I understand and admit the universe most likely had beginning. That doesn't mean a god did it.
Well let's not be too hasty (either way) until we evaluate the situation. Let's try to use some logic and see where it takes us.
And it doesn't mean this universe is the only thing there is.
I really don't see where this is relevant. But if you mean to suggest that other universes exist without a beginning, I hope you remember that the BGV addressed multiple universes also. But we're beyond that now and discussing possible causes.
I don't need KCA to convince me the universe probably had a beginning.
After all this, now you say you don't need convincing that p2 was probably true? I'm wondering what evidence or argument you knew of that I didn't reference. Okay, well I guess the exercise did us good, eh?
The part where your God comes in is where I need convincing. So you can stop arguing that the universe had a beginning. Get to the other part already, about how the thing in category 2 that didn't "begin to exist" created the universe. We can move on from the "basic KCA" now.
You still move to fast for me. Let's see what we can figure anything out about the probable cause first. For example, if we feel that we can safely conclude that the cause had wings and looked like your dragon, then we could rule out the Abrahamic god, right?
So it seems to me that we can first say that the cause is probably immaterial. I say that because it is incoherent to suggest that since the universe contains everything material, that something within the universe could have created itself.
In like manner, the cause would have been space-less.
In like manner, I think we could also say that the cause was probably timeless. Since something within the space-time universe could not have created itself, then the cause must have been timeless.
Whatever the cause was, it would have to at least been as powerful as all of the power within the universe.
Since time began at the beginning of the universe, then we can say that there never was a time when the cause did not exist. That means the cause was a "necessary" thing (its existence is not contingent on anything else), and was therefore an uncaused thing.
This one is really hard for many people to understand. If the cause was just an inanimate natural cause, and the conditions existed to cause the universe to begin to exist (the effect)
with the cause, it's hard to understand why of both of them did not
always exist. But instead, we have evidence that the effect (the universe existing)
began a
finite time ago, and therefore, there was a state of affairs in which the cause exists
without the effect. It seems the only way for this to work is if the cause was a personal being. We have that situation now. I could be sitting in a chair and then all of a sudden I (the cause) could choose to sit up (the effect). I would be referred to as a free causal agent (as opposed to a deterministic one).
So it seems to me that we could say that the cause of the universe beginning to exist could be space-less, timeless, uncaused, immaterial, very powerful, and even personal. When I consider all of the candidates that would fit that description, I could list the Jewish, Islamic, or Christian god, and even a mean god. It is notable that this argument actually
rules out all of the Greek and Roman gods, Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, and even the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
