by Jim Sano
“The last time you said that I got into quite a debate.” He noticed Diogenes, Alex, and two friends with MIT fraternity sweatshirts approaching the bar for drinks along with a few others who came into the pub for the evening.
David opened his bag and pulled out a smooth, dark gray stone and placed it on the table in front of Tom.
“Is this another riddle?” Tom asked.
David shrugged. “I wish I knew. I found this stone on my pillow last night. Another strange thing left in my apartment on two consecutive Tuesdays. I have no idea who’s responsible, what to make of it, or how they got in.”
Tom studied it for a few seconds. “I think I know what it is.”
“What?”
“I may be out of my league on this, but my professional opinion is that I think this thing is definitely a— rock. No question about it, it’s a rock. What else can I do for you?” A few people had noticed the rock sitting on the table and came over to see what was going on.
Diogenes shuffled over with his half-finished beer. “If you are going to try to convince me that this is a rock tonight, you win.”
David reached out and turned over the stone to show Tom the letters marked on the bottom. Tom read it out loud, “Nihil fit ex nihilo.”
Diogenes said, “Is this more Greek mumbo jumbo?”
One of the MIT students, an imposing figure, tall and barrel-chested with dark bushy hair and beard, said, “That’s in Latin, not Greek.”
Tom nodded at the grad student. “That’s right. Do you know what it says?”
The student answered, “Sure. It says, ‘Nothing comes from nothing.’ A Greek philosopher named Parmenides said it about twenty-five hundred years ago, arguing since nothing can come from nothing, the universe and all of reality couldn’t have been created from nothing. Everything we know has always existed and is timeless and changeless. Hence, there was no creator and no god. Reality is ‘what is’ and couldn’t have been created from nothing.”
Tom nodded. “Impressive. I always thought it was just a line from King Lear.”
David said, “Sorry to break into this philosophical love fest, but what’s this saying doing on a bottom of a stone?”
Diogenes blurted out, “Because the logic is rock solid and there’s no silly, superstitious god that created that rock or the whole universe out of nothing.”
David saw Tom noticing that there was more of a crowd around the booth and probably wondering how many directions this conversation could go tonight. “The clue might have to do with Aristotle. He was quoted as saying that ‘Nothing is what rocks dream about,’ which is truly ‘nothing.’ Aristotle believed that God had to exist for everything to come into existence from nothing. One reason he believed this was the concept of motion or change.”
One of the observers blurted out, “What does motion or change have to do with God existing or not?”
Tom nodded. “Good question. We know that matter cannot begin its own motion or change or be the reason for its own existence. It must be acted on by another object or force. Since time had to have a beginning, there had to be a first cause of movement or an ‘unmoved mover’ to begin the process. That force is God.”
One of the regular patrons was scratching his head. “Say what?”
Another said, “It makes total sense if you think about it. There had to be a beginning when nothing existed. Things can’t create themselves, so it has to be God since no natural ‘thing’ could have existed to do it.”
David hadn’t expected to get into another deep conversation, but he knew a can of worms had been opened, so he didn’t try to stop it.
The MIT student said, “That is a huge, irrational, and unscientific leap of nothing but faith. If you guys want to believe in your sky-god or invisible pink unicorns or flying—”
Tom interrupted, “Can I finish this familiar list? —the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny. Did we leave anyone out?”
The student frowned. “I think you have it about right, and no intelligent person would believe in Zeus or any other god either.”
“I’m Tom, by the way, and this is the owner of the rock and my good friend David. We met Diogenes and Alex last week.”
“I’m Harris, and this is Richard. We are both grad students in Biochemical Engineering and I majored in philosophy and physics as an undergrad at a little technical institute across the river.”
Tom reached out his hand. “Great to meet you, Harris and Richard. We only ask two things in our pub debates. One is to have some friendly fun, and the second is to do it respectfully. I will have to admit that mocking can be a very effective form of debate, but I haven’t found it to be a very honest one. It tends to clog one's ears once you’ve decided that the person you are talking to is intellectually inferior to yourself. Challenge ideas all you want, but we would prefer to avoid either mocking or ridicule and have a healthy and respectful debate. Does everyone agree with that?”
Harris smiled. “Perfectly fine with me. No matter how illogical, silly, or stupid anyone’s ideas sound, I promise not to go there.”
Tom turned to David. “I don’t suppose this was how you planned on spending your evening, is it?”
David waved him onward.
Harris asked, “So is it fair to say that the question on the table is, ‘Could everything that exists have existed without a god somehow involved?’”
Tom said, “I think that’s part of it, but the real question on the table is if anyone can present a reasoned argument that God exists?”
Diogenes said, “But it’s impossible to use reason or science to show something exists if it doesn’t exist.”
To Diogenes’s surprise, Tom replied, “I couldn’t agree more. Have you heard of Procrustes’s magical bed?”
Diogenes squinted skeptically at Tom for a trap. “Does it have anything to do with what we’re talking about?”
“Just about how we think and listen. Procrustes had a house by the side of a road, and he offered his guests a delicious meal and a bed with a magical property in that its length would exactly match the length of any guest that lay down upon it.”
Diogenes interrupted. “Are we only going to talk about magic and fiction tonight?”
Everyone else was listening intently as Tom continued, “What Procrustes did not reveal to his guests was how this magic occurred. When the guest would lie down, Procrustes would then proceed to stretch upon the rack any guest who was too short or cut the legs of those who were too tall until they perfectly fit the length of the bed.”
Diogenes said, “I’ll ask again, does this have anything to do with what we’re talking about? Magic beds and people lopping off legs?”
David knew by now that anything Tom said had a specific purpose. “I think Tom is telling us that we tend not to be honest with ourselves and look only for what fits our belief of what the truth is. If it doesn’t align, we cut off the parts that don’t fit and stretch the things that almost fit to confirm our belief. I suppose believing in God is one of those subjects where intelligent people tend to do a lot of that kind of filtered listening and thinking.”
Tom nodded. “What he said. Hopefully, the entire point is to get to an honest answer and not just to win a debate. Who can put forward the main arguments for holding that God does not exist, or that we can reason that God most likely does exist?”
Harris said, “I think I can summarize a reasonable position on that. First, people have always invented mythical beings and gods to explain what they didn’t understand. Today, we have science to explain those things and there is no need to create or superstitiously believe in all-powerful gods of any kind. Those who do aren’t thinking rationally. They don’t fully understand that science can pretty much explain everything. Secondly—”
Tom interrupted, “Harris, do you mind if we take these one at a time to make sure that we are fully appreciating your positions?”
“Sure. Not at all.”
T
o everyone else, Tom said, “Please jump in with any thoughts. I do agree with you that historically people didn’t understand a lot about how the world worked and had plenty of fears and superstitions. My sense is people intuitively knew that there was something greater than themselves. They tried to put a name to it and understand it, but they didn’t get it right with all the mythical gods of ancient times. I also agree that science has been a great gift to mankind. As great as science is, would you agree that it’s limited in what it can observe and test by the scientific method?”
Diogenes folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t think I would agree with that at all!”
Tom faced him. “Tell me this. Can the scientific method test moral truth or love between people? How about this one: can the scientific method test the claim that all truth claims must be testable with the scientific method to be valid? Science can only test things in the material world. Making the limiting assumption that only material reality exists would be based on blind faith and more like cutting off someone’s legs to fit a short bed than real science. It’s not valid reasoning to say because people once created mythical gods proves that an actual God does not exist, nor is it valid reasoning to limit God to only a material possibility.”
There was a collective “Whoa” from observers as Harris was momentarily speechless while he tried to find fault with anything Tom had just said.
Finally, Harris said, “That still doesn’t prove that your mythical god exists.”
“And it doesn’t yet prove that my God is mythical or unreasonable.”
Harris huddled for a second with his MIT team while David exchanged glances with Tom. David didn’t love the subject matter, but he was enjoying a verbal beat down of young, unearned confidence.
Harris came back, “I still don’t think that an all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, invisible god is reasonable, but let’s move on. My second point is that I think the cosmological argument from ancient philosophers compared to the knowledge and intelligence of modern scientists is a very weak one, to say the least. There’s no proof that the universe couldn’t have existed eternally, and even if there were a beginning, there’s no logical reasoning that would exclude the universe from creating itself from nothing.
“I can tell you that there’s scientific proof that sub-atomic particles can spontaneously create themselves from nothing in a quantum vacuum. You say that whatever begins to exist must have a cause outside of itself. I say it is possible that the universe did not have a beginning, and there is proof that it did not need a cause. Even if you believed that there was a cause, and that cause was a god, you would have to explain what caused God and why there’s been no scientific proof that God exists. I think there’s more of Procrustes and magic beds in your belief than in my science.”
Diogenes, Alex, and Richard seemed pleased and relieved to hear the comeback argument from Harris so easily articulated. The rest of the group listened in quiet anticipation as Tom exclaimed, “I think you may have me—”
A smile crept up on Harris’s face under that unkempt beard. “—at the bottom of my beer. Fill ’em up, on me, Mr. Dempsey!”
The silent tension left the room as people laughed and drank down what was left in their mugs for the sponsored refill. David was looking at Tom with a level of respect and admiration that he wasn’t used to feeling for others.
Tom took a sip from his topped off beer. “Now, where do we start, gentlemen? Where do we start? How about at the beginning? Many scientists have tried to argue that the universe has simply always existed; it is eternal without a beginning and without any need of a cause for its existence. I believe you young detectives lean toward this theory, correct?”
Harris nodded.
Tom said, “I like the line from Sherlock Holmes when he said, ‘When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable must be the truth.’ Hopefully, you agree with Mr. Holmes. I think it is safe to assume that you are familiar with the laws of thermodynamics?”
Harris slowly nodded with wary curiosity.
“Okay. Good. Let me know if I get this close to right: The first law holds that total energy in a system is what it is, it can neither be increased nor decreased but only changed. Basically, the total sum of matter and energy in the universe will remain the same.”
“Okay,” said Harris cautiously.
“The second law is the interesting one. It holds that the degree of disorder is always increasing in the universe, and available energy is always moving towards a state of being less unavailable. Basically, things are running down or decaying, and usable energy is running out over time.”
Sam, who was listening intently, said, “Wait a minute, Tom. I might’ve lost you, but I thought you said that the amount of total energy can’t go up or down, but now you are saying it’s going down?”
Harris interjected, “Not to help anybody out in this debate, but he didn’t say the energy was lost. He said it is changing into a less usable form, kind of like a hot cup of coffee in a room that begins to cool. The energy is not gone from the room but transferred to the cooler air in the room, warming it slightly. Eventually, the heat, or the available energy, from the coffee is gone as the coffee becomes the same temperature as the room and the heat or energy is now unavailable.”
Tom said, “Great example. The coffee needs some external force to reheat it since it cannot heat itself. So, since the universe is moving towards disorder and energy is becoming increasingly unavailable, we know that it will eventually decay and die as does anything over time. Never mind that the concept of infinite time is not possible, the universe would’ve burned out long before now if there was no beginning point. Scientists have also shown that the universe has been expanding versus being in a steady state or collapsing. If we run the clock backward in time, we can see the reverse happening until we reach a single point in time, about 13.8 billion years ago when the Big Bang occurred and time, space, matter, energy, and the universe itself began. There is an overwhelming scientific consensus that the universe had a beginning and that before that event, nothing could have existed.”
Harris stepped forward. “Why is the concept of infinite time not possible?”
“Think about it,” Tom replied. “You can count seconds, hours, and days. If time went infinitely into the past, you would never get to today.”
Alex said, “He’s got a point,” and Diogenes quickly hit him with his elbow.
Tom restated the hypothesis. “Everything that exists needs an explanation outside of itself. An infinite regression of causes of change or movement is not possible. So there needs to be an explanation, a cause that is external to the universe.”
“I still don’t buy it,” Harris replied. “How do we know that the laws might not have applied before the Big Bang? Quantum physics shows us small sub-atomic particles have been seen to pop in and out of existence without a cause and from nothing, so I think that science will prove that no supernatural god is needed.”
Tom took a sip from his beer mug as Harris’s words settled on the group. “I agree that very small particles have been observed to act differently and seem to have spontaneously created themselves in a quantum vacuum, but empty space or a quantum vacuum is not actually nothing. It’s actually something, and we’re back to the same science discussion we just had. Isn’t it interesting that nothing larger than these virtual particles or quarks have ever been observed by science to suddenly appear? If I had a missing leg, and I told you that it spontaneously appeared on its own, would you believe me?”
Harris hesitated. “Probably not.”
“But you feel completely comfortable with the idea that from absolutely nothing, the entire immense universe spontaneously appeared?”
“I’m just saying that it may have or was the product of a multiverse.”
“The multiverse or string theory would still have the same scientific issues we just discussed. So, Harris, you believe the most probable answer is that ‘no one’ plus
‘no thing’ equals everything?”
“I’m not sure I would say it that way. If you believe God created everything, then who created God?”
“That’s kind of the point. God isn’t matter or a thing to be created. If he were, then he would be part of the stuff we said could not have existed forever. God is instead the sheer act of being. To have created everything you see and the wonder of its beauty and incredible complexity, God would have to be supernatural, all-powerful, and the one that is uncreated, unmoved and unchanged.
“Harris, think about how incredibly fine-tuned this universe is and how unlikely or impossible it would be for just a random set of atoms to get the weakness of the gravitational force just right so that the stars didn’t burn out, just the right nuclear force to ensure the perfect balance of free hydrogen, just the right density of matter in the universe that couldn’t have been off by one quadrillion to support the galaxies or just the right expansion of the universe that was needed. The universe is so finely tuned that the odds of such a low level of disorder needed to support life, after the Big Bang, would have zeros stretched across the universe and be equal to your winning 10,000 lotteries in a row while getting struck by lightning each time you won. I don’t know about you, but common-sense reasoning seems to point me to the only rational option.”
Harris appeared to be trying to think of a quick response.
Tom said, “The facts seem to say it’s impossible for the universe and everything in it not to have had a beginning. I can think of no possible explanation for change, movement or everything coming from nothing without a cause. Since we’ve ruled out the impossible, logic tells me that this cause had to be external to nature, eternal and powerful enough to create everything. We call that supernatural being God.”
Harris scanned the expressions of Diogenes and everyone around the table. “I’m not agreeing with you on any of this, but even if I did, nothing you’ve said convinces me that this super-being is a personal god or just one power-hungry god.”
Sam said, “I still think it seems pretty simple. There had to be a beginning when absolutely nothing existed, and you can’t make all this stuff suddenly appear from nothing unless there was a cause outside of nature. If you honestly walk through the logic and follow it back to connect the dots, how do you come to any other conclusion?”
