Of all the theistic proofs, the cosmological argument is clearest and simplest:
- Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
- The Universe began to exist.
- The Universe has a Cause.
A helpful deductive version is stated as follows:
- A contingent being (a being that if it exists can not-exist) exists.
- This contingent being has a cause of or explanation for its existence.
- The cause of or explanation for its existence is something other than the contingent being itself.
- What causes or explains the existence of this contingent being must either be solely other contingent beings or include a non-contingent (necessary) being.
- Contingent beings alone cannot provide an adequate causal account or explanation for the existence of a contingent being.
- Therefore, what causes or explains the existence of this contingent being must include a non-contingent (necessary) being.
- Therefore, a necessary being (a being that if it exists cannot not-exist) exists.
The key issue is whether or not the world (including concepts such as universe, multiverse, etc.) is a) self-caused, eternal and infinite or other-caused, temporal and finite – and I maintain that this is not an issue which science can determine.