2. Leibniz's Contingency Argument

Ever wondered why anything exists?  Gottfried Leibniz, a German philosopher who lived over 300 years ago, said one of the most important questions human beings ask is, "Why is there something rather than nothing?"  He said the answer to this is ultimately found in God...

Summary

Premise 1: Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence, either in the necessity of its own nature, or in an external cause.
Premise 2: If the universe has an explanation of its existence, that explanation is God.
Premise 3: The universe exists.
Conclusion: The explanation of the universe's existence is God.

"The only adequate explanation for the existence of a contingent universe is that its existence rests on a non-contingent being - something that cannot not exist because of the necessity of its own nature."


Questions

1. If it were enough to simply say, "the universe exists and that's that", why do people everywhere intuitively wonder about the reason it exists... and why shouldn't they?

2. Do you understand and agree with the distinction between:

• Things that exist contingently (because they are caused by something else - they don't have to exist) and... 
• Things that exist necessarily (by necessity of their own nature - they cannot not exist)?  

And why or why not?

3. "It's logically possible that this universe might not have existed", but the same cannot be said of God.  Why not?

4. Is it reasonable to call the explanation of the universe "God"?  Or do you prefer, "The extremely powerful, uncaused, necessarily existing, non-contingent, non-physical, immaterial, eternal being, who created the entire universe and everything in it"???

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