Arguments for the
Existence of God
Is there a God?
The Cosmological Argument
God is the only adequate explanation for the existence of the
universe.
The Teleological Argument
All the intricate design in the universe argues for a purposeful first
cause.
The Anthropic Principle
The universe seems fine-tuned for human life.
The Moral Argument
The sense of moral obligation all possess points to a Moral Lawgiver.
The Argument from Religious Experience
Even if only one person has had a genuine experience with the
Divine, the Divine must exist.
The Cosmological
Argument
Arguments for the Existence of God
Leibniz’s Cosmological
Argument
1. Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence.
It is either necessary (its own explanation) or has an external
cause.
2. If the universe has an explanation of its existence, that
explanation is God.
God by definition is self-existent, independent, and necessary.
3. The universe exists.
4. The universe has an explanation of its existence.
It is not self-existent or necessary.
5. Therefore the explanation of the universe is God.
The Cosmological Argument (pt. 1)
Anything that exists must have an explanation for its
existence.
The universe exists.
Therefore the universe must have an explanation for its
existence.
The Cosmological Argument (pt. 2)
One’s existence can be necessary (thus one can be selfexistent, and be its own explanation) or it can be
explained by an external cause.
The universe is not self-existent, or necessary.
The universe can only be explained by an external
cause.
The Cosmological Argument (pt. 3)
The external cause of the universe must be self-existent.
God by definition is self-existent and necessary (he
couldn’t not exist).
Therefore, God is an adequate explanation for the
universe.
The Kalam Cosmological
Argument
1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
2. The universe began to exist.
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.
The Kalam Cosmological
Argument
Premise 1: Whatever Begins to Exist has a Cause
Something cannot come from nothing.
A vacuum is not nothing.
If something can come into being from nothing, then
why doesn’t anything and everything come from
nothing?
Scientifically, premise 1 is constantly verified and never
falsified. Common experience also confirms the truth of
premise 1.
The Kalam Argument
Premise 2: The universe began to exist.
If the universe always existed, then an (actually) infinite number of
past events occurred prior to today. But that is impossible, since an
infinite number could never be reached (in actuality).
You can’t pass through an infinite number of elements one at a
time.
If you can’t count to infinity, then you can’t down from infinity.
The expansion of the universe points to a beginning.
The beginning of the universe is also the beginning of time.
The second law of thermodynamics
Given enough time, all the energy in the universe will spread itself out
evenly. The universe will experience a “heat death.” If the universe
were eternal, why are we not already in this state of equilibrium?
The Kalam Argument
Premise 3: Therefore the universe has a Cause.
On the basis of both philosophical and scientific
grounds, we know that the universe has a beginning.
Since anything with a beginning has a cause, the universe
has a cause.
The universe cannot be self-caused.
The universe must have a transcendent cause.
The cause must be uncaused because an infinite series of
causes is impossible.
The cause must be immaterial, non-physical, and
unimaginably powerful.
The cause must be personal.
Why a Personal First Cause
Only a Mind could be immaterial, non-physical, transcendent,
unimaginably powerful.
A personal cause is the only way to explain how a timeless
cause can produce a temporal effect (beginning of the
universe). Without a will, there would be no permanent cause
without a permanent effect.
A personal being with freedom of the will could bring about
something spontaneous and new, such as the creation of the
universe.
This personal, powerful, timeless, necessary, self-existent First
Cause is the God of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.