Editing Cosmological argument (section)

==== Conceptual analysis of the conclusion ====

Craig argues that the cause of the universe [[logical entailment|necessarily]] embodies specific properties in creating the universe ''[[creatio ex nihilo|ex nihilo]]'' and in effecting creation from a timeless state (implying [[agent causation|free agency]]). Based upon this analysis, he appends a further premise and conclusion:<ref>{{harvnb|Craig|Sinclair|2009|pp=193–194}}</ref>

<ol start="4"><li> If the universe has a cause, then an uncaused, personal Creator of the universe exists who ''[[wikt:sans#English|sans]] (without)'' the universe is beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless and enormously powerful.</li>

<li> Therefore, an uncaused, personal Creator of the universe exists, who ''sans'' the universe is beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless and enormously powerful.</li>
</ol>

For scientific evidence of the finitude of the past, Craig refers to the [[Borde-Guth-Vilenkin theorem]], which posits a past boundary to [[cosmic inflation]], and the general consensus on the standard model of cosmology, which refers to the origin of the universe in the [[Big Bang]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Kragh |first=Helge |year=1996 |title=Cosmology and Controversy: The Historical Development of Two Theories of the Universe |url=https://archive.org/details/cosmologycontrov00helg |url-access=registration |location=Princeton, NJ |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-02623-7 |page=319}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Reichenbach|2022}} 7.4-7.5</ref>

For philosophical evidence, he cites [[Hilbert's paradox of the grand hotel]] and [[Bertrand Russell]]'s [[The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman#References to Tristram Shandy|tale of Tristram Shandy]] to prove (respectively) the impossibility of actual infinites existing in reality and of forming an actual infinite by successive addition. He concludes that past events, in comprising a series of events that are instantiated in reality and formed by successive addition, cannot extend to an infinite past.<ref>{{harvnb|Reichenbach|2022}} 7.2-7.3</ref>

Craig remarks upon the [[theology|theological]] implications that follow from the conclusion of the argument:<ref>{{cite book|last= Craig|first= William Lane|title=The Kalam Cosmological Argument|year=2000|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-57910-438-2}}</ref>

:"... our whole universe was caused to exist by something beyond it and greater than it. For it is no secret that one of the most important conceptions of what theists mean by 'God' is Creator of heaven and earth."