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	The First Cause Argument
		There seem, at first glance, to be two possibilities: either we eventually reach the first event in the series, the cause at the beginning of the universe that set everything going, or there is no first event in the series and the past stretches back into infinity.
		The first cause argument tells us that the second of these is not possible, that the past cannot stretch back into infinity but rather must have a beginning.
		There are several objections to the first cause argument, but if it is successful then it establishes the existence of a Creator that transcends time.
	www.existence-of-god.com /first-cause-argument.html (797 words)

	Cosmological argument - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The phrase "first cause" is sometimes used as an alternative noun for God among individuals uncomfortable with the historical and religious meanings associated with the term.
		According to the cosmological argument, the cause of the first event would necessarily be a being which is capable of causing other events, but which is not itself caused.
		An early argument for the finite age of universe (and hence the first cause) was based on the second law of thermodynamics and growth of entropy.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/First_cause (2140 words)

	CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Cause
		Cause, as the correlative of effect, is understood as being that which in any way gives existence to, or contributes towards the existence of, any thing; which produces a result; to which the origin of any thing is to be ascribed.
		This first moving cause must, on Aristotle's principle, be an absolute actuality, since, were it not entirely in act, it could not be the moving cause of all things nor keep them eternally in motion.
		With certain important modifications concerning the eternity of the material cause, the substantiality of certain formal causes of material entities, and the determination of the final cause, the fourfold division was handed on to the Christian teachers of patristic and scholastic times.
	www.newadvent.org /cathen/03459a.htm (8941 words)

	Summa Theologica (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		But evil has no formal cause, rather is it a privation of form; likewise, neither has it a final cause, but rather is it a privation of order to the proper end; since not only the end has the nature of good, but also the useful, which is ordered to the end.
		On the other hand, evil is caused in a thing, but not in the proper effect of the agent, sometimes by the power of the agent, sometimes by reason of a defect, either of the agent or of the matter.
		It is caused by reason of the power or perfection of the agent when there necessarily follows on the form intended by the agent the privation of another form; as, for instance, when on the form of fire there follows the privation of the form of air or of water.
	www.ccel.org /a/aquinas/summa/FP/FP049.html (2674 words)

	EDUCAUSE \| About EDUCAUSE \| CAUSE History
		The first CAUSE conference was held in December 1972 in St. Louis, chaired by Jim Morgan and attended by 118.
		CAUSE established its first vice president position, for information resources, in expectation that the association's role in providing its members with a rich array of information resources was key to its future of being an indispensable partner in managing information technology on campus.
		CAUSE Affiliate relationships were established with the Snowmass Seminars on Academic Computing and the New England Regional Computing Program, and affiliate conferences were held for the first time, further expanding CAUSE's professional development program which now included programs offered as far afield as London and Melbourne.
	www.educause.edu /CAUSEHistory/695 (3309 words)

	First Cause (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Not all consequences of a cause are foreseeable.
		A First Cause of a causal chain is not necessarily the same as THE FIRST CAUSE, the mother of all causes.
		The First Cause of the universe would appear to be the collision of the two oppositely polarized Primordial Singularities with a Big Bang.
	www.newphysics2000.org /cause1.htm (2379 words)

	Philosophy 101: Notes on the First Cause Argument
		And there is nothing in the argument to show that a first cause would have to have these other attributes or that from the existence of a first cause it would follow that some other being had these attributes.
		This first member, though a more or less remote cause of all the events that follow it in the chain, cannot itself have a cause, since then it wouldn't be the first member of the chain (its cause would be).
		If, as seems plausible, triggering and structuring causes are scientific concepts in the sense that they can be used only to answer local why-questions, then we cannot produce an atemporal interpretation of the First Cause Argument by retreating to the claim that God is the first or ultimate structuring cause of the universe.
	lilt.ilstu.edu /pefranc/firstcause.html (1544 words)

	SUMMA THEOLOGICA: Is there any supreme evil, which is the first cause of all evils? (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Thirdly, because the very nature of evil is against the idea of a first principle; both because every evil is caused by good, as was shown above (1), and because evil can be only an accidental cause, and thus it cannot be the first cause, for the accidental cause is subsequent to the direct cause.
		Those, however, who upheld two first principles, one good and the other evil, fell into this error from the same cause, whence also arose other strange notions of the ancients; namely, because they failed to consider the universal cause of all being, and considered only the particular causes of particular effects.
		Likewise, because they found two contrary particular causes of two contrary particular effects, they did not know how to reduce these contrary particular causes to the universal common cause; and therefore they extended the contrariety of causes even to the first principles.
	www.newadvent.org /summa/104903.htm (1095 words)

	Theistic Arguments: First Cause (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		The Cosmological Argument, also known as the First Cause Argument, is one of the most important arguments for the existence of God, not only because it is one of the more convincing, but also because it is one of the most used.
		The thought that everything that happens must have a cause, and that the first cause of everything must have been God is widespread.
		So, since not everything seems to have a cause, and the Universe is not a thing at all, the First Cause argument fails.
	www.positiveatheism.org /faq/firstcause.htm (517 words)

	Christian Evidences - God and Revelation
		If this could be repeated often enough, it would lead to a string of previous events or objects and their causes that reach back in time to a first Cause, a Cause not preceded by an earlier one.
		This first Cause, which was before the universe existed, must have the power of being within Himself, because He had no cause.
		First, let us make some introductory comments about the Bible for the benefit of the readers who may be unfamiliar with the Bible's message.
	www.bibleteachings.org /ce1.html (1475 words)

	Encyclopedia article on First cause [EncycloZine] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		First Cause is a phrase used alternately to refer to the Cosmological argument for the existence of God, or as an alternate noun for God itself among individuals uncomfortable with the historical and religious meanings associated with the term.
		Therefore I worship Govinda, Krsna, the cause of all causes." (Brahma-samhitaa 5.48)
		He is clearly identified as the "first cause" at numerous places in the Quran.
	encyclozine.com /First_cause (910 words)

	CAUSE AND EFFECT AND THE FIRST CAUSE. (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		If the first cause is within our definition of Universe, we have come to the end of the chain and the cause is to be found within the singularity.
		Trying to find the first cause by reasoning alone is like the people who tried to establish how many teeth a horse has by reasoning alone sitting around a table.
		This first cause is a person who is beyond time and space, beyond the dimensions of this physical universe but capable creating and idrecting this cosmos.
	www.acns.com /~mm9n/cause/cause.htm (2062 words)

	The First Cause Argument by Peter Kreeft
		If there is no first cause, each particular thing in the universe is explained in the short run, or proximately, by some other thing, but nothing is explained in the long run, or ultimately, and the universe as a whole is not explained.
		If there is no first cause, no being who is eternal and self-sufficient, no being who has existence by his own nature and does not have to borrow it from someone else, then the gift of existence can never be passed down the chain to others, and no one will ever get it.
		He argues that if there were no first efficient cause, or cause of the universe's coming into being, then there could be no second causes because second causes (i.e., caused causes) are dependent on (i.e., caused by) a first cause (i.e., an uncaused cause).
	www.peterkreeft.com /topics/first-cause.htm (2172 words)

	First Cause
		First cause is that part of philosophy that ascribes to God as being the first cause and prime motivator of creation.
		Maimonides: "It is clear that everything produced must have an immediate cause which produced it; that cause again a cause, and so on, till the First Cause, viz., the will and decree of God is reached.
		But we do not find, what is not possible, anything which is an efficient cause of itself; because such a thing would be prior to itself, which is impossible.
	latter-rain.com /theology/firstc.htm (198 words)

	May First / People Link \|
		However, I'm beta testing our new WordPressMU installation (blogs.mayfirst.org) with a new blog that is dedicated to profiling May First/People Link members.
		On the night of Wednesday, September 26, officers from the 9th Precinct of the New York Police Department attacked without provocation members of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project and of its community.
		Two of our community members were violently arrested, and others were pepper sprayed in the face without warning or cause.
	www.mayfirst.org (700 words)

	THE 'BIG BANG' ARGUMENT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
		the first is the cause of the intermediate cause, and the intermediate is the cause of the ultimate cause....
		Aquinas's view that there must be a first cause rests on the mistaken notion that an infinite series of causes is just a very long finite one.
		Finally, even if this argument did succeed in proving the existence of a first cause, it wouldn't succeed in proving the existence of god because there is no reason to believe that the cause of the universe has any of the properties traditionally associated with god.
	www.infidels.org /library/modern/theodore_schick/bigbang.html (4494 words)

	First Cause
		he great difference is that the theist believes, based on what we see around us (cause and effect universe), that the first cause, uncaused, eternal One (God) had the sufficiency within Himself to bring all of this effect into existence.
		That the first cause, uncaused One must be eternal because it is (logically speaking) impossible to bring one's self into existence since it is illogical to conclude that something (someone) could act before it existed.
		The theist then goes on to conclude, quite logically, that if this first cause, uncaused, eternal One designed the eye, certainly this One is capable of seeing.
	www.biblicist.org /bible/cause.htm (502 words)

	First Cause Rebuttal Examined Mark M. Gunderson and Victor Gijsbers (9-01)
		As for this pointing to everything having a cause, no theist arguing first cause would say the deity he believes in had a cause.
		We perceive cause and effect in a limited number of cases, but I'm very willing to accept cause and effect in all cases like the ones we observe.
		Mark: As for this pointing to everything having a cause, no theist arguing first cause would say the deity he believes in had a cause.
	www.positiveatheism.org /mail/eml8768.htm (2138 words)

	First Cause of Motion
		It was, Gentile asserted, a sickness caused by certain planetary dispositions - most astrologers suspected eclipses of the Sun and Moon and conjunctions of Saturn and Mars as prime movers, especially when they occurred in one of the 'human' signs of the zodiac.
		One of the earliest English astrological meteorologists was one Robert of York, a friar who lived in the first half of the 14th century (he may have died of the plague in 1345).
		John Wycliffe (c 1320-84), the man who instituted the first complete English translation of the Bible, studied astrology quite closely, and apparently came to the conclusion that it was unimportant rather than positively evil.
	www.meta-religion.com /Esoterism/Astrology/first_cause_of_motion.htm (3828 words)

	Fr. William Most
		Even if it could cause change by willing change—one moment it would be at rest, not causing change, the next moment causing it.
		If I imagine a chain of causes before that, the same problem exists in regard to each of them no matter how long the chain is. So we must reach that Cause that does not have to get up, it simply is up, that is, it is Pure Actuality.
		The reason why the First Cause does not have to have a cause is simply that it is Pure Actuality, as we proved above, and so needs nothing to actualize a potency for existence; It simply is pure act.
	www.ewtn.com /library/THEOLOGY/CAUSEFRS.htm (648 words)

	What Buddhists Believe - Can the First Cause be Known? (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		In the circle of cause and effect, a first cause is incomprehensible.
		For if the first cause can exist though uncreated, there is no reason why the other phenomena of the universe must not exist without having also been created.
		This is because, cause becomes the effect and the next moment that effect becomes the cause to produce another effect.
	www.saigon.com /~anson/ebud/whatbudbeliev/113.htm (608 words)

	First Cause Part 3 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		The collision, annihilation and explosion that preceded the Plasma Ball is the FIRST CAUSE of the universe.
		The question as to whether a Creator exists (is tied by some groups to the existence of a first cause) is independent of the existence of the universe.
		Without a first cause, seemingly the universe would be one incoherent vast simultaneous chaotic accident.
	www.cosmos2000.org /insights/cause3.htm (1487 words)

	Cosmological argument - Unipedia (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Therefore, everything that is caused is caused by something other than itself.
		St. Thomas' version does not assume that the first cause is an omnipotent, omniscient, and all-benevolent God, but later attempts to prove also that this is true.
		Thus, if one could show the premises of the cosmological argument to be true and show that options (1) and (2a) were not tenable, then the cosmological arguent would turn into an argument for the existence of an ontological argument.
	www.unipedia.info /First_cause.html (2057 words)

	CI200: First cause (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		The universe itself had a beginning, so it must have had a first cause, which must have been a creator God.
		The apparent lack of cause for some events, such as radioactive decay, suggests that there might be exceptions.
		There are also hypotheses, such as alternate dimensions of time or an eternally oscillating universe, that allow a universe without a first cause.
	www.talkorigins.org /indexcc/CI/CI200.html (158 words)

	ARGUMENT AGAINST THE EXISTENCE OF GOD FROM FIRST CAUSE (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Primary to this consideration was the issue of "cause." By the study of cause, the ancient Greeks sought to understand the common factor to all that is in the universe.
		However, this too was rejected in the face of consideration of being as the cause or first principle of all things.
		Thus it is apparent that if one holds a position of Being as cause, one is not compelled to assert that this Being or cause had (or has) no opposite, namely, nothing.
	www.frontiernet.net /~tid/dd/essay_dan_dowsey_argument.html (886 words)

	First Cause Risk Management for Optimal Profitability in Managed Futures
		The significant value 'First Cause' provides for optimizing returns is illustrated by a simple application to managed futures indexes and benchmarks.
		First Cause is defined as consciousness driving an action.
		Since the First Cause of all life is eternal, infinite, omnipotent, and omniscient; one could conclude that First Cause is the only method of risk management that truly allows the unlimited upside of life with much less risk to simply flow into our environment!
	www.internetworldstats.com /articles/art102.htm (1358 words)

	The Cosmological Argument: The First Cause or Prime Mover
		The author argues that the existence of God cannot be deduced on the basis of the universe having a first cause.
		He points out that Craig has committed the fallacy of hasty generalization in his assumption that if all current naturalistic interpretations of a first cause fail, it follows that the first cause is supernatural.
		In the course of arguing that it is possible that the universe came to be causelessly, Smith outlines an argument that it is necessary that the universe began with a big-bang singularity if it began causelessly.
	www.infidels.org /library/modern/theism/cosmological.html (2834 words)

	The First Cause Argument (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		For example, the alarm clock’s ring causes you to wake up, but it is the effect of your having set it.
		It only proves that either there is a first cause, or that the universe has existed forever
		Something has to be the cause of change, which is not itself changed.
	personal.ecu.edu /hullg/intro/firstcause.htm (576 words)

	SUMMA THEOLOGICA: The procession of creatures from God, and of the first cause of all things (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		The procession of creatures from God, and of the first cause of all things
		Is God the efficient cause of all beings?
		Is God the exemplar cause of beings or are there other exemplar causes?
	www.newadvent.org /summa/104400.htm (124 words)

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