Why is there something rather than nothing?

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“Why is there something rather than nothing? The sufficient reason…is found in a substance which…is a necessary being bearing the reason for its existence within itself.” - Gottfried Liebniz

God is a necessary being. That is, God’s nonexistence is impossible. To a believer, it is impossible that God cannot exist. So, why is there something rather than nothing.? There is something rather than nothing because it is impossible for there to be nothing. God exists necessarily.
 
So you can ask that question, nothing doesn’t do anything.
 
hangnail said:
“Why is there something rather than nothing? The sufficient reason…is found in a substance which…is a necessary being bearing the reason for its existence within itself.” - Gottfried Liebniz

God is a necessary being. That is, God’s nonexistence is impossible. To a believer, it is impossible that God cannot exist. So, why is there something rather than nothing.? There is something rather than nothing because it is impossible for there to be nothing. God exists necessarily.
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If it is impossible for there to be nothing, then that answers your question.Adding “God” to the equation is redundant, at least as an answer to this particular question.
 
Tomdstone said:
Are there questions which may not have answers?
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How about this Tomdstone - if I was to cut a length of string in half, and half again, and again and again - for a thousand years, would the time come when half of something is nothing?
 
pete_bowes said:
How about this Tomdstone - if I was to cut a length of string in half, and half again, and again and again - for a thousand years, would the time come when half of something is nothing?
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Not exactly nothing, but there since atoms are discrete particles, there would come a time when you were down to one indivisible particle. This is the case in the physical world for your physical string. This contrasts sharply to the real line in the mathematical world, where even after cutting the mathematical real line as you describe for a billion years, you could always cut the remaining piece of the mathematical real line in two.
 
hangnail said:
“Why is there something rather than nothing? The sufficient reason…is found in a substance which…is a necessary being bearing the reason for its existence within itself.” - Gottfried Liebniz

God is a necessary being. That is, God’s nonexistence is impossible. To a believer, it is impossible that God cannot exist. So, why is there something rather than nothing.? There is something rather than nothing because it is impossible for there to be nothing. God exists necessarily.
Click to expand...
It also works if you say that the universe itself is a necessary being, and has the added benefit of being simpler, with no intermediate creation.
 
belorg said:
If it is impossible for there to be nothing, then that answers your question.Adding “God” to the equation is redundant, at least as an answer to this particular question.
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The theistic explanation for why there is something rather than nothing is because God exists necessarily. There is no atheistic explanation.
 
hangnail said:
The theistic explanation for why there is something rather than nothing is because God exists necessarily. There is no atheistic explanation.
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You said, “There is something rather than nothing because it is impossible for there to be nothing.” That means that complete nothingness leads to a contradiction. So, there has to be something. Now, there are a whole bunch of “somethings” beside God, that have the advantage of being much simpler.
 
belorg said:
You said, “There is something rather than nothing because it is impossible for there to be nothing.” That means that complete nothingness leads to a contradiction. So, there has to be something.
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You’re taking that out of context. The reason there is something rather than nothing is because God exists necessarily. It is impossible for God not to exist. (God is something.) So, there is a theistic explanation why there is something rather than nothing. There is no atheistic explanation.
belorg said:
Now, there are a whole bunch of “somethings” beside God, that have the advantage of being much simpler.
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The only simpler thing than God is “nothing.”
 
belorg said:
I know most philosphers hold to this, but I have never seen a convincing argument for why this is the case.
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Name one thing in the universe that is not contingent (not dependent on something else for its existence)?
 
belorg said:
You said, “There is something rather than nothing because it is impossible for there to be nothing.” That means that complete nothingness leads to a contradiction. So, there has to be something. Now, there are a whole bunch of “somethings” beside God, that have the advantage of being much simpler.
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God is inherently simple; that is what makes him so difficult to reason about. There is no other being as simple or powerful.
 
ivebeenshown said:
God is inherently simple; that is what makes him so difficult to reason about. There is no other being as simple or powerful.
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How can God be simple if He became man and while on earth presented a different tone from that which we see in the Old Testament?
 
We can’t know why there is anything.

Christianity teaches me that love is the reason for everything. But love proceeds from being and why is there being in the first place? I’ll spend eternity seeking the answer.
 
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