Infinite Causation

Argument.

The infinite causation argument can be formulated as follows:

P1. God is the cause of everything

P2. But something must have created God

C1. Therefore God cannot be the cause of everything

C2. Therefore God does not exist

For Latter-day Saints, God is not the cause of everything and some things are co-eternal with God. The following Latter-day Saint teachings, including those from scripture, show how God is not the cause of everything:

The elements are eternal.1

Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth was not created or made, neither indeed can be.2

The Lord works in accordance with natural law.3

Joseph Smith defined priesthood as “an everlasting principle, existed with God from eternity, and will to eternity, without beginning of days or end of years.4

For Latter-day Saints, the infinite causation argument fails. God is not the cause of everything, therefore the argument is unsound.


Notes.

  1. D&C 93:33 ↩︎
  2. D&C 93:29 ↩︎
  3. Doctrines of Salvation Volume 2 – Joseph Fielding Smith. ↩︎
  4. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 157, 322 ↩︎