies' his expertise. Physics should attend the ubiquitous appearance in the media. material world and not ultimate Nevertheless, it is the book's questions or unobservable and misleading title which contributes most untestable times and places. to some evangelicals' endorsement. By McCaughan rightly points out, some arcane and seldom articulated reasoning, Christians 'Such claims fthe universe's spontaneous coming into promote the book as though Davies' arguments are existence] are the product of highly speculative inextricably linked to traditional apologetics evidencing the mathematical theories that elude both the grasp of biblical God. This is perplexing given that on the preface's experimental test and the consensus that the rules of third page Davies admits he '. would rather not believe physics from which these speculations are crafted are 188 CENTech. J., vol. 10, no. 2, 1996 not viable at the times needed by the theories, that is, '. imagine going backward in time toward the big 10~43 seconds and less after the "big bang" of universal bang, then, when we reach about one Planck time after origin,' what we thought was the initial singularity, something Davies appears uninterested in Truth. He is keen to peculiar starts to happen. Time begins to "turn into" dispel the possibility that there is a case for the Christian space. Rather than having to deal with the origin of God. Davies sees off the cosmological argument by insisting space-time, therefore, we now have to contend with theoretical physics has vanquished it. He comments that four-dimensional space . .'1 this explanation While Davies' eloquence and arguments combine for 'may be quite wrong. However, I don't think that easy reading, the scientific reality is absent. McCaughan matters. What is at issue is whether or not some sort notices this: of supernatural act is necessary to start the universe '. the laws of physics are simply not known at times 43 off-'1 earlier than 10' seconds after the "big bang"; but it The cosmological argument asserts that the universe had is precisely to this region that the Hawking proposal a beginning, and that it was begun by a necessary being and applies. More importantly, there is no hope of doing not another contingent phenomenon. In the 1948 Copleston- experiments with elementary particles in this region. 16 Russell debate, F. C. Copleston explained: At current accelerator energies 10' cm can be probed, 33 '. / don't believe that the infinity of the series of vastly removed from the Planck length (10~ cm) . events . would be in the slightest degree relevant to This theory needs to probe to distances of 1029 cm, the situation. If you add up chocolates you get somewhat greater than the Planck length. The status chocolates . and not a sheep . add up chocolates of quantum gravity is that it is untested and probably to infinity, you get an infinite number of chocolates untestable; that is, there are no measurements on . if you add up contingent beings to infinity, you still nature, nor observations of nature to guide it. That it get contingent beings, not a necessary being. An can be extended from a region where there is infinite series of contingent beings will be. .as unable confidence in the base laws of physics from which to cause itself as one contingent being. '2 theories of quantum gravity are built—but don't Davies requires some mechanism that will fuel his belief work—to a region where there is no confidence in the universe came into being 'by itself. He argues quantum the base laws from which it is built, yet expected to be fluctuations change the 'rules' because Heisenberg's valid, is an impressive act of blind faith or bare-faced uncertainty principle establishes that 'This unpredictability imposture.' implies that the microworld is indeterministic: to use Some of modern science's proposals are not too Einstein's picturesque phraseology, God plays dice with dissimilar to buying a second-hand car: caveat emptor. One the universe. Therefore, quantum events are not can sign away one's mind in a Faustean transaction without determined absolutely by preceding causes. '3 Davies careful attention to detail. Davies admits that the universe's makes a malapropian error. McCaughan comments: shape at its origin is established '... on grounds of 'Unpredictable simply means unascertainable . but mathematical elegance. '8 'Objective' truth is in the eye of to take indetermined (or uncaused) for unascertainable the beholder; and as Keats penned, 'Beauty is truth, truth (or unmeasurable) is to give equivocal meaning to beauty'. these words.' R. C. Sproul discusses this: SOMETHING CANNOT COME FROM NOTHING 'If the explanation is in the things, they are self-moved . what causes them to move is something within . McCaughan, washing his hands of Davies' physics, and not a no-cause .... If not to require any cause ... asks, 'What about the metaphysics?' He demurs that Davies they would be God ... being things that change and rides on the back of paralogism: (come and go out of) being, they cannot be God . 'The big bang is an uncaused event (fallacy). Quantum The presumption of no-cause rests on the presumption fluctuations are uncaused events (fallacy). When the of exhaustive knowledge . .'" universe is sufficiently small, quantum fluctuations can Quantum phenomena's micro-world existence enforces be expected to govern its behaviour (unknown). no imperative for their having operated in the putative 'big Therefore the universe originated as a quantum bang'. Davies realises this: fluctuation in an uncaused way.' 'All of this depends, of course, on the validity of Ignotum per ignotius. quantum mechanics when applied to the universe as a Davies asks the reader to swallow an unwieldy idea: whole. '5 something came from nothing. His argument is an exemplary Quickly passing over this hurdle, Davies then expounds the example of petitio principii. It is rigged by proposing we correct conditions which would permit the 'big bang' to be assume that 'before' the beginning there was nothing, and taken 'seriously'.6 He relies heavily on the Hawking-Hartle since we now have something, then something must have model. Davies writes: come from nothing. McCaughan remonstrates that this CENTech. J., vol. 10, no. 2, 1996 189 something-for-nothing argument is unsound because the Schaeffer's comment on Descartes: conclusion is '. based on fallacies, but it can be shown '. he was supremely confident. by human thought to be fallacious independently of the argument.' Terry alone one could doubt all notions based on authority Miethe scathingly attacks this egregious concept: and could begin from himself with total sufficiency 'Something cannot come from nothing!. From ("'Cogito ergo sum") . he believed mathematics nothing nothing comes . that something can come would provide a unity. for all kinds of investigation. from nothing has been rejected [by] philosophy . it He was optimistic mathematics and mathematical is self-contradictory . irrational. "Nothing," by analysis, with careful deductions from these, would definition, does not exist. The dictionary says of provide a factor which would give unity to all "nothing": "not any thing: nothing." It is absurd knowledge.'" . that "something", a thing that exists, can have as Sound familiar? Davies mirrors Descartes: its cause no thing, that which does not exist. '9 'Any attempt to understand the nature of reality and McCaughan postulates that Davies' discussing the the place of human beings in the universe must proceed unknown is out of scientific court: from a sound scientific base . We shall see that this 'Properties and particles and fields and bodies are all cosmic order is underpinned by definite mathematical so many beings. All have come into existence at the laws that interweave each other to form a subtle and big bang where before there were none of these. harmonious unity . these same simple laws permit Physics being based on measures, numbering and matter and energy to self-organize into an enormous existing things is powerless till after the big bang. variety of complex states, including those that have There is no physics of how the universe came into the quality of consciousness.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Is Plato a Perfect Idealist?
    IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 19, Issue 3, Ver. V (Mar. 2014), PP 22-25 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org Is Plato a Perfect Idealist? Dr. Shanjendu Nath M. A., M. Phil., Ph.D. Associate Professor Rabindrasadan Girls’ College, Karimganj, Assam, India. Abstract: Idealism is a philosophy that emphasizes on mind. According to this theory, mind is primary and objective world is nothing but an idea of our mind. Thus this theory believes that the primary thing that exists is spiritual and material world is secondary. This theory effectively begins with the thought of Greek philosopher Plato. But it is Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) who used the term ‘idealism’ when he referred Plato in his philosophy. Plato in his book ‘The Republic’ very clearly stated many aspects of thought and all these he discussed from the idealistic point of view. According to Plato, objective world is not a real world. It is the world of Ideas which is real. This world of Ideas is imperishable, immutable and eternal. These ideas do not exist in our mind or in the mind of God but exist by itself and independent of any mind. He also said that among the Ideas, the Idea of Good is the supreme Idea. These eternal ideas are not perceived by our sense organs but by our rational self. Thus Plato believes the existence of two worlds – material world and the world of Ideas. In this article I shall try to explore Plato’s idealism, its origin, locus etc.
    [Show full text]
  • The Metaphysical Doctrine of Creation
    The Metaphysical Doctrine of Creation THOMAS V. MORRIS The majestic introduction to the book of Genesis proclaims that1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. This is the key to a distinctively theistic perspective on reality. This one statement captures the heart of a theistic world-view: We live in a created universe. For centuries, theists have held that the most important truth about our world is that it is a created world. And it is no exaggeration to add that one of the most important truths about God is that He is the creator of this world. Aquinas once expressed the core of the doctrine of creation quite suc- cinctly with the single sentence: Anything that exists in any way must necessarily have its origin fromGod.2 The philosophical view which is here so crisply and simply conveyed, I shall refer to as the metaphysical doctrine of creation . I understand it as a thesis about the metaphysical or ontological dependence of all things distinct from God on God as their source of being, the ultimate cause of their existence. As a philosophical thesis, the metaphysical doctrine of creation is not to be thought of as necessarily allied to, or as in competition with, any particu- lar scientific theory of physical cosmology or biological development. A few years ago, many religious people enthusiastically welcomed and loudly en- dorsed what is popularly known as the Big Bang Theory of Physical Cosmol- ogy. The physical event which was postulated to have issued in an almost inconceivable, explosive origination of our current cosmos was widely bap- tized as a scientific acknowledgement of the act of divine creation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Emergent, Self-Explaining Universe of Paul Davies – a Summary and Christian Response
    S & CB (2012), 24, 33–53 0954–4194 PAUL HIMES The Emergent, Self-explaining Universe of Paul Davies – a Summary and christian Response Physicist Paul Davies has emerged as one of the most popular scientists of the twenty-first century, despite his critique of the scientific establishment and its perceived failure to account for the origins and rational nature of the universe. Davies argues that the scientific consensus on cosmology rests on faith, both in its failure to provide an ultimate explanation for the origin of the universe and in its blind acceptance of its rational laws. As an alternative, Davies postulates an ‘emergent’ universe which contains the cause of its own existence and which renders unnecessary any sort of a personal deity. Yet Davies’s alternative falls short of providing a satisfactory cosmic explanation. Davies himself cannot adequately account for the principle of backward causation which creates his universe, and thus his paradigm still relies on a transcendent principle that remains unexplained. Furthermore, Davies’s objections against a personal god can be answered on philosophical grounds. Thus Davies’s hypothesis does not provide a superior alternative to the Christian view of God. key words: Paul Davies, physics, universe, emergent, self-causation, quantum mechanics, cosmology, time, teleology, cosmological argument, fine-tuning introduction Douglas Adams’ classic Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy tells the story of an advanced civilisation that builds a magnificent supercomputer for the sole purpose of providing the ultimate answer to the meaning of ‘life, the universe, and everything’. After millions of years of calculation, the an- swer, much to the confusion and frustration of the advanced civilisation, turns out to be ‘42’.1 Physicist Paul C.
    [Show full text]
  • The Quantum God: an Investigation of the Image of God from Quantum Science
    The Quantum God: An Investigation of the Image of God from Quantum Science By Meaghean H. Richardson A Thesis Submitted to Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Theology and Religious Studies June, 2015, Halifax, Nova Scotia Copyright Meaghean H. Richardson, 2015. Approved: Dr. Anne Marie Dalton Supervisor Approved: Dr. Mary Hale Reader Approved: Dr. Magi Abdul-Masih Examiner Date: June 5, 2015 2 ABSTRACT The Quantum God: An Investigation of the Image of God from Quantum Science By Meaghean H. Richardson This thesis is an investigation of the image of God arising from understandings of quantum science and argues that it enhances ideas about God. It considers the significance of religious interpretations of quantum science and briefly examines the case of Christian theology and God’s actions in the world. The nature of quantum phenomena requires the use of imagery likened to that used in many mystical and religious traditions. Using a multivalued approach, I give equitable consideration to multiple scientific and theological interpretations to describe the God-concept presented by sources writing on the mystical implications of quantum science. The quantum demands an intellectual and academic openness, requiring the use of resources outside of science, and pushes for a holistic approach and a transition to a postmodern paradigm. Therefore, the quantum is said to be a re-enchanting force, calling for a re-evaluation of the spiritual dimension in our overall understanding of reality. June 5, 2015 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I must first thank my parents for their support of every kind while I chase my dreams.
    [Show full text]
  • SCIENCE and the EASTERN RELIGIONS: TOWARDS an INTEGRAL VISION of REALITY Course: PS 20
    SCIENCE AND THE EASTERN RELIGIONS: TOWARDS AN INTEGRAL VISION OF REALITY Course: PS 20 Institution: Little Flower Seminary, Institute of Philosophy and Religion Instructor: Fr. Augustine Pamplany CST Instructor’s email: [email protected] Course Description The course will be given as a four credit basic course for the second and third year graduate students of the department of philosophy and religion of Little Flower Seminary and as an elective course to the guest students of the Institute of Science and Religion at Little Flower Seminary. The Course is an attempt at an Eastern Religious appropriation of the major insights of the modern western science in its wide-ranging fields. The course draws the data from an interdisciplinary dialogue between science and religion to re-conceive God, world and the Human in a manner fitting to the modern intellectual scientific culture in general and to the philosophical and religious context of India in particular. Hence the course unfolds itself at three levels. 1. Describing the intellectual setting of the intersection of science and mysticism 2. Critical inter-sectioning of the scientific and mystical worldviews from the perspective of the Kosmos, Bios and Nous. 3. Articulating the metaphysical, anthropological and theological implications of the inter-sectioning of science and mysticism. While Eastern religious approach is dominant in the course, the course presupposes the Christian perspectives on the ongoing debate and deal at some length with the same where and when necessary. Concise
    [Show full text]
  • The Mind's Road to God- St. Bonaventure
    The Catholic Primer’s Reference Series: The Mind's Road to God St. Bonaventure Caution regarding printing: Before you print, please check the page count of this document after it is fully loaded. Many Catholic Primer eBooks and documents are hundreds or even thousands of pages in length, depending upon individual printer settings. The Catholic Primer Copyright Notice The contents The Mind’s Road to God by St. Bonaventure is in the public domain. However, this electronic version is copyrighted. © The Catholic Primer, 2005. All Rights Reserved. This electronic version may be distributed free of charge provided that the contents are not altered and this copyright notice is included with the distributed copy, provided that the following conditions are adhered to. This electronic document may not be offered in connection with any other document, product, promotion or other item that is sold, exchange for compensation of any type or manner, or used as a gift for contributions, including charitable contributions without the express consent of The Catholic Primer. Notwithstanding the preceding, if this product is transferred on CD-ROM, DVD, or other similar storage media, the transferor may charge for the cost of the media, reasonable shipping expenses, and may request, but not demand, an additional donation not to exceed US$15. Questions concerning this limited license should be directed to [email protected] . This document may not be distributed in print form without the prior consent of The Catholic Primer. Adobe®, Acrobat®, and Acrobat® Reader® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
    [Show full text]
  • The Word Is an Angel of the Mind: Angelic and Temple Imagery in the Theology of John Mansur, the Damascene
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations (2009 -) Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects The orW d Is An Angel Of The indM : Angelic And Temple Imagery In The Theology Of John Mansur, The aD mascene. Elijah Nicolas Mueller Marquette University Recommended Citation Mueller, Elijah Nicolas, "The orW d Is An Angel Of The indM : Angelic And Temple Imagery In The Theology Of John Mansur, The Damascene." (2014). Dissertations (2009 -). Paper 354. http://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/354 THE WORD IS AN ANGEL OF THE MIND: ANGELIC AND TEMPLE IMAGERY IN THE THEOLOGY OF JOHN MANSUR, THE DAMASCENE. by Elijah Nicolas Mueller A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2014 ABSTRACT THE WORD IS AN ANGEL OF THE MIND: ANGELIC AND TEMPLE IMAGERY IN THE THEOLOGY OF JOHN MANSUR, THE DAMASCENE. Elijah Nicolas Mueller Marquette University, 2014 This dissertation looks at the scriptural images of angel and temple, as they occur in key works by John Damascene: on the Heresies, chapter 100 “On the Ishmaelites;” Three Treatises on the Divine Images, and on the Orthodox Faith. Angelic and temple imagery forms an important core which holds together liturgy, ascesis, and theophany. These types of images constitute a consistent mode for understanding theology and anthropology. As part of revelation, they are important in the early Islamic context. Angel and temple imagery were used by John Damascene to push back against Islamic revelation claims and Islamic challenges to the centrality of these images from an older, more developed and ascetic way of dealing with the imagery of Jewish and Christian revelation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mind of God (Jerry Fite)
    “And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers…” (Acts 13:32) Vol. XXVIII March 18, 2018 No. 11 The Mind Of God (Jerry Fite) e heard this week of the would know, if there were a to the people in England is the death of Stephen God…” then he added, “which fuse of the firecracker. If not Hawkin g. Mr. Hawk- there isn’t, I’m an atheist.” God, who lit the fuse? Wing, a renown theoreti- cal physicist and cosmologist, No understanding of the Steven Hawking replaced died Wednesday morning in his existence of the universe is com- God with “science.” He observed home in Cambridge, England. He plete without knowing how the that “God is the name people give was 76 years old. The fact he universe came into existence. Mr. to the reason we are here. But I lived into his 70’s is remarkable Hawking believed space, matter think that reason is the laws of in that at the early age of 21, he and time were essential elements physics rather than someone with was diagnosed with ALS, the neu- for the existence of the universe. whom one can have a personal re- romuscular wasting disease. In The Bible reveals in the first verse lationship.” His impersonal his last years, he was only able to that space, matter and time came “God” was the collective laws of twitch his right cheek muscle in into being at the same time. “In physics. The problem with this order to activate a digitized pro- the beginning, God created the reasoning, is that laws are observ- gram of letters and words with heavens and the earth” (Genesis able after something begins, not which he could communicate his 1:1).
    [Show full text]
  • A Christian Physicist?
    A Christian Physicist? Can a committed Christian seriously engage in the study of physics? I certainly chose to. My thirst for knowledge of this world only grew stronger after committing myself to Christ and growing in my faith throughout my teenage years. Choosing to attend a small Christian college, I was drawn to physics for its explanatory power in describing our world. Several former students of my favorite physics professor expressed this well in their recollections of how physics served to open up to them a new way of seeing the world. One student wrote of his first class in physics, “Dr. Graziano began by integrating F = ma = m (dv/dt) vectorily and the world changed for me. Suddenly, things that I took for granted had a reason for their happening.” 1 Indeed, physics helped us make sense of the world, serving as a mental tool to facilitate our investigation into unlimited phenomena ranging from the microscopic realm of subatomic particles to the macroscopic extent of the cosmos. All appeared to be governed by laws that we could understand and apply. Those brief undergraduate years were followed by a couple of intense graduate level years, allowing me to then join researchers on the cutting edge of the field of elementary particle physics. However, the question of how physics relates to my faith had only just begun and has taken the better part of a lifetime to explore and appreciate. My faith would be put to the test as a graduate student, when I was required to read a book on cosmology called “The First Three Minutes” 2 by Nobel Prize winning physicist Steven Weinberg.
    [Show full text]
  • PSMLM Presents Two Sets of Essays That Discuss the Interrelated Themes of Causality and Skepticism
    Volume 10, 2012 The Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics (P.S.M.L.M.) is the publication of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics, collecting original materials presented at sessions sponsored by the Society. Publication in the Proceedings constitutes prepublication, leaving the authors’ right to publish (a possibly modified version of) their materials elsewhere unaffected. The Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics (S.M.L.M.) is a network of scholars founded with the aim of fostering collaboration and research based on the recognition that recovering the profound metaphysical insights of medieval thinkers for our own philosophical thought is highly desirable, and, despite the vast conceptual changes in the intervening period, is still possible; but this recovery is only possible if we carefully reflect on the logical framework in which those insights were articulated, given the paradigmatic differences between medieval and modern logical theories. The Society’s web site (http://faculty.fordham.edu/klima/SMLM/) is designed to serve the purpose of keeping each other up-to-date on our current projects, sharing recent results, discussing scholarly questions, and organizing meetings. If you are interested in joining, please contact Gyula Klima (Philosophy, Fordham University) by e-mail at: [email protected] © Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics, 2012 1 EDITOR’S NOTE: Volume 10 of the PSMLM presents two sets of essays that discuss the interrelated themes of causality and skepticism. The pieces of the first set were read by Edward Feser, Gyula Klima and Michael Rota at the 2011 SMLM session on the theme of causality in its modern and medieval contexts, sponsored by the American Catholic Philosophical Association and hosted by St.
    [Show full text]
  • A Physicist's Belief. John Polkinghorne's Consonance Of
    Rocznik Filozoficzny Ignatianum The Ignatianum Philosophical Yearbook • https://czasopisma.ignatianum.edu.pl/index.php/rfi XXIV / 1 (2018), s. 97–116 Sprawozdania i referaty Reports and conference papers • • • PL ISSN 2300–1402 Andreas Losch∗ ∗Universität Bern A physicist’s belief. John Polkinghorne’s consonance of theology and science1 When popular physicist Stephen Hawking dreams at the end of his best-selling Brief history of time of a Great Unifying Theory (GUT) which would be able to merge the major physical theories describing the laws of nature, he goes on to say: However, if we discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable by everyone, not just by a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason — for then we should know the mind of God2. John Polkinghorne, Hawking’s colleague at Cambridge Univer- sity, is on the one hand critical of such an approach. “What is God do- 1 This contribution is a translated, edited and much abbreviated version ofchap- ter 2 in Andreas Losch, Jenseits der Konflikte. I thank the publisher Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht for the permission to make use of the material. 2 Hawking, A brief history of time: From the big bang to black holes, p. 193. 98 Andreas Losch ing in the book at all?”3. On the other hand, he is himself searching for his own very particular version of a GUT.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Arguments for the Existence of God Peter S. Williams (MA. Mphil
    Arguments for the existence of God Peter S. Williams (MA. MPhil). Arguments for God work by making explicit the existence of real connections between God and Creation , so that one is put in the position of having to choose between acknowledging the conclusion or rejecting either the validity of the argument or the truth of one of the relevant premises. An argument for God places God in one balance pan and some other aspect of reality in the other pan and tries to establish a link between them such that the weight of the evidence raises the case for belief. There is nothing that cannot be used as the launch-point for an argument for the existence of God because God is related to the whole of reality. For example, the moral argument tries to establish the existence of a connection between objective moral value and God’s existence. If one acknowledges that the argument is logically valid but nevertheless wish to deny the conclusion, one must deny the existence of objective moral value. It is now received wisdom that arguments for God are cumulative, or, at least, are best approached cumulatively; that is, the weight of evidence for God accumulates as one adds arguments to an overall case that doesn’t rest on any one argument. In other words, the more different links between God and reality one can uncover the more rounded a picture of God one can build up and the more certain one can be that the arguments point to God. The design argument doesn’t provide much if any evidence for the existence of a necessary being, whereas the cosmological argument doesn’t provide much if any evidence for an intelligent designer; but put the two arguments together and they compliment each other to show that the universe has a necessarily existent intelligent cause.
    [Show full text]