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So, premise number one: There is existence yeah.
You see existence around you and you exist yeah, that's number one.
Number two: Do you believe that there is uniformity, regularity and stability in nature?
And I'll break that down.
What I mean by that is
I'm putting my hat- dangling my hat- in front of you yeah?
Why is this hat not randomly combusting/exploding/flying away?
Because there are basic principles that don't allow that.
Exactly. The mere fact that you're able to cross the road.
The mere fact that you're confident that if you
-start walking out the park you won't randomly get stuck up a tree or something yeah
-yeah. -Or your leg won't just drop off.
Or you get like- I don't know- a hippopotamus growing out of your leg or something like that
-yeah -yeah exactly, so therefore
there has to be an existence that explains the regularity, stability and uniformity of nature
-Sure -Yeah? Yeah
Okay brilliant. So that's what we say is the First Cause yeah, that there is a First Cause...
because if there is an existence that explains the uniformity,
regularity and stability of nature, that First Cause needs to have certain attributes yeah.
So if for example you have a First Cause, that is the start of everything yeah...
-Do you accept the first cause argument -Yeah
Yeah okay brilliant, so there is a first cause
then what we're going to do is we're going to give attributes to it.
First Cause by definition... FIRST cause implies that they are not First Causes,
-it's a first cause. Singular. Yeah -okay
That's what I'm saying. So I guess the distinction
I'm making here is that of monotheism and polytheism.
People that believe that there's loads of Gods
-and people that believe that there's only one God -Yeah
-So what I'm saying is that this First Cause- that you're okay with yeah?
-yeah
...that this First Cause is alone
doesn't rely on anything/in anything because it's the First Cause isn't it? (yeah)
so first by definition means no one else is there isn't it? (yeah) So it's by itself,
it's self-sufficient- relies on itself- and then what comes afterwards relies on the First Cause
Yeah? (yeah) because everything is now being produced yeah from the First Cause. So that First Cause
needs to have certain qualities. Now that First Cause... if that First Cause came
into existence, it's not the First Cause anymore because there's something that came before it
that made that come into existence isn't it? (yeah) so that First Cause has to
be omnipotent i.e. there forever, omniscient yeah and then the creator and the fashioner
-of all. Does that make sense at the moment? -It does
Okay brilliant. So Nick that in a nutshell
is what we argue. Now sometimes like... you know these neo-atheists that say look we have no issue
with a designer but then they attribute that design to say an alien, to say multiverse
or to chance or to nothing yeah. So they'll say 'oh it came from nothing' but then again that's
contradictory because philosophically- you've been studying philosophy- you know this philosophically
they don't know what nothing is. Because they haven't been able to define Nothing. There's no
such thing as Nothing as we know it. Because we know about Dark Energy and stuff like that.
And then when you say stuff like "oh multiverse". Well there's no real evidence for multiverse
-There is none -yeah there's nothing, I mean they
I mean they tried with String Theory that fell on his face. They tried with M-Theory
-that died with Stephen Hawking -yeah
He took it with him him into the grave
So that's what we're saying in essence that we have a First Cause,
that First Cause has attributes, and those attributes are best explained via Islam. You've
got the likes of Hinduism which will explain that there are a multitude of Gods. You have one God
of this aspect of life, one God of death, you have one God of this and one God of that, and logically speaking...
-it doesn't really make much sense -brilliant brilliant excellent. Does it make sense
to you that- okay there's the First Cause. That First Cause has attributes and it makes sense
that there's one God and not a multiplicity of Gods?
-Yeah I understand yeah -Excellent brilliant.