Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing

Genesis 1:1 (ESV)
¹  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Both physicists and philosophers call this “The Question.”  The fact is that something exists rather than nothing, but why.  If there is no god, then it is highly probable, actually a 1 probability, that nothing at all should exist, not matter, not space, not ideas, numbers, concepts, nothing.  After all, where would something come from? 

However,  something does exist.  So, that something, the universe, is either eternal or it came into being.  Physicists tell us that it came into existence.   The universe is expanding pointing to an initial explosion a finite time ago, the fact energy is decaying pointing to a time when it was at a higher level, and so on.

So, if the universe had a beginning, it must have either had a set of conditions which came together spontaneously to begin the universe, or some Agent must have caused the universe to come about.

Now we really start to run into problems.  For instance, if time came to exist at the same moment as the universe, then there was no time prior to the initiation of the universe in which the set of conditions could obtain.  So, the universe would never have come into existence. 

If there was time prior to the initiation of the universe, then we would be looking at an infinite regress or an infinite timeline.  Neither of these can be true since nothing could pass through an infinite number of moments to reach today.  Infinity past is just the same as infinity future.  If the future is infinite, when will we reach the end?  Never, of course.  So, if the past is infinite, it would not have a beginning, and we never would have reached today.

If the conditions were appropriate for the universe to start, and we’re looking at an eternal past, the universe would have begun an infinite time ago and burned out long before now.

Let’s say the conditions for the universe to come into existence were like a frame from striking a match.  You have the match and the striking surface.  Both can sit there for an eternity and never strike the match.  What is needed is an agent to make a decision, pick up the match, and strike it.

In the same way, an Agent would be needed to “strike the match” to begin the universe and time.  That Agent is what is called in philosophy, a “necessary being.”  In order for all things to exist, we necessarily need Him to start it all.  Everything else is contingent upon that necessary being’s existence.

And, let’s look at what type of Agent that Being would have to be.  He would need to be timeless since He created time,  more powerful than the universe He brought into existence, smart enough to design and set in place the rules by which the universe operates, and a personal Agent in order to make the decision to “strike the match.”   Sounds like a personal God to me.