Existence is Scientifically Impossible
By Roddy Bullock, founder of Creation Reformation
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Look around you. Anything you set your eyes upon was caused to exist by something that existed prior to it. Trees, rocks, houses, cars, and people. Everything. This simple observation can be extended to everything that ever existed on earth. And everything that caused everything that exists today was likewise caused by something prior, and on and on. You get the idea.
The notion that everything that exists today was caused to exist cannot be denied, and this commonsense notion extends to all of nature. Various attempts to describe this phenomenon scientifically include those of past luminaries such as Aristotle, Isacc Newton and Albert Einstein. Each of these scientists grappled with explaining why anything exists as it does today.
Aristotle famously developed his system of four causes in nature, including what he termed the “efficient cause” as describing the prior-existing person or thing responsible for any change in nature. A sculptor is the “efficient cause” of a sculpture, for example. Isacc Newton’s Law of Cause and Effect maintains that for every cause there is an effect. Something or someone always effects the eventual existence of everything as a cause. Albert Einstein agreed and, looking at it from the other direction stated that an effect cannot occur from a cause that is not in the back (past) light cone of an event. For every effect, there is a necessary past person or thing that caused the effect.
But if we trace Aristotle’s, Newton’s and Einstein’s scientific notions back in time to determine the necessary first cause of every subsequent cause that explains everything that exists today, we find a problem. A huge problem. Every efficient cause in Aristotle’s system itself requires a prior efficient cause—a someone or something in action. And Newton’s causes do not occur absent a prior event caused by someone or something acting. And Einstein’s effects do not happen without themselves having experienced prior causation by someone or something.
Prior. This little term drives a chain of reasoning that always runs smack into a wall of the scientifically impossible. Confounding both philosophers and (modern) scientists, this little word forces the uncomfortable merger of two disciplines, each unable to reach a universally satisfying explanation of prior’s implications. Especially the (modern) scientists. Because scientifically rationally prior cannot continue forever into the past in an infinite regress of causes; at some point there must be no prior. As Aristotle and many after him understood, reason requires one to adopt a belief in a scientifically untenable uncaused cause.
Belief. This little term describes the only possible option available to scale the wall of the scientifically possible. No science, no scientific method, no experiment, no laboratory, and no scientist can be brought to bear on the question of a necessary first, uncaused cause in nature. To answer this question is to immediately leave the world of science and enter the world of reasonable conjecture, leading to a leap of reasonable faith.
Faith. This little term, often applied only to those who believe in God, lurks behind the worldview of everyone, atheist, agnostic, and theist alike, providing the basis for their respective beliefs. Because to scale the wall of the scientifically impossible, one must believe that one of two scientifically impossible facts must be true. Either a first “something” spontaneously came into existence (poof!) without a cause and became the first cause of everything we see today. Or a first “something” has existed eternally, uncaused, and is the creator of all.
There are no other options. And one of these scientifically impossible options is a true fact for everyone, whether atheist, agnostic or theist in worldview. There is no avoiding it, everyone on earth must scale the “wall of impossible truth” with a leap of faith.
Atheists take a leap to believe that matter is the “something” that has either existed eternally or spontaneously appeared (poof!) without cause. For atheists, this matter eventually caused the creation of their mind to think such a thing. But note that Atheists cannot arrive at this necessary end of the infinite regress of causes as a scientific matter. Either option is utterly scientifically impossible. One may as well believe in miracles.
Theists, on the other hand, take a leap of faith to believe that God is the “something” that has existed eternally. An uncaused, eternal, creative God made the universe and everything in it.
Because the fact of an uncaused cause resides in the realm of scientific impossibility, everyone—atheist and theist alike—must resolve the question with an unscientific explanation. And the question becomes which unscientific, maybe even miraculous, explanation is the more reasonable to believe.
You may not like the idea of an uncaused God as the more reasonable explanation for a first cause. But know that the faith belief you inevitably choose does not change the truth of the matter.
God or matter—either option involves a scientific miracle.
Choose your faith belief carefully.
(C) 2024 Creation Reformation. Roddy Bullock is the founder of Creation Reformation and author of several books related to creation and evolution. For more information, visit www.creationreformation.com, or visit (and follow!) us at Facebook.
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