SURGE - stolen from Alec

Its been quite a while since I've written a note, so i figure, why not write one about the most recent argument for God that I have been informed about.

Premise 1: Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
Premise 2: The universe began to exist.
Conclusion 1: Therefore, the universe must have a cause.




The first premise is supplemented by the following acronym
Second law of thermodynamics
Universe is expanding
Radiation echo
Great galaxy seeds
End of infinite time

The purpose of SURGE is to prove that the universe had to have begun, that it is not eternal.

The Second law of thermodynamics says that "Usable energy is inevitably used for productivity, growth and repair. In the process, usable energy is converted into unusable energy. Thus, usable energy is irretrievably lost in the form of unusable energy."
This means that all of the energy in the universe will gradually decrease. So, if the universe were infinite than all of the usable energy would have already been used because an infinite amount of time would have passed before now.

The Universe is expanding essentially means that when looking at the universe, it can be ascertained that the universe is moving outwards, away from a central point, but not only that but at farther away points it is moving slower.
For example, think of a bomb explosion. Once the bomb explodes the materials move away from the blast epicenter, and as they travel farther away, they move slower than they did when at the beginning of the blast.
This therefore means that the universe was "banged" into existence, that it started from one point and is now moving from that point, whereas an infinite universe would be sedentary.

The Radiation Echo is a rather recent discovery which was that all of the planets in our solar system are coated in a film of radiation, a layer of heat above 0 in the form of a radiation. This heat proves a radiation, because all of space is w/o friction, and w/o heat, therefore all the planets would be free of that heat.
Imagine that explosion again, after the explosion occurs and you touch the bits and pieces that came off the bomb, there is a residual heat.
Once again proving that the universe "banged" into existence, and has not just been for eternity.

The Great Galaxy Seeds is what scientists looked for after finding radiation echo. If there was indeed a residual heat that the universe "banged" from, there would also need to be a "ripple" effect that the blast created, slight variations in the radiation heat that rippled from the explosion.
Instead of thinking of the bomb explosion again, think of a rock dropped in a pond, it creates ripples in the water. This same principal holds true of explosions.
Low and behold, the scientists found (via the "COBE" sattelite) these very ripples in the universe, once more proving that the universe "banged" into existance.

The End of Infinite Time is a deep philosophical concept that i can just barely get my head around when explained to me by someone with a graduate degree in philosophy, so bare with me.
"1.An actual infinite cannot exist.
2.A beginningless series of events is an actual infinite.
3.Therefore, the universe cannot have existed infinitely in the past, as that would be a beginningless series of events."

The first of these premises is backed by the example of the infinite hotel (hilbert's paradox).
Imagine, a hotel with an infinite amount of rooms and a universe with an infinite population.
If one person comes to the hotel and asks for a room, while the hotel is occupied by an infinite amount of people, how does the hotel manager find the new customer a room? He moves every current customer down one room, so: Infinity-Infinity=1
Next, imagine if an infinite amount of people showed up to get rooms while the hotel was occupied by an infinite number of people, while an infinte number of people are checking out. How does the hotel manager fix this problem? He makes everyone in odd numbered rooms check out, and gives the infinite number of new guests a room in one of the odd rooms, while never moving those in even numbered rooms. Therefore: Infinity-Infinity=Infinity

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Finally, imagine that the hotel has to shut down due to a major maintanence problem. So rather easily, the hotel manager asks everyone in the hotel to leave: Infinity-Infinity=0

We now have the following logical conclusions for how an actual infinity works.
Infinity-Infinity=1
Infinity-Infinity=Infinity
Infinity-Infinity=0
Clearly we have a logical fallacy...

Premise 2 is easy to support, in saying that, an actual infinity would be that which does not have a begining, but merely existed.

Since an actual infinity can't exist, and the saying that the universe had no beginning implies that it is an actual infinity, we must therefore assume that universe can not be eternal.



Now I have proved in more than one way that the universe is not eternal and had to have begun-Premise 2, that coupled with premise 1, that all things that have begun had a cause, I can conclude that
THE UNIVERSE HAS TO HAVE A CAUSE


Whether you believe that the earth was created in 7 days or evolved, the universe had to have begun via a creator(since matter can't create itself...), Deism or Theism-Take your pick :)