The Work Necessary to Create the Universe
The agency that created the universe had to be very powerful. God qualifies as such an agency, but since He is not a blind force, we must call Him an Agent. Some of the energy He supplied materialized and the rest warms and lights the universe. Psalm 8:3 says it was the work of His fingers. God is the First Cause. He is both the Almighty Agent that provided the energy and the Artist Who formed the universe so we could have a home.
The writer of “Hebrews,” an anonymous letter directed to some people in Jerusalem, stopped short of saying that God created out of nothing. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible (Hebrews 11:3). The contrast the writer makes is between the visible world and its invisible starting materials. God formed the universe from the materials. The writer does not here comment on the creation of the materials, but other Bible passages affirm that God created them.
The writer of “Hebrews,” an anonymous letter directed to some people in Jerusalem, stopped short of saying that God created out of nothing. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible (Hebrews 11:3). The contrast the writer makes is between the visible world and its invisible starting materials. God formed the universe from the materials. The writer does not here comment on the creation of the materials, but other Bible passages affirm that God created them.
Denial of Creation
Some people hold to the idea that the universe is uncreated and has always been as it is now. This is comforting to some of them for a variety of reasons. It avoids several awkward questions. If the universe was created, then it had a creator. What is the creator doing now? What does the creator think of us? People who wish to avoid those questions have a trick question of their own. They ask, “Who created the creator?”
We have examined the universe, and we know that it had a beginning. According to all the physical evidence, a powerful agency acted in a seemingly intelligent way to create the universe. Bible believers identify the agency as the divine Creator. However, no one can examine the Creator in the same way that we can examine the universe. There is no way of disproving that the Creator is uncreated.
One skeptic said, “You postulate an uncreated creator who created the universe. I simply postulate an uncreated universe. My explanation is better than yours because it is simpler.” Let’s examine this criterion of the simpler explanation to see if it is valid for accepting or rejecting theories.
The Simplest Explanation
Suppose a traveler is found robbed and beaten and left for dead. It is possible that the robbery and the beating were separate disasters that happened to befall the traveler on the same trip. Maybe the traveler first met “polite” robbers who limited themselves to intimidation to get the traveler’s money, and later the traveler met thugs who punished him for having no money. Nevertheless, if the police arrest anyone they will probably accuse the suspect of both robbing and beating the traveler. One encounter with thugs is more likely than two separate encounters with different robbers. The simpler explanation is the more likely.
Does philosophy require us to adhere to the simplest explanation? No, it is not sufficient that the explanation be merely the simplest. William of Ockham (English philosopher and scholastic theologian, about 1285–1349?) insisted on the principle of economy in logic. He said that entities are not to be multiplied without necessity. This idea is called "Ockham’s razor." It does not mean that any simple explanation is better than a complex explanation, but rather the simplest explanation that explains all the facts.
Taking all of the evidence together, there is no completely physical explanation for the origin of the universe that fits all the facts. However, the Bible offers a simple explanation that fits all the facts. We cannot reject out of hand the Biblical idea that our uncreated Creator created the universe.
Some people hold to the idea that the universe is uncreated and has always been as it is now. This is comforting to some of them for a variety of reasons. It avoids several awkward questions. If the universe was created, then it had a creator. What is the creator doing now? What does the creator think of us? People who wish to avoid those questions have a trick question of their own. They ask, “Who created the creator?”
We have examined the universe, and we know that it had a beginning. According to all the physical evidence, a powerful agency acted in a seemingly intelligent way to create the universe. Bible believers identify the agency as the divine Creator. However, no one can examine the Creator in the same way that we can examine the universe. There is no way of disproving that the Creator is uncreated.
One skeptic said, “You postulate an uncreated creator who created the universe. I simply postulate an uncreated universe. My explanation is better than yours because it is simpler.” Let’s examine this criterion of the simpler explanation to see if it is valid for accepting or rejecting theories.
The Simplest Explanation
Suppose a traveler is found robbed and beaten and left for dead. It is possible that the robbery and the beating were separate disasters that happened to befall the traveler on the same trip. Maybe the traveler first met “polite” robbers who limited themselves to intimidation to get the traveler’s money, and later the traveler met thugs who punished him for having no money. Nevertheless, if the police arrest anyone they will probably accuse the suspect of both robbing and beating the traveler. One encounter with thugs is more likely than two separate encounters with different robbers. The simpler explanation is the more likely.
Does philosophy require us to adhere to the simplest explanation? No, it is not sufficient that the explanation be merely the simplest. William of Ockham (English philosopher and scholastic theologian, about 1285–1349?) insisted on the principle of economy in logic. He said that entities are not to be multiplied without necessity. This idea is called "Ockham’s razor." It does not mean that any simple explanation is better than a complex explanation, but rather the simplest explanation that explains all the facts.
Taking all of the evidence together, there is no completely physical explanation for the origin of the universe that fits all the facts. However, the Bible offers a simple explanation that fits all the facts. We cannot reject out of hand the Biblical idea that our uncreated Creator created the universe.