by Perry Hall<\/p>\n
As to the beginning of our universe, I am aware of at least two atheistic positions. This becomes for atheists an either-or proposition:<\/p>\n
Let’s expand on those positions:<\/p>\n
This means we both believe in an eternal “substance” that created everything. Again, we both believe in miracles!<\/p>\n
Your eternal miracle maker is part of the system it created. My eternal miracle maker is outside of the system He created.<\/p>\n
So the question that needs asking is this: if we both believe in “miracles” and eternity, aren’t miracles and eternity part of the definition of “God”? So now we both believe in “God”.<\/p>\n
This moves every atheist out of the atheistic position to a theist position. So the only question now is, based upon our presuppositions, which God do we believe in?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Perry Hall As to the beginning of our universe, I am aware of at least two atheistic positions. This becomes for atheists an either-or proposition: Either you believe that matter came from non-matter – that is, something came from nothing. Or, that matter has no beginning and is eternal, but not living matter –…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[184,139,49],"class_list":["post-92181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-atheism","tag-belief","tag-faith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":93539,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-unbelievers-believe\/","url_meta":{"origin":92181,"position":0},"title":"What Unbelievers Believe","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kenny Chumbley via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 2, June 1994 Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 3, September 1994 Atheists like to portray Christianity as the non-thinking man's sugar stick. They, we are told, are guided by reason and logic, whereas believers hold to antiquated religious superstitions that have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94231,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-created-god-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":92181,"position":1},"title":"Who Created God? (Hall)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall In \"The God Delusion\", Richard Dawkins asks the question, \"Who created God?\" This is a favorite \"gotcha\" question of atheists. This is ironic because atheists often believe in abiogenesis, the scientific theory that life originated from non-living matter through natural chemical processes. I say ironic because theists\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45327,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-faith-of-an-atheist\/","url_meta":{"origin":92181,"position":2},"title":"The Faith of an Atheist","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by William J. Stewart Some time ago, I had the opportunity to talk with a self-proclaimed Atheist. I found it to be a rather interesting conversation. He discussed several things which he found to be adequate evidence to discount the existence of God, none of which stood to any measure\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57582,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-a-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":92181,"position":3},"title":"Is There a God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Keith Sharp In 1986 a famous visitor made a brief tour of the inner solar system. A luminous body with a long, faint tail hurried on its journey around the sun and returned to the recesses of space. The British astronomer Edmond Halley observed this phenomenon in 1682 and,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45325,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-matter-is-amoral-then-atheists-dont-have-an-explanation-for-where-morals-come-from\/","url_meta":{"origin":92181,"position":4},"title":"If matter is amoral then atheists don’t have an explanation for where morals come from","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have followed your website for many years. I have been a member of the Lord's church for nearly fifty years. I have learned many things in life but my greatest knowledge is of God's most Holy Word. Anyway, I have found your article on \"The Failure of Moral\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55075,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/atheisms-faith-and-fruits\/","url_meta":{"origin":92181,"position":5},"title":"Atheism’s Faith and Fruits","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by James D. Bales, reprinted in The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 8, June 1952. Unbelievers constantly bring against Christians the charge that the Bible is unworthy of a place in a scientific age since it calls for faith but men must walk by sight. By the term faith, they seek\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}