Premise #1 = I know I exist. This is an undeniable fact.
Premise #2 = There is potential that I not exist, so I am not necessary. Premise #3 = There are only three possibilities for my existence:
Premise #4 = By Premise #2, I cannot be uncaused nor-self-caused. Premise #5 = A necessary Being is the First Cause of all potential, unnecessary beings. Premise #6 = A necessary Being has no potential to change (i.e., changeless). Premise #7 = A necessary Being has no potential to change in time nor in space Premise #8 = A necessary Being has no potential to come to be nor cease to be (i.e., eternal). Premise #9 = A necessary Being has no potential to be divided (i.e., cannot be destroyed). Premise #10 = A necessary Being is withoiut limitations. Premise #11 = A necessary Being is uncaused. Premise #12 = A necessary Being is all-powerful. Premise #13 = A necessary Being is all-knowing. Premise #14 = A necessary Being is all-good. Conclusion = Therefore, by default I was caused by another who is necessary, uncaused, infinitely perfect. This is the Christian definition of God. |
Dr. Norman Geisler, Ph.D. in Philosophy from Loyola University; Co-founder of the Southern Evangelical Seminary (Charlotte, North Carolina) and the Veritas Evangelical Seminary (Murrieta, California):
“The theist need not claim that everything has a cause. Rather, he or she can return to the claim of existential causality which claims that every finite, contingent and changing thing has a cause.
If this principle is sound and leads to an infinite, necessary, and unchanging Being, then this Being need not have a cause. God will be the Uncaused Cause of everything else that exists. This is the direction taken in developing proof for the existence of God. ”
For Deeper Study:
Book 2, chapter 1
On-line lessons 65-68
Live classroom 12