#argument from contingency

[insightfultake]

Contingency and the Proof of God: A Faith-Based Understanding Across Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism

From the dawn of human consciousness, people have asked one enduring question: Why does anything exist at all? Why is there a universe instead of nothing? Why do human beings, stars, time, and matter exist when they just as easily might not have?

Across religious traditions, this question has never been ignored. One of the most powerful answers offered by faith is rooted in the idea of contingency—the understanding that everything in the world depends on something beyond itself, and that this chain of dependence ultimately leads to God.

This is not blind belief. It is faith illuminated by reason.

[wisdomfish]

Argument from contingency for God’s existence...

Well, for clarity's sake, I'll divide the argument into distinct stages. First of all, I should say, we know that there are at least some beings in the world which do not contain in themselves the reason for their existence. For example, I depend on my parents, and now on the air, and on food, and so on. Now, secondly, the world is simply the real or imagined totality or aggregate of individual objects, none of which contain in themselves alone the reason of their existence. There isn't any world distinct from the objects which form it, any more than the human race is something apart from the members. Therefore, I should say, since objects or events exist, and since no object of experience contains within itself the reason of its existence, this reason, the totality of objects, must have a reason external to itself. And that reason must be an existent being.

Well, this being is either itself the reason for its own existence, or it is not. If it is, well and good. If not, then we must proceed further. But if we proceed to infinity in that sense, then there's no explanation of existence at all. So, I should say, in order to explain existence, we must come to a Being which contains within itself the reason for its own existence, that is to say, which cannot not exist.

~ F.C. Coplestown, Fr. Copleston vs. Bertrand Russell: The Famous 1948 BBC Radio Debate on the Existence of God

[carolinemrsmith]

Explanation, please

On what grounds can we exempt the universe from the need for an explanation?

Some things just seem to defy explanation. Like why over 400 whales recently beached themselves in New Zealand. Or why someone would pay almost $100,000 for a Cheeto. And how otherwise tenderhearted women can support the intentional killing of a fully-formed infant in the womb. Or the universe. Does the universe have an explanation of its existence? Some say, no, but to me that view itself defies…

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[bitchspot1]

Debunking the Argument From Contingency

Debunking the Argument From Contingency #Christianity #apologetics #atheism #MattSlick #TAE #logicfail

It’s really hard to write some of these articles and stay remotely timely because of the tremendous lead time I often have. A while back now, a caller named Steven called The Atheist Experienceand tried to make an argument from contingency. It was completely lame and more based on Matt Slick’s presuppositional nonsense, but after the call, which went absolutely nowhere, most figured it was just a…

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