Faithful
10-28-2009, 12:04 AM
Naturalism, in its attempt to explain life, must resort to some form of infinite regress. But Craig, among others, utilized the cosmological argument for God's existence to argue cogently that infinite regress is not possible, according to the canons of both philosophy and science. For instance any infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite and therefore cannot exist [Mormonism gods don't exist]. Also a temporal series of events is a collection formed by successive addition, but it cannot be an actual infinite [again, Mormonism god or gods don't exist]. [William Lane Craig, The Kalam Cosmological Argument (New York Barnes and Noble, 1979), part II His particular form of the cosmological argument, called the Kalam argument, refers to the impossibility of infinite regression.]
Astronomy uses the expansion of the universe to date its absolute beginning, which again makes infinite regress untenable. Also the second law of thermodynamics reveals that the universe is running down, thereby pointing up that the universe is a finite number of years old. For Craig, the only way out of the dilemma is to conclude that God exists [uncreated and alone] and is personal in that He chose to create the universe. [Ibid , pp 110-40 Also see William Lane Craig, The Existence of God and the Beginning of the Universe (San Bernardino Here's Life Publishers, 1979), esp. pp. 83-91.]
Since infinite regress is untenable, these arguments take on new significance, both individually and collectively. They provide the best explanation for the existence of the universe and life, which cannot be said for the naturalistic hypothesis [or, Mormon infinite regress of beings, intelligences, gods, etc.]
Gary Habermas writes, "One intriguing topic concerns the extent to which Eastern views are open to truly supernatural concepts such as God's actions in history or His interaction in the lives of believers. It might in fact be argued that the Eastern (New Age?) [Mormonism and LDS] tendencies are actually a type of expanded naturalism that embraces a few quasi-theistic concepts."
I find that is what Mormonism like, taking polytheistic concepts from eastern religions and adding them into the monotheistic ancient Israel Septuagint 300 years before Christ and Christianity of the 1st century in their first century primary sources.
http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/Bibliotheca-Sacra/habermas_BtS_paradigm-shift.htm
Astronomy uses the expansion of the universe to date its absolute beginning, which again makes infinite regress untenable. Also the second law of thermodynamics reveals that the universe is running down, thereby pointing up that the universe is a finite number of years old. For Craig, the only way out of the dilemma is to conclude that God exists [uncreated and alone] and is personal in that He chose to create the universe. [Ibid , pp 110-40 Also see William Lane Craig, The Existence of God and the Beginning of the Universe (San Bernardino Here's Life Publishers, 1979), esp. pp. 83-91.]
Since infinite regress is untenable, these arguments take on new significance, both individually and collectively. They provide the best explanation for the existence of the universe and life, which cannot be said for the naturalistic hypothesis [or, Mormon infinite regress of beings, intelligences, gods, etc.]
Gary Habermas writes, "One intriguing topic concerns the extent to which Eastern views are open to truly supernatural concepts such as God's actions in history or His interaction in the lives of believers. It might in fact be argued that the Eastern (New Age?) [Mormonism and LDS] tendencies are actually a type of expanded naturalism that embraces a few quasi-theistic concepts."
I find that is what Mormonism like, taking polytheistic concepts from eastern religions and adding them into the monotheistic ancient Israel Septuagint 300 years before Christ and Christianity of the 1st century in their first century primary sources.
http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/Bibliotheca-Sacra/habermas_BtS_paradigm-shift.htm