To Start With ...

Everything has a cause.  This is not the same as saying everything has a reason, though, in the strictest sense, that is also true.  It is not often easy to determine the "why," but he "how" is pretty much clear if one digs deep enough.

That brings me into "controversy" for two blogs in a row!  Let's be honest: controversy gets more viewers.  But that does not deter me from stating unequivocally that there are some things that are true anyway, no matter if other people don't think so.

Professional scientists spend a lot of time researching "cause and effect" to determine ways to prevent certain things from happening by addressing the cause.  In medicine, this means testing to find the malady behind the symptoms.  Once the cause is found, the symptoms can be treated with confidence.  In many cases, the cause can be eliminated or repaired, thus curing the patient.

Other times, though, the search for a cause leads to unwanted conclusions.  That is the predicament of secular science when it comes to "origins." Not wanting to be persuaded by the argument that there must be a "First Cause," which philosophers of old called "God," they choose what seems to me to be illogical: chance.   That is, they believe that all that exists came by some sort of cosmic accident.

The old "constant state" theory had proven too unreasonable, giving rise to modern "creation myths" about everything coming about from a spontaneous eruption of what some even call "nothing" or "nothingness."  The later is a state of nonexistence.  What caused it to happen?  Happenstance is the only thing they can come up with. "It just happened."

Again, I don't have the intelligence--or imagination--of such cerebral giants as Stephen Hawkins, or even Richard Dawkins, so I have to depend upon ancient wisdom that cannot be measured in intellect.  To me, the truth is what we all know instinctively--someone, or something, caused things to come to pass.  To me, the first words of Genesis state it simply: B'reshi bara.  In the Hebrew, the action comes before the actor.  One then reads the next word to determine who was acting.

Literally, "At first, He created."  Who did this? The word describing the Actor in this case is Elohim. That word comes from the root for "Strength." He who we call "God" had to be powerful enough for the task.  In literal "words in stone" the Fourth Commandment confirms that the One who did this was the One Who Is.  The One powerful enough to create the universe was, and  is in a "constant state."  The Creator is that First Cause to which all things are the "effect."

So What Do I Know?

I know there was a "First" Cause.

That First Cause was powerful far beyond comprehension.