The Best Argument for the Existence of God

The Contingency Argument is probably the best proof of God’s existence. When we consider the universe, there are three ways to explain its existence: It either has no explanation, it is its own explanation, or it needs to be explained by something else.

The third option — the heart of the Contingency Argument — is the most plausible of the three.

Here’s why.

Introducing the Principle of Sufficient Reason.
To say the universe has no explanation seems to violate the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which states that when things exist, we look for the reasons why they exist.

This principle governs our lives and all scientific research. When you come home to spilled milk on the floor, you know there’s an explanation. The milk didn’t suddenly appear there. The same is true with science. Scientists don’t approach an experiment exclaiming, “This chemical just happened for no reason.”

If something is contingent — meaning it doesn’t have to exist — you must find the reason for its existence in something else.

You can’t keep tossing the problem to a larger structure.
Some people may contend, “While it’s true that you need explanations for things in the universe, you don’t need an explanation for the universe itself.”

One philosopher gave us an example that illustrates the problem with this thinking. Imagine you find a glowing orb on the ground. Naturally, you’d wonder where the orb came from and seek an explanation. If the orb were as large as a planet, you would really want to know why it exists.

It’s the same with the universe. There’s no reason to stop asking “why?” in the same way we do for trees, bees, and the breeze.

The universe is extremely regular.
If the Principle of Sufficient Reason weren’t true, we’d expect to see many more unexplained occurrences. We’d observe things randomly popping in and out of existence all the time. But we don’t.

Based on what we observe in the world, it seems impossible that the universe has no explanation or explains itself. That leaves the last option: The universe requires an explanation outside of itself.

Atheists may still find that improbable, but remember the words of Sherlock Holmes: “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”