1. The Cosmological Argument

2. Imagine a domino

3. Now a domino rally

4. What’s going to happen next?

7. What caused them to fall?

8. The effect?

9. The science Science tells us that nothing can happen unless something makes it happen.

10. For example

12. What does this have to do with God?

13. The theist's view Nothing can happen unless something makes it happen. The world would not exist unless something made it happen.

15. What does science say?

16. The Big Bang

17. The science At some point 12 to 14 billion years ago, the universe we can see today was only a few millimetres across. It has since expanded from this into the huge universe we are now part of.

18. Big Bang or Big Bloom? Many people prefer the term Big Bloom as it was a slow process over millions of years rather than a short, sharp explosion.

19. So what about God?

20. Cause and effect Theists will remind us that nothing can happen unless something makes it happen.

21. What was the cause?

23. What caused the Big Bang to happen?

25. First Cause This is known as the First Cause argument. A scholar called Thomas Aquinas came up with this idea a long time ago. He said that everything can be traced back to a first cause and in the case of the universe the first cause was God.

26. Can science and religion go hand in hand?

27. Many theist accept the Big Bang Theory but say SOMETHING must have caused it to happen in the first place and that something was GOD.

28. What do you think?

29. The Cosmological Argument (for the existence of God) Cosmology is the study of the nature and the order of the universe

30. St Thomas Aquinas (1225- 1275) Influential philosopher and theologian, particularly for Roman Catholics C13th showed a renewed interest in Aristotle, and how philosophy could be useful for religion Aquinas’ philosophy is often referred to as ‘Thomism’ Aquinas was a prolific author. ‘Summa Theologica’ is over 4000 pages long, however only two pages relate to arguments for the existence of God

31. Aquinas was not the first person to come up with a form of the cosmological argument. He is famous for the argument as his version is a comprehensive (and Christian) one

32. Cosmological Argument The Universe Exists Nothing can cause itself to exist Everything is caused by something other than itself The universe was caused by the Big Bang What caused the Big Bang? Cannot have an infinite series of causes Cannot have caused itself Caused by something external to it Something that is outside the universe Something that has caused itself That something is GOD

34. The Big Bang Supports the Existence of God Proves the universe is finite- means it had a beginning Can’t have an infinite chain of causes- The universe has order- proves that something was behind it Laws of nature pre-existed the Big Bang Deviser of laws required God is the cause of the Big Bang Things cannot cause themselves The Big Bang was caused by something- GOD

35. To infinity, and beyond…