AK4:
If you set up your argument as a syllogism, it would go like this, right?
1. Everything which began to exist must have a cause.
2. The universe began to exist.
Therefore the universe must have a cause. That cause is God.
Correct? Here are the problems that have been pointed out to you:
1. We don't know this to be true. It does not seem to be true of quantum events, and we cannot know whether it is true of universes, because the only knowledge we have is inside the universe we're in.
You are assuming the quantum events are random because we dont know the hidden variables to know if its random or determistic. Now coming from the scriptural perspective everything is deterministic. Gee this sounds so much like something else.
2. We don't know this to be true. The universe may or may not have begun to exist. As a non-physicist, I have no way to evaluate the claims either way. At a minimum, there is a viable contemporary view that it is not true, based on the best science we have right now.
I disagree because there is a bigger majority who claim that the universe had a beginning. Not that numbers matter to me, but its become almost common knowledge of the universe having a beginning. So in this one also, you are wrong
3. A cause may not be a God or anything like a God. Wars are lost for the want of a horseshoe nail. What you are calling God may be the cosmic equivalent of a horseshoe nail.
I dont know what that analogy was for, was that an attack on my God? Doesnt matter. This is a very weak argument. A "may or may not be" argument can discredit a "syllogism"? Come on now
4. Any such God would have to be "outside" of the universe (which may not make sense in itself.) If so, then it cannot have any direct impact on our lives. It cannot come to earth in the guise of a man, cannot inspire men to write Bibles, cannot pass on commandments to prophets or in any way affect our lives inside the universe. The only possible God-like thing you could get with this argument would be a Deist God. If God is "outside" the universe (wherever that is), then for all functional purposes in my life I can treat It as not existing. To put it differently, the universe contains all that exists for us. If God is not in the universe, then, for us, God is non-existent. And lo, He acts extremely non-existent!
See thou knowest not the scriptures and believe what these theologians and churches have taught the world. God is not "outside" of what Hes created, whether if its just this universe or an infinite amount of universes. He is the eonian God or the God of the ages which means Hes not outside but rather as further scriptures would tell you we are in Him and in Him we move and breath. So here again your point fails and mine still stands
5. You have no way to get from "the universe must have a cause" to "that cause is God." If you get there by definition, then you worship an unknown and unknowable cause.
Except that by His Word or His spirit. His inspiring of the Word or writing of His word let us know we are not worshipping an unknown and unknowable cause. Have you not read what Paul said to those i beleive in Athens when they had a statue to the unknown God?
6. You cannot show that God did not begin to exist, and so is subject to the same logic.
Of course i cant. Thats my whole premise. God, the ultimate first cause of everything cannot have a "begin to exist" moment. Whether you call it a God or something scientific lets say for example a atom as being the very first thing that brings everything into existence, no one can argue or show that something else brought that very thing into existance. You cannot say the beginning of the starting line starts before the beginning of the starting line. Thats just illogical
So, in sum, your argument fails repeatedly.