The cosmological argument for God is so powerful, yet so simple. As Dr. William Lane Craig puts it, “I like it’s simplicity. It doesn’t try to claim to much”(Turek, 2023). One of its most effective versions, the Kalam cosmological argument, was popularized by Dr. Craig. (Craig, 2015)

The Kalam cosmological argument goes –

Premise 1 – Everything that began to exist has a cause

Premise 2 – The universe began to exist

Conclusion – The universe has a cause

There are testimonies of people who have come to faith in Jesus just from hearing Dr. Craig defend this argument so effectively. It is simple yet effective because it shows that the universe has a cause, and that God does not.

There are other forms of the cosmological argument as well. Essentially, we are reasoning from creation, and facts from creation, to a creator. Here, we will discuss some facts about the universe that stand as positive evidence for God’s existence.

The Universe Is Finite

The universe has not existed for an infinite past, but has a beginning point. This supports premise 1 of the Kalam argument.

One reason that we know the universe is finite is because of the impossibility of an actual infinite. There are two kinds of infinites, potential infinites and actual infinites. An oversimplification of a potential infinite is something that starts now and goes on to infinity. While you’re never actually going to reach infinity, there are no major philosophical problems with this. I can say “I’m gonna count to infinity”, and while I’ll never reach infinity, it doesn’t show any major contradictions. It doesn’t have any universe breaking implications.

An actual infinite is another thing. Actual infinites claim to extend back into the past for infinity. When someone says the universe has always existed, they are saying it has existed for eternity, thus making it an actual infinite. This doesn’t make sense because you would have to go through infinite days before you get to today. If you had to go through infinity to get to today, how did we get to today?

To further examine why this is impossible, let’s look at an illustration of an actual infinite.

Imagine a line with infinite people in it. A line that extends for eternity backwards and forwards. The front of the line will represent today, as we are constantly at “the front of the line” in reference to time; the present is always the farthest point that time has yet to reach.

When we get through all the people in the line, we can get to the front of the line. However, no matter how many people we go through, or where we jump in line, we’ll always be the same distance from the front of the line. We can cut a hundred people, or a trillion people, no matter what we do, there will always be the same amount of people behind you as in front of you. We both have had eternity to get to the front of the line, and yet have eternity to go until we reach the front.

This is just one way to illustrate how absurd the statement that the universe has always existed is. A proper understanding of actual infinites is to understand that they cannot exist, that they don’t make sense.

On top of all of this, science has shown again and again that the universe appears to have a finite beginning at some time in the past. Science has even come to show that even a multiversal universe would need a beginning.

The Universe Cannot Create Itself

Another reason we have for believing God created the universe is that the universe cannot create itself. It would make no sense to say that matter created all this matter. That would require matter to exist prior to matter in order to create matter. This makes no sense at all. We can look at our universe, and make observations about what this must mean for the creator of it.

Matter. Time. Space. Energy. All of these things exist. Another word to use for all of these is nature. When we talk about nature, we are simply referring to a combination of these 4 things, matter, time, space, and energy. These 4 things are also components of our universe. Because matter, time, space, and energy all compose our universe, whatever began our universe cannot be made of matter, time, space, and energy. The creator must not be bound by nature or made of nature. Another way to express “not bound by nature, not made of nature” is to use the world “supernatural”.

The laws of physics seem to govern much of how our world behaves. By them, we operate within countless scientific fields to make observations about the universe. The laws of physics cannot exist prior to the universe. That would be to say that the laws of physics would be there, describing a universe that hasn’t come into being yet. Again, this makes no sense. Therefore, if the laws of physics are part of the created universe. If they describe the physical universe and nature, then the creator must not be composed of or governed by the laws of physics.

Everything That Began To Exist Has A Cause

While this should be a relatively uncontroversial claim, it is the premise that Atheists will sometimes attack in order to disprove the cosmological argument. As science advances, it seems to be revealing more and more evidence that the universe is finite. As this continues, those seeking to disprove the cosmological argument shift their target from “the universe began to exist” to “everything that began to exist has a cause”.

One common objection that you will hear is quantum physics. In quantum physics, there appears to be particles that come into and out of existence. This, they say, holds the key to the universe’s beginning. There are a few reasons that I am skeptical of this.

First off, in order to observe the quantum realm, we must disturb the quantum realm. Therefore, who knows what it looks like when it is completely undisturbed? We may not be exactly sure. If you’re trying to study a puddle of water and I’m constantly sticking my hand in it and stirring it up, you might not learn very much about how the puddle behaves on its own.

On top of this, where did the quantum vacuum come from? Christians, Atheists, and Agnostics alike agree that the quantum vacuum isn’t a vacuum at all, it is a space containing matter and energy; quite far off from the traditional definition of vacuum. Therefore, it seems the quantum vacuum itself must first be explained before it goes on to explain anything else.

Finally, we just don’t know enough about the quantum realm yet to be using it to make claims either way, in my opinion. A lot of work still needs to be done, but I can’t see a way that a mass of physical material and energy can be the source of all of the rest of physical material and energy that we see around us.

Deductive Argument

A deductive argument is one that, if all the premises are true, the conclusion must logically follow. This is why defending the premises of the Kalam Cosmological Argument is so important. If we defend the premises well, as I believe we can do, then the conclusion must logically follow.