Christian Apologetics Alliance

answering seekers, equipping Christians, and demonstrating the truth of the Christian worldview

  • About the CAA
    • Statement of Faith
    • Leadership and Ministries
      • Blog Leadership
    • Authors
      • Write for Us
    • Join the CAA
    • Friends and Partners
      • How to Partner with the CAA
    • Donations
  • Resources
    • CAA Chapters
      • CAA Chapter Leaders and Locations
        • CAA Huntsville Chapter
          • CAA Huntsville Chapter – Local Resources
      • Churches: Host a CAA Chapter
      • Chapter Application Form
    • CAA Speaking Team
    • CAA Community
    • Apologetics for Parents
    • Apologetics Bloggers Alliance
    • CAA Catechism
    • Apologetics Certificate Programs
    • Christian Apologetics Search Engine
    • Events | Ratio Christi
    • Ask the Alliance
    • Media
      • Logos
      • Banners
      • Wallpaper
  • EQUIPPED: The CAA Quarterly
  • Contact Us

A Unifying Theory of Everything

October 29, 2013 by Daniel Mann

Earth and StarsWhere did the universe come from? Some cosmologists want to hypothesize that it sprang into existence from “nothing.” However, their “nothing” is something. Alexander Vilenkin believes that “something is in place beforehand – namely the laws of physics.” However, he admits:

  • It’s a great mystery as to where the laws of physics come from. We don’t even know how to approach it (Steve Nadis, “Starting Point,” Discover [Sept. 2013]).

Perhaps Vilenkin doesn’t know how to “approach it” because he is starting with the wrong paradigm. Certainly, from a naturalistic, atheistic perspective, this question is a “great mystery.” However, this might be more than a mystery but a veritable impossibility:

  1. The laws of physics are elegant, universal, and immutable. Only a cause of equal or greater magnitude could explain their existence and uniform functioning. This consideration alone should eliminate naturalism.
  1. A natural explanation is impossible because the natural is not yet in existence to cause the natural laws. Nothing is in existence!
  1. Invoking any natural cause would also suffer from the problem of infinite regress – What causes the cause, and then, what causes the cause of the cause, ad infinitum! The only way to avoid this conundrum is to invoke the transcendent – an eternal Causer who doesn’t require a cause!
  1. It is also hard to understand how the unchanging laws of physics could arise from what is always changing. It is equally hard to envision how they can remain unchanging in our ever-expanding universe of molecules in motion.

The naturalistic paradigm clearly does not prove fruitful here. However, there is one other paradigm that does offer a cogent explanation:

    • In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket

Filed Under: Arguments for God, First Cause & Other Thomistic Arguments

Comments

  1. Emerson de Oliveira says

    October 30, 2013 at 1:36 pm

    Great site. I translate your posts into Portuguese at http://www.logosapologetica.com putting the credits (with link to this site).

    • Daniel Mann says

      October 30, 2013 at 5:13 pm

      Thanks Emerson! We are honored!

      • Emerson de Oliveira says

        October 30, 2013 at 10:55 pm

        I love this site. I put the credits to this site.

      • Emerson de Oliveira says

        October 30, 2013 at 10:55 pm

        See this post into Portuguese: http://logosapologetica.com/teoria-unificadora/#axzz2jFs5xlW0

        • Daniel Mann says

          October 31, 2013 at 6:27 am

          Emerson, Thanks again. You are also welcome to take any of my essays from MannsWord.blogspot.com.

          • Emerson de Oliveira says

            October 31, 2013 at 6:41 am

            Great. Thanks, bro.

      • Emerson de Oliveira says

        October 30, 2013 at 10:56 pm

        Logos Apologética means “Logos Apologetics” in English.

  2. Joel Settecase says

    October 29, 2013 at 8:44 pm

    Thanks for your thoughts. This was well-written, clear, and cogent. However, what about the idea that abstract objects (propositions such as “one plus one equals two” and numbers, etc.) would exist necessarily, with or without God or a natural world? I don’t subscribe to this, but Keith Yandell has made a nearly-convincing case for it. He was my Theism prof at TEDS. How would you respond to this?

    • Daniel Mann says

      October 29, 2013 at 9:49 pm

      Joel, 1 + 1 = 2 falls into the same reality as do the laws of physics. How could nothing have such properties!

    • Daniel Mann says

      October 31, 2013 at 10:46 am

      Joel, This, of course also raises the question, “Is a number a concept that requires a mind?” Let me know what you think of this:

Connect

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Search

What Interests You?

  • The Problem of Evil, Suffering, and Hell
  • Apologetics Methods, Tactics, & Logic
    • Incarnational Apologetics
  • Arguments for God
  • Science, Reason, and Faith
  • The Reliability of the Bible
    • Undesigned Scriptural Coincidences
  • The Historicity of Jesus & the Resurrection
  • Worldviews & World Religions
    • Evaluating Islam
    • The New Atheism
    • Post-modernism, Relativism, and Truth
  • Imaginative Apologetics
    • Fiction Book, Movie, & TV Reviews
  • Contemporary Issues
  • Youth and Parents
  • Full List of Categories

Archives

Christian Apologetics Alliance is a Top 100 Christian Blog

Unity Statement

In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty, in all things charity. The Christian Apologetics Alliance (CAA) is united in our Statement of Faith. The CAA does not, as an organization, have positions on many of the doctrinal or theological debates that take place within the church. Our primary concern is to promote the gracious, rational defense of the central claims of Christianity and the critique of opposing systems of thought. The CAA joyfully welcomes Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and diverse Protestant believers, and we are committed to treating all these traditions with respect in our community.

Copyright © 2011 - 2020 Christian Apologetics Alliance