Dear Editor,

One of the most often used arguments for God’s existence is the one pointing to the need for all that we see needing a cause. Ever since the “discovery” of the big bang, theists have been at pains trying to point out that there must be a single, infinite and uncaused first cause to start everything in the first place. Theists call this first cause God.

Now, for those who don’t see the problem with this argument yet, the very concept of an infinite and uncaused first cause is self-contradictory. Why?

First of all, the concept of cause and effect implies that one must start before the other starts. The cause must start before the effect starts. However, if this uncaused first cause is eternal, then it cannot start or end. Since that must be true, then the same must be true of the effect.

Look at it this way – if the infinite and uncaused first cause of the universe is an initiation event of which the universe is the end result, the universe itself must also be infinite. This must be so, as the universe would have always been caused by that “initiation” event.

One of the problems with infinity is that any event must be eternal. Infinity is very problematic because it doesn’t allow for anything to start. Since ending anything is a process that must be started, infinity doesn’t allow for anything to end either. Remember the statement about the need for the cause to start before the effect? How does that “effect” start within the context of infinity if it has always been starting? See the self-contradiction?

How does this apply to God? We are told that he is an actual infinite. Actually, because he does things – and infinite – because he has always been there. By now a self-contradictory nature of this God must be obvious.

As infinity allows only for eternal events, there can be no actuality. The claim that God does things cannot be true due to the simple fact that his infinity prevents him from starting (or ending) anything. This includes thought, if one is not an eternal event that infinity allows.

If God is unable to start or end anything, then he is not actual – that is, he is not doing anything, as he can’t. He would, in fact, be immutable. In other words, if God is infinite, he cannot be actual and if he is actual, he cannot be infinite. Indeed, the term “actual infinite” is actually very self-contradictory.

For those theists who like to use the big bang as proof for the existence of an infinite and active God, I would urge extreme caution. For me, the claim that the universe “began”, offers the best proof yet that there can be no such thing as an infinite God.

Michael A Dingwall

Kingston