DAY 169
CHALLENGE
“The argument from contingency is flawed: (1) Everything could be fated, so nothing would be contingent; (2) we can explain how things are by their history, which could be infinite; (3) there could be multiple ultimate causes; (4) you could call the first, necessary cause something other than God; and (5) if everything needs a cause, then God also must have a cause.”
DEFENSE
None of these objections overturn the contingency argument.
First, the argument from fate simply proposes a single, ultimate cause—fate itself—for contingent things. It doesn’t show they aren’t contingent. It is not necessary for a person to be standing the way it is necessary for a square to have four sides. People can stand or sit, but squares must have four sides. If a person is fated to stand, he could also be fated to sit, and his posture is contingent.
Second, history (and whether history might be infinite) is not part of this argument. We are asking why things are the way they are now, not what history preceded this.
Third, one could trace the chain of causes for each of the many contingent things up to higher causes, but these would not end in a multiplicity of ultimate explanations, for explanations converge as we go higher. An example is the four fundamental forces of physics (electromagnetism, the strong force, the weak force, and gravity), which explain the state of innumerable contingent physical things. An important goal of science is to find ways to unify these forces and any others that exist.
There cannot be a multiplicity of ultimate explanations. If one pro- posed a certain set of explanations as ultimate, then they would have to exist within some kind of framework that would allow them to relate to one another. Otherwise, they would not be able to interact to pro- duce the contingent states of affairs we see. However, the framework would then be more fundamental than the proposed explanations, so they would not be ultimate.
Fourth, one can always reject the term “God,” but this argument shows that there is a First Cause that is a necessary Being. This does not prove the full Christian understanding of God, but it can be supplemented by other arguments.
Fifth, God would not need a cause because, per the argument, God is necessary rather than contingent.