Chapter 10: The First Cause
Everything in physics has a cause. Who, then, has caused the physical universe to arise? Who has thought out and made the mathematical language, wherein the cosmic code has been written? Who has thought out and made a universe, wherein plants, animals, and mankind are able to live on a planet Earth? Are true science and true religion opposed to each other? What have scientists found out about this?
The German physicist Horst Hiller believes in evolution. But he writes: "The beginning of the world is asking one further important question, shaking the foundation of physics: Why has there suddenly arisen a universe? What was its cause? The answer could be like that: We must not ask, what was ‘before’, since there has been no ‘before’. Since time only has begun to flow with the big bang, it is useless to ask, what the cause was of this, after all, of the important event of the arising of the world. Space and time arose spontaneously, without a cause, which could be recognized neither now nor could ever be recognized. When there was no ‘before’, there can have been no cause. That is quite logical. We are only able to trace back an event within the time onto another event as its cause. But the time is also to have arisen only then in the moment of its beginning. The cause of this big bang would be then beyond - before the time - a logically and physically absurd assumption." (1989:123).
"In physics, after all of the experiences made so far, the principle of causality is valid. Nothing happens without a cause. No physicist would ever think of giving-up this fundamental practice. Should it be different with the universe? Should there really have arisen, some 20 billion years ago, without a cause - and that cannot mean ‘without a recognizable cause’ - out of the spatial and temporal nothing a cosmos? We should not be surprised, that many physicists will not accept this and (will not want) to give up the principle of causality at the birth of the cosmos. ... The initial singularity still represents the greatest problem within the modern theory about the arising and evolving of the universe." (1989:123).
"We do want to know, of course, why and how this world arose. For it is a fundamental question, perhaps the most fundamental one of our being, but world beginning and world-cause are hidden from us. We should not exclude for the future a completely new explanation about that, which we are calling the temporal beginning of the world. ... ‘Nothing happens without a cause’ is a creed of classical physics.
"The still unexplainable arising of the universe does lead us nearly inevitably to the theological term of creation. If we do accept the spontaneous arising of space, time, and matter, and if we do ascribe this event to a Creator, this Creator must have existed, then, outside of space and time, which is quite easy to write down, but not easy to imagine. But that should be no obstacle for such a belief, for, whoever was able to make this universe, should also be able, then, to exist outside of space and time. The big bang would be, then, an act of creation in the sense of a transition from metaphysics to physics. That does not contradict physics at all, for physics does only begin with or very shortly after point zero." (1989:125, 126).
"Point zero is the interface between the physical reality, recognized today, and another abstract, namely metaphysical state, where the terms of space, time, and matter, as we know them today, will break down.
"The question about the Creator is raised already by the big bang itself, for we are still far away from an answer to the question, why this big bang occurred 10 or 20 billion years ago, thus, about the question about the cause of this grave event. Now we must also add the astonishing latest scientific finding that this universe was made in just such a way, that we ourselves can be there. The question about the originator of this finely tuned system, existing above space and above time, should be asked." - Hiller, H. (1989:127, 152).
Natural Laws: Why There
Why are there physical laws and natural constants? Why do they exist? How have they come into being?
Walter Heitler was Professor for Theoretical Physics at the University of Zürich, Switzerland. He writes: "What now is this, that, for instance, comes into the physicist’s mind, when making a physical discovery? That are natural laws. They are formulated strictly in a mathematical form. And physical processes are following them. A law, formulated mathematically, is something spiritual. We may call it so, because it is a human spirit, which recognizes it. The term spirit may today, when an increasing materialism and positivism give rise to queer practices, not be very popular. But just for this reason, we must find out, what natural laws and natural findings are. Thus, nature is following this non-material spiritual element, the law. Therefore, also spiritual elements are embodied in nature itself. To these does belong mathematics, that is needed to formulate the law, even high and highest mathematics." (1972:14).
"Natural science has discovered natural laws. Does this prove in any way the non-existence of something divine? The logic of such a conclusion is hardly reasonable. Even if we accepted the physical laws with their harshness and their determinism as the general and only existing laws of the world, we would have to admit that these laws do contain quite a large amount of intelligence. Only a mathematician of rank is able to understand them. This surely leads us sooner to the idea of a Creator with inconceivable intelligence, than that it would prove the opposite. But the thesis, that physics is fully able to explain the world, is, of course, pure nonsense."
"Everywhere, we do meet a world of the non-material, the transcendental: in the laws of physics, whose expression is the mathematical form. Thus, mathematics is certainly deeply embodied in nature, and it is not just a product of our brain. Within the living organism, we do find a complexity and order, that do reveal a nearly incomprehensible wisdom." - Heitler, W. (1972:44, 45).
Man has not made Natural Laws
There are natural laws. Man has only found them. He has not made them: Why, then, are they there? Why do they exist?
Prof. Walter Heitler: "The laws of physics are expressed in a mathematical form. ... The further physics progressed, the ‘higher’ the needed mathematics became. ... There are few spheres in mathematics, that do not occur somewhere in physics and that are needed. So also, some of the branches of mathematics have been found by physicists, to be applied in physics - or discovered? Thus, Newton was one of the two creators of the differential and integral calculus (the other one was Leibniz), and he made them, in order to be able to express the law of motion.
"All this does show us, how closely mathematics and physics are interwoven. We must ask ourselves, how this is to be understood. If mathematics had been invented by man, we would have to say, that also the physical law was invented by man, for there is now law without mathematics. ... We are faced with the fact, that the bodies are behaving in such a way, as the mathematically formulated physical laws do prescribe it." (1976:36, 37).
What do you conclude from this?
Prof. Walter Heitler: "The unavoidable conclusion is, that also mathematics is a fundamental part of nature. But man has not made the natural laws. With that, the question has now been answered conclusively, if mathematics may be a human invention. It cannot be. It has been found, that is, recognized, by us. This applies also to the physical (and chemical) law. This is not a bungling work of man, it has been given. It belongs, like mathematics, to a transcendental, spiritual world... There is no matter without the law, which it follows, without this spiritual element.
"We come now to a central question. The world of transcendence does obviously contain a not low intelligence. Even in the field of mathematics and physics, we will not be able for a long time to say that we do know already fully this intelligence, and that we have opened it up for us. ...One can hardly avoid the question, from where this wisdom or intelligence has come. Has it just existed since eternity? Or has someone thought out those laws?" - Heitler, W. (1976:37, 40).
Max Planck. Throughout Germany, there are many scientific research institutes, named after Max Planck, the famous German physicist. - What did Max Planck say about the physical laws and their origin?
Prof. Walter Heitler: "But it was the enthusiasm for the laws of physics, formulated so exactly, which caused Planck to see in them a divine creation. While in his time, the exact sciences were being misused, in order to prove a shallow atheism, Planck was doing right the opposite. He saw in these laws the proof, that (literally) ‘firstly, there does exist a rational system of the world (vernünftige Weltordnung), and secondly, that the nature of this world-order can never be recognized directly, but can only be grasped, or anticipated.’ The fact, that the laws are showing ‘reason’, also proves, that there must be a still higher reason, that has made them. - These sentences came from a public talk, which the nearly 80 years old one held in the year 1937 about the subject, ‘Religion and Natural Science.’ Between natural science and religion, he sees no conflict, but a for-each-other, coming from two different directions." (1976:42).
Johannes Kepler. In Stuttgart, SW Germany, even a street is named after this well-known German physicist and astronomer. Why is there a universe? What has Johannes Kepler found out?
Prof. Walter Heitler: "That this was pure divine creation, was to him obvious. Nature was for him simply one way of God’s revelation: ‘God has revealed himself in two ways: in the Holy Scriptures through the tongue, in nature through his finger.’" (1976:43).
Physical Laws: Their Origin
Why are there physical laws? How have they arisen?
Prof. Walter Heitler: "In the state of the universe, standing ‘at the beginning’, also the time stops. Stated more correctly, it begins then. A ‘before’ makes physically no sense. It is the original beginning, not only of the material universe, but also of the physical laws, as we know them, also of time. A closer examination shows us, that probably also space was born only then. With the snotty expression, that has become common now in science, one is speaking about a ‘big bang’, or in German, the ‘Urknall’. By this, nothing less is meant, than the so mighty event of the arising of the universe, unimaginable to us. With that, perhaps, not so much matter is meant, but rather the laws, whereby the world was made."
"Lifeless matter is obeying the harsh laws of physics and chemistry. The laws themselves are at home in a world of transcendence, just like mathematics, being closely connected with them. Those laws are operating within matter, which they are controlling." (1976:104, 120).
"We have talked about the operating of the spirit in nature. It is probably the predominant opinion, that mathematics was made by the human spirit, which alone is at home in human consciousness... The laws of the exact sciences, especially of physics, are mathematically formulated. ... But it is exactly the opposite conclusion, which we must draw. The physical laws are laws of nature and do belong to it. Since they are mathematically formulated, also mathematics is embodied in nature. ... It is a fact, about which we cannot marvel enough." - Heitler, W. (1976:111).
What is a law?
Prof. Walter Heitler: "A law is something spiritual. ... It is the spiritual correlation, or, if we want to, the spiritual contents of lifeless matter. (1970:118).
"The laws of this measurable world are of a nearly unbelievable intelligence. We only need to think about the theory of relativity that also belongs to these automatons. High and highest mathematics is the tool, with which it is working.
"The mathematical concepts and facts do have their real existence in a transcendental world of ideas, that - so was the conviction - do refer to the Divine. ... Unprejudiced natural science must conclude, that something new has arisen in the world, that cannot be deduced from what has been there before. Hence, we are forced, to speak about creation. Also the exact sciences are pointing in this direction. We are dealing here with laws, containing highest mathematics (and which is unavoidable), and revealing highest intelligence. Often, the mathematics first had to be discovered, before the natural law was found. Can we avoid the question: Who has thought out these laws? This clearly shows us, that there has been an act of creation in nature (including mathematics)." - Heitler, W. (1979:10, 11, 42).
The true Scientist believes in God
Why is there a universe? Why is there matter? Why are there physical laws? Are true science and true belief in God opposed to each other? What have some of the world’s greatest physicists concluded?
John Polkinghorne, President of Queen’s College, in Cambridge, England, writes in the journal New Scientist, 1 June 1991, p. 46, in his article: "Religion’s private hold on Faraday": "Almost all of the great figures of British physical science in the 19th century, such as Clerk Maxwell, Kelvin and Stokes, were men of deep religious conviction. They seemed untroubled by the evolutionary storms that raged around them. ... Faraday was a man of modesty and integrity, a scientist of great distinction and a religious believer of deep conviction and surprising simple-mindedness."
What have some of these scientists concluded about the universe and its origin? - I shall quote here briefly from the booklet Gott Bekenntnisse Grosser Naturforscher (Professions about God of Great Natural Scientists), (1985):
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). German mathematician and astronomer, discoverer of the forces of motion, ruling the heavenly bodies: "The eminence of your creation, I wanted to proclaim to mankind, as far, as my limited mind was able to understand your infinity." - "Pursuing astronomy means re-reading God’s thoughts."
Isaac Newton (1643-1727). English mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, founder of classic theoretical physics, discoverer of the laws of gravity: "The wonderful design and harmony of the Universe can only have arisen according to the plan of an all-knowing and almighty Being. That is and remains my last and highest conclusion."
Lord Thomas Kelvin (1824-1907). English physicist, discoverer of several laws: "Overwhelming proof for intelligence and well-meaning intent do surround us, showing us throughout the whole of Nature the working of a free will, teaching us, that all living beings are subject to an eternal Creator-God."
Sir John Ambrose Fleming (1849-1945). English physicist and radio-technician: "The large number of modern discoveries ... has destroyed the old materialism completely... The Universe is showing itself now to our eyes as a thought. A thought, however, requires the existence of a thinker."
Walter Nernst (1864-1941). German physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize winner 1920: "Pursuing physics means looking behind the creative act of God."
Albert Einstein (1879-1955). German physicist, founder of the theory of relativity, Nobel Prize winner 1921: "Within every great scientist there must be a sort of religious feeling. Because he is not able to imagine, that the extraordinary, minutely structured connections, which he sees, have been thought out by himself for the first time. Within the inconceivable Universe, an immensely superior reason is revealing itself. - The common idea, that I am an atheist, is based upon a great error. Whoever is reading this out of my scientific theories, hardly seems to have understood them..."
Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882-1946). English physicist and astronomer: "Modern physics can only lead us to God, not away from him. - No one of the discoverers of atheism was a natural scientist. They were all only mediocre philosophers."
Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961). Austrian physicist, creator of wave mechanics, Nobel Prize winner 1933: "They (the constructual units of the living) are not the clumsy work of men, but the finest master-piece, which has ever been completed according to the basic principles of God’s quantum mechanics."
Heinrich Vogt (1890-1966). German physical astronomer, Professor and Director of the planetarium in Jena and Heidelberg: "The world’s existence cannot be understood by its structure. It can also not be through itself. It demands an origin, which itself needs no origin. It is pointing far beyond itself into the transcendental, towards an ultramundane source, towards a higher, supernatural power, whose essence we shall never be able to grasp with the methods of natural science... Natural science and true religion are in no case in opposition towards each other; they do rather complement each other."
Claude Macy Hathaway (born 1902). American physicist and engineer, creator of the electronic brain: "Modern physics is teaching us, that Nature is unable to order itself. The Universe represents a large mass of order. Thus, the Great First Cause is needed, who himself is not under the second law of energy conversion, who is supernatural."
The First Cause
Why is there a universe, with its matter, energy, and physical laws? Who has caused it to become, to arise, to be there, and to exist? Who is this First Cause? - Many great scientists - as we have seen -, have concluded that God has made it, that he is the First Cause. - But which God? What is his name?
The true God has revealed himself to mankind in two ways:
They do complement each other. Natural science shows us the true God as the Great Scientist, the Maker of the universe, as the Great Mathematician. He exists above and outside the time and space of the physical world. He is the First Cause. He has thought out and made the universe, its hardware and software. - But natural science cannot tell us, who this Creator is. It cannot tell us, what his name is.
The true God has revealed his name and his purpose with mankind in his written Word, the Bible. We find it in the second book of the Bible, in Exodus. Moses has written it down in 1512 B.C.E. in the wilderness of the Sinai-Peninsula, some 3.5 thousand years ago. We read in Exodus 3:13-15, according to the New World Translation (1984):
"Nevertheless, Moses said to the true God: ‘Suppose I am now come to the sons of Israel and I do say to them: ‘The God of YOUR forefathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’ What shall I say to them?’ At this God said to Moses: ‘I SHALL PROVE TO BE WHAT I SHALL PROVE TO BE:’ And he added: ‘This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel: ‘I SHALL PROVE TO BE has sent me to YOU.’ Then God said once more to Moses:
"‘This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘Jehovah the God of YOUR forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to YOU. This is my name to time indefinite, and this is my memorial of me to generation after generation.’"
What does the name of the true God, the God of the Bible, mean? - In the New-World-Translation of the Holy Scriptures - With References (1986), we read in the footnote on Exodus 3:14 about "I SHALL PROVE TO BE WHAT I SHALL PROVE TO BE": In Hebrew: ’Eh.yéh ’Ashér ’Eh.yéh. God’s own self-designation.
In the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (1984) Appendix, p. 1561, we read about the divine in the Hebrew Scriptures: "Jehovah (Hebr. YHWH), God’s personal name, first occurs in Ge. 2:4. The divine name is a verb, the causative form, the imperfect state, of the Hebrew verb ha.wáh, ‘to become’. Therefore, the divine name means ‘He Causes to Become.’ This reveals Jehovah as the One who, with progressive action, causes himself to become the Fulfiller of promises, the One who always brings his purpose to realization. ... The greatest indignity that modern translators render to the Divine Author of the Holy Scriptures is the removal or the concealing of his peculiar personal name. Actually his name occurs in the Hebrew text 6,828 times as YHWH or JHVH.