Three Basic Answers to the Question of "Existence."

Summary by Roger D. Thome He is There and He is Not Silent by Francis A. Schaeffer. There are three basic answers to the question of "existence." The first basic answer is that everything that exists has come out of absolutely nothing. In other words, you begin with nothing, If one is to accept this answer, it must be absolutely nothing, in other words nothing nothing, which means no energy, no mass, no motion, and no personality. The truth is, this argument has never been sustained, for it is unthinkable that all that now is has come out of utter nothing. The second possible answer in the area of existence is that all that now is had an impersonal beginning. This concept is often called "pantheism." This impersonality may be mass, energy, or motion, but they are all impersonal, and all equally impersonal. The great problem with dealing with the impersonal is to find any meaning for the particulars. A particular is any individual factor or thing - the separate parts of the whole. A drop of water is a particular, and so is a man. If we begin with the impersonal, then how do any of the particulars that now exist, including man, have any meaning, any significance? Beginning with the impersonal, everything, including man, must be explained in terms of the impersonal + time + chance. And, no one has ever demonstrated how time, plus chance, beginning with an impersonal, can produce the needed complexity of the universe, let alone the personality of man. The third answer is to begin with a personal beginning. And, once we consider a personal beginning, we have to make another choice. This is the next step. Are we going to choose the answer of God or gods? The difficulty with gods instead of God is that limited gods are not big enough. To have an adequate answer of a personal beginning, we need two things. We need a personal-infinite God. Only a personal-infinite God is big enough. And we need a personal unity and diversity in God, not just an abstract concept of unity and diversity, because we have seen we need a personal God. We need a personal unity and diversity. Without this we have no answer.