Can everything come from nothing?
Rather a lot rides on the answer.
The strident American atheist and physicist, Lawrence Krauss thinks it can. (I wrote about him in an earlier blog.) He wrote a philosophically muddled book called A Universe from Nothing in which he speculates that it is possible for a universe to come from nothing… provided some parameters (such as quantum fields and the physical laws that govern them) are already in existence to allow it. He wants to call the empty space of the cosmos ‘nothing’ whilst also insisting that this ‘nothing’ is actually a cauldron of virtual particles which can pop into physical existence when interacting with powerful fields.
As Neil Ormerod, Professor of Theology at Australian Catholic University, has pointed out: “Scientifically this may well be correct, but it clearly does not address the question of whether something can (italics mine) come from nothing.”[1] Krauss’ great mistake, of course, is to fail to understand what ‘nothing’ really means.
In all human scientific endeavours, scientists have never exhausted the beautiful mathematical order that has underpinned their discoveries. This is even true for the non-intuitive world of quantum physics… and this, I submit, is hugely significant. The esteemed English astronomer and mathematical physicist James Jeans (1877 – 1946) said in his book The Mysterious Universe: “The universe appears to have been designed by a pure mathematician.”[2]
But does God actually exist?
Whether or not he does depends on which sequence of events is true concerning the building of the universe.
Did matter give rise to information (as atheists believe), or did information give rise to matter (as theists believe)?
Krauss suggests that matter gave rise to information. He does so by championing the idea that there are an infinite number of universes, each with a different set of physical laws. And because there are an infinite number of universes, we should not be surprised that one universe must eventually stumble on a set of physical laws that has allowed life to develop. The significance of our ordered universe can therefore be dissolved in a sea of infinity.
However, if one universe is hard to explain, it is even harder to explain the existence of an infinite number of them. As such, the multiverse option does not explain anything. It merely lifts the conundrum up to the next level.
Another principle atheists appeal to in order to explain the existence of our universe is to say that there exists a fundamental physical principle––a theory of everything––that makes the development of a life-friendly universe inevitable.
The trouble is, there is no hard evidence for this existing.
A third option available to atheists is to believe that our universe has always existed––and has done so without reason and without purpose. This, of course, is simply a ‘faith statement’. It also suffers from the fact that there is no precedent for anything existing without a cause. In fact, the very idea shatters the law of “cause and effect” which underpins all of science.
Let’s now explore the idea that information gave rise to matter. This is the claim that divine information has resulted in coded matter existing… and it is this information that has built a universe that has resulted in sentient life.
What’s the evidence?
Nothing in the long history of human experience has ever resulted in complex ordered information existing other than rational thought. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that rational thought has given rise to a rational universe.
So, what can we say in conclusion? All science relies on ultimate rationality existing. Christians call this rationality, ‘God’. And whilst it is important to understand that God is more than cosmic rationality, it is a very good place to start!
[1] Neil Ormerod, “The metaphysical muddle of Lawrence Krauss: Why science can’t get rid of God.” See: See: https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-metaphysical-muddle-of-lawrence-krauss-why-science-cant-get-/10100010 Uploaded: Monday 18 February 2013 3:36pm.
[2] James Jeans, The Mysterious Universe, (Cambridge University Press, 1930 edition), 134.
