Epigraph:

بَدِيعُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ وَإِذَا قَضَىٰ أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ

He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth, and when He decrees something, He says only, ‘Be,’ and it is. (Al Quran 2:117)

Have they been created from nothing, or are they their own creators? Have they created the heavens and the earth? In truth they put no faith in anything. (Al Quran 52:35-36)

Presented by Zia H Shah MD

The subject matter of all these videos, when the useful is separated from the froth or the contradictions excluded, becomes a wonderful commentary of the verses quoted above as epigraph.

I think logical discussion of this most important question ultimately leads to God. To achieve this one has to learn from all the philosophers presented here. Jim Holt defines the issues very well and his book on the subject is linked below.

In the above video John Leslie lays out 5 different possibilities and to me the last one, a possible mind behind the universe, is the only one that makes sense.

So, the first 18 minutes of discussions above seem to be rationalizations of atheist minds. But, it is important to suffer through them to know the contemporary philosophical debates.

The discussion of the fifth option starts at minute 19 of the video and makes better sense to someone with theist inclinations as we get to hear two theologians, John Polkinhorn and Richard Swinburn. The moderator of the above video, Robert Lawrence Kuhn in his concluding remarks favors the fifth option. He lays out God as a possibility but does not take the final leap.

He suggests mathematical laws as a competitor creator, but, how can that be? According to Stephen Hawking, “What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?”

Three quarter of top mathematicians believe that mathematical equations exist necessarily in a platonic sense. But how can mathematical equations exist in a mindless vacuum?

This question will lead us to the article linked below: How Could Most Mathematicians Believe in Heaven, But Not in God? A quarter of thoughtful mathematicians forcefully deny mathematical equations being eternal or existing independently.

What we learn through these debates is that one has to learn from all sources, like the 16th century Christian martyr Michael Servetus told us:

Ultimately, every discussion by atheists leads to who made God? This is tackled in a video linked below: Who Created God? John Lennox at The Veritas Forum at UCLA.

Obviously, God existing necessarily can be discussed in greater lengths from different perspectives and that should be handled as a separate and independent discussion, divorced from anything else one may be discussing in the moment. Here is a suggested article: Video: Is God Necessary or Who Made God?

God being the Creator is the most important discussion to establish the Monotheism of Abrahamic faiths. It is not only the key to present Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the agnostics and atheists, but is ultimately the main argument to understand our accountability and Afterlife: Surah Qaf: The First Creation as the Foremost Proof for Afterlife.

In other places in the Quran also, God is presented as the Originator, with the additional emphasis of refuting the Christian dogma and that it is an easy task for the All-Powerful God:

The Originator of the heavens and the earth! How can He have a son when He has no consort, and when He has created everything and has knowledge of all things? Such is Allah, your Lord. There is no God but He, the Creator of all things, so worship Him. And He is Guardian over everything. Eyes cannot reach Him but He reaches the human consciousness. And He is the Incomprehensible, the All-Aware. (Al Quran 6:101-103)

See they not how Allah originates creation, then repeats it? That surely is easy for Allah. Say, ‘Travel in the earth, and see how He originated the creation. Then will Allah provide the latter creation.’ Surely, Allah has power over all things. (Al Quran 29:19-20)

So, now in light of all these verses, let us listen to the philosophers below. When their eyes cannot reach God, because of limits of human knowledge and science, they begin to propose some irrational ideas in the name of science, philosophy, physics and mathematics.

But, if we examine the question, why is there anything at all, with an open mind, we are inevitably led to God.

For a greater in depth understanding please review what follows:

Colin McGinn first examines the quality of the question. He ultimately comes to the conclusion that something needs to exist necessarily or as self existence. He further goes onto say that logic, numbers and mathematics exist necessarily and we examined the futility of that above. Only thing in my opinion that necessarily exists is God: Video: Is God Necessary or Who Made God?

David Bentley Hart is a Christian theist philosopher, so among all the interviewees here he makes the strongest case for God.

…

Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story

By Jim Holt

“I can imagine few more enjoyable ways of thinking than to read this book.”
—Sarah Bakewell, New York Times Book Review, front-page review

Tackling the “darkest question in all of philosophy” with “raffish erudition” (Dwight Garner, The New York Times), author Jim Holt explores the greatest metaphysical mystery of all: why is there something rather than nothing? This runaway best seller, which has captured the imagination of critics and the public alike, traces our latest efforts to grasp the origins of the universe. Holt adopts the role of cosmological detective, traveling the globe to interview a host of celebrated scientists, philosophers, and writers, “testing the contentions of one against the theories of the other” (Jeremy Bernstein, Wall Street Journal). As he interrogates his list of ontological culprits, the brilliant yet slyly humorous Holt contends that we might have been too narrow in limiting our suspects to God versus the Big Bang. This “deft and consuming” (David Ulin, Los Angeles Times) narrative humanizes the profound questions of meaning and existence it confronts.

Buy the book in Amazon

How Could Most Mathematicians Believe in Heaven, But Not in God?

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