Originally Posted by
Scott R. Brown
To get back on topic then:
There clearly was/is a Creation!
It is self-evident!
The question is not whether it occurred or not, but how did it occur, why did it occur, and who and/or what caused it to occur?
Personhood is an inherent quality of creation. We know this for certain because persons exist.
If personhood was not an inherent quality of creation, then something was created out of nothing. That is, personhood would have to have occurred absent any cause. Yet everywhere we see effects have causes and nowhere do we see effects occurring without causes. Therefore, personhood has a cause. If personhood was then created, it must have been created by something possessing the qualities of personhood, for how can something be created by a Creator that has no knowledge or understanding of that which he creates. By conceiving personhood, a Creator creates its presence and qualities within itself, therefore a Creator can be said to be a person, because it possesses the qualities of personhood.
Also, it is impossible for something to come out of nothing because nothing is non-existent. "Nothingness" is an impossibility. Why? Because if "Nothing" existed it would not be "Nothing". It exists, therefore it is "Something". Even if it is nothing more than THAT SOMETHING we call "Nothing".
If "Nothing" existed in a hypothetical reality, you and I would not be here to talk about "Nothing" or personhood or anything else. There is no way to verify "Nothing" because only SOMETHING can verify and once you have SOMETHING there is no NOTHING!
In addition, it is clear that anything that is created requires a creator and THAT creator possesses a mind, for indeed it is mind that is the creative force.
Every machine, art work, utilitarian device, etc. occurred because a mind created it. Your life as you live it is a creation of your mind.
Mind creates. Nothing created by man was created absent a participating mind. So some consider it more likely Creation occurred absent a MIND? It is more likely that something that has already occurred will occur again than something that has never occurred will occur even once.
Since we know our minds create, it is more reasonable to presume there is a Creator, than to presume there is not! Our Minds create actively, robustly and with wild abandon and joy! Everywhere around us we perceive objects whose existence we did not create, therefore it is reasonable to presume something else created what we did not!
To chose to believe otherwise requires more faith and greater foolishness than most religious people present!