03 Nov False Arguments About the Origin of Existence: Nature, Natural Laws and Causes.Part2
- Natural laws and causes are inferred from the motions or relationships of events or phenomena observed in the universe. Therefore, as they depend upon external factors, they are either self-dependent nor self-existent.
- The existence of the universe, as well of all its events or phenomena, is contingent. So nothing in it must exist, for it is equally possible for each thing to exist or not to exist. There is an almost limitless number of cells in an embryo that a food particle can visit. Anything whose existence is contingent cannot be eternal, for someone has to prefer its existence over its non-existence or merely potential existence.
- As all contingent entities are contained in time and space, theyhave a beginning. Anything that begins must certainly end, and so cannot be eternal.
- Natural causes need each other to bring about an effect. For example, an apple needs an apple blossom to exist, a blossom needs a branch, a branch needs a tree, and so on, just as a seed needs soil, air, and moisture to germinate and grow. Each cause is also an effect and, unless we accept as many deities as the number of causes, we must look to a single cause outside the chain of cause and effect.
- For a single effect to come into existence, an infinite number of causes must collaborate in such a coordinated and reliable way that they become “natural laws.” Consider this: In order to exist, an apple requires the cooperation of air and soil, sunlight and water, the 23º inclination of the Earth’s axis, and the complex rules of germination and growth for seeds and plants. Could so many deaf and blind, ignorant and unconscious causes and laws come together by themselves to form a living organism? Do you really think that they could they form human beings, all of whom are alive and conscious, intelligent and responsible, and able to answer questions about their intentions and actions?
- A tiny seed contains a huge tree. A human being, the most complex creature, grows from an ovum fertilized by a microscopic sperm. Is there an appropriate relation or acceptable proportionality between cause and effect here? Can extremely weak and simple, ignorant and lifeless causes result in very powerful and complex, intelligent and vigorously living effects?
- All natural phenomena and processes have opposites: north and south, positive and negative, hot and cold, beautiful and ugly, day and night, attraction and repulsion, freezing and melting, vaporization and condensation, and so on. Something that has an opposite, that needs its opposite to exist and to be known, cannot be a creator or originator.
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