Apologetics: Debunking Deconstruction – Why Can’t the Universe be Eternal?

In a conversation I had with an atheist, I was asked the question “Why can’t the universe be eternal, conscious, and all-knowing?” Somehow, this is supposed to show a double standard in Christian thinking since we claim that God is all those things, but don’t believe that the universe can be. Additionally, this line of thinking isn’t just something you see in atheism. It’s something that pops up constantly throughout a myriad of world religions. So why can’t the universe be eternal, conscious, and all-knowing?

To begin, let’s look at the question of eternity define what makes something “eternal.” Eternity is a state of infinity; it’s never ending. It has no beginning and no end. That means that if something is eternal, it can’t have just popped into existence, and it can’t have an end.

With that in mind, we can safely say that the universe isn’t eternal. While there are many theories about how this will happen (such as the Big Crunch), scientists agree that the universe will end at some point. If the universe were to end then, it cannot be eternal. Eternity cannot end. In fact, the universe reaching its end at some point actually proves that it had a beginning. It can’t have always been there.

Then there’s the question of “Can the universe be conscious?” This has been a point of debate amongst philosophers and scientists alike for centuries. However, consciousness is the state of being aware of oneself and one’s environment. It’s the ability to feel emotion and to react to stimuli. If you cut a conscious being, they will flinch and probably get angry. If you cut an unconscious being, they will have no reaction whatsoever.

By that standard alone, they universe can’t be conscious because it does none of that. Sure, some things may induce some sort of reaction (i.e. an asteroid hits another asteroid and they shatter), but does it do anything to react to it on an emotional level? Does it care about what happened? No.

Interestingly, the very suggestion that the universe is conscious rest on something that atheists, in their pursuit of ignoring the supernatural completely, try to frequently deny: the existence of a soul. According to an atheist worldview, there really isn’t much separating us from a rock. Sure, we may be the result of more advanced chemical reactions, but taken to its logical conclusion, according to atheism, everything about us is just from random atoms bumping into each other. There really is no inherent value to us. And technically, if everything is just a mix of random chemical reactions, then can we truly be any more conscious than a rock is?

Consciousness in of itself requires the existence of a soul to separate us from everything else. What that means for atheists is that it could be possible for the supernatural – the thing they deny – to exist.

Finally, there’s the question of “Can the universe be all-knowing?” In order for something to be omniscient, it first needs to be conscious. We’ve already established that the universe isn’t conscious, so the claim that it’s all-knowing is already on shaky ground. Second, an all-knowing entity must be able to know the past, present, and future, which would imply that it lives in a state unencumbered by time – that it’s eternal. Already, we know that the universe is time-bound and can’t be eternal, which, combined with the first criteria, means that the universe can’t be all-knowing. It’s a created thing. Even if I were to give it the benefit of the doubt and said that it has a soul and is conscious to some degree, it can’t be God because it’s not all-knowing and it’s not eternal. It is not the Alpha and Omega.

Until next time,

M.J.