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Basic
Worldview:
102
Atheism vs. Theism
Charge 2, Summary and Question 4
Prelude:
"Atheism/Theism" vs. "Science, the Bible, & Creation"
Atheism:
Introduction and Charges
Charge
1, Deduction and Induction
Charge
2, Question 1
Charge
2, Questions 2 and 3
Charge
2, Summary and Question 4
Charges
3 and 4, Definitions
Empirical
Evidence
Scientists
Acting as Mechanisms, Article 1
Scientists
Acting as Mechanisms, Article 2
Scientists
Acting as Mechanisms, Article 3
Occam's
Razor and Conclusions
Footnote
1
Footnote
2 and 3
Proof
of Life
Not
Theories, Unsubstantiated Hypotheses 1
Not
Theories, Unsubstantiated Hypotheses 2
Not
Theories, Unsubstantiated Hypotheses 3
Not
Theories, Unsubstantiated Hypotheses 4
Scientists:
Life on Earth Imported from Outer Space
Atheisms
Circle of Reasons
Is
God a White Crow?
Summary Notes from Questions 1-3.
Note 1: Modern science holds that the universe is not
eternal but had a beginning. Logic dictates that nothing can
create itself, since that would require a nonexistent thing
to perform an action. The existence of the universe requires
a cause sufficient to explain the universe's existence, including
its origin and its content.
Note 2: At this point we have established that a sufficient
cause has the following 4 characteristics.
First, a sufficient cause requires no other cause to explain
its existence. A sufficient cause is, therefore, uncaused.
Second, having no cause that proceeded it, a sufficient cause
must be eternal, for it could not have created itself and,
thus, must not have had a beginning.
Third, because science and logic (and even Atheism itself)
necessitate the simplest possible explanation, a sufficient
cause should be assumed to immediately precede the universe,
rather than come at the start of a series of intervening causes.
And fourth, since modern science attests that the universe
was not eternal (but had a beginning) the universe is not
the sufficient cause and, therefore, the sufficient cause
exists outside the universe. Because it exists outside the
universe, a sufficient cause, therefore, may not be directly
detectable through empirical scientific means.
Note 3: For the sake of simplicity, from this point
forward in the article, we will use the term "First Cause"
to refer to the 1) uncaused, 2) eternal, 3) immediate cause
4) that exists outside the universe.
Note 4: Even though we have proven that if the universe
exists there must be an eternal, uncaused cause that exists
outside the universe, we have not yet proved Theism (and thereby
simultaneously consequently, we have not yet disproved Atheism.)
To prove Theism and disprove Atheism we must first demonstrate
that the First Cause was intelligent.
Intelligence is the key, because even if the First Cause is
eternal and uncaused, it could still be an impersonal, unintelligent
force. However, if the First Cause is intelligent, then it
is by definition, a personal entity, and therefore, we would
have Theism in its simplest form: the existence of an eternal,
uncaused, intelligent being that exists outside our universe
and caused our universe. We will now set our attention to
demonstrating this most controversial of claims in Question
No. 4.
Note 5: It is significant to note that up until Question
No. 4, all of our assumptions have been atheistic in nature,
which is to say, they have not required, nor implied, nor
originated from the assumption that a god exists. Question
No. 4 is the first and only part in this article where
we arrive at the issue of Theism. Thus, by showing that the
logical proof of Theism does not begin by assuming the existence
of god, but instead by 3 entirely atheistic assumptions, we
have disproved Atheistic/Agnostic Charge No. 2, that
theistic proofs inherently involve circular reasoning.
Furthermore, even at Question No. 4, Theists do not
simply assume that god (an intelligent First Cause) is necessary
to explain the existence of the universe. Rather this conclusion
is required by the empirical evidence. Conversely, the atheistic
conclusion that no god exists and the agnostic notion that
we cannot know empirically if god exists both stand in contradiction
of the empirical evidence.
At this point, we have dismissed Atheist/Agnostic Charge
No. 1 and No. 2. We refuted Atheistic/Agnostic
Charge No. 1 that Theistic origins theories must be rejected
because they inherently rely upon inductive reasoning by demonstrating
that all origins theories rely upon induction, including those
proposed by Atheists/Agnostics. We refuted Atheist/Agnostic
Charge No. 2 that theistic proofs inherently employ circular
reasoning by showing how Theists make no presumption of the
existence of god (an intelligent First Cause) in their first
3 assumptions, but instead only rely upon the dictates of
logic and modern science.
From here, we will now move on to disprove Atheistic/Agnostic
Charges No. 3 and No. 4. Specifically, we will
prove based upon the available empirical evidence that it
is necessary to conclude that the First cause must have been
intelligent (Theism) in order to explain the existence of
the universe (including its origin and content). Thus, we
will disprove Atheism. We will also demonstrate (from Note
5 above) that Theists do not simply assume the intelligence
of the First Cause, but that their conclusion is necessitated
by the available empirical evidence.
Question 4: Does the universe necessitate intelligence
in the First Cause? (Or, are unintelligent forces sufficient
to explain the universe?)
With the issue of intelligence, we finally arrive at a question
that has theistic implications. Even if the First Cause is
eternal and uncaused, it could still be an impersonal force
or phenomenon so long as it is not intelligent. Thus, even
with an eternal, uncaused First Cause, you would not have
Theism, but simply a force or phenomenon of some kind.
However, if the First Cause is intelligent, then it is by
definition, a personal entity, and therefore, we would have
Theism in its simplest form; the existence of an eternal,
uncaused intelligent entity that exists outside our universe
and caused our universe. Therefore, intelligence is the key
to proving Theism and disproving Atheism. Whether or not the
First Cause is intelligent is therefore, the crux of the debate
between Theists and Atheists. If we can demonstrate that the
empirical evidence in the universe necessitates the conclusion
that the First Cause is intelligent, then we have disproved
Atheism. And this can be demonstrated both simply and clearly.
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