Was the Universe Created out of Nothing?

 The most famous scientist in our lifetime, Stephen Hawking, was an atheist and believed that the universe created itself, out of nothing.  Now, as a non-scientist, my first question to Dr. Hawking would be, is this a scientific question or a philosophical question?  We'll never know since Dr. Hawking died a few years ago.  Not to worry, a few other scientists shared his view, so I'll ask again, is this a scientific question or a philosophical question? Here is an article discussing this.  The question here, is obviously not a scientific question but a philosophical one.  You can't prove scientifically that the universe came into existence from nothing.  Certainly logic and philosophy would argue the opposite.  In our human experience and empirical evidence there is nothing that we can point to that came into existence from nothing.  Out of nothing, nothing comes. This was spoken by the leading character of Shakespeare's King Lear.

The Kalam Cosmological Argument is a philosophical argument to support the thesis that nothing comes out of nothing. Philosopher, William Lane Craig, is the most prominent defender of the Kalam Cosmological Argument.  The argument is in the form of a syllogism:  (1) Everything the begins to exist has a cause, (2) the universe began to exist, (3) therefore it has a cause.  Craig published a book on this subject in 1979. A reprint of this book is still available on Amazon.com.  Click here.  Today, scientists agree that the universe had a beginning, dating to 14 Billion years ago (the Big Bang Theory).  It follows, therefore, that this fits the Kalam Argument.  As an aside, I would add that I have heard Dr. Craig speak many times and have followed his career and can say that he is perhaps one of the best philosophers of our day.  Click here for a short four-minute video explaining the Kalam argument in detail.

Up until the early 20th Century, science believed that the universe had always existed, then a man named Albert Einstein discovered that the universe had a beginning with his General Theory of Relativity.  Einstein was in disbelief about this, but his calculations led to a beginning.  To fit in with the scientific belief of the day of no beginning, Einstein thought that he had erred, so he came up with his "Cosmological Constant" equation.  Then when Edwin Hubble discovered what became known as "the red shift;" this proved that the Cosmological Constant equation was not a good explanation.  Hubble's 1929 brilliant observation was that the red shift of galaxies was directly proportional to the distance of the galaxies from earth.  That meant that things farther away from earth were moving away faster.  In other words, the universe must be expanding.  Einstein agreed and said that this was his biggest mistake.  The universe did have a beginning. See the article here.   For those of us who are religious  believers, this was an affirmation of what the Bible has taught from the beginning.  The very first words of the Bible:  "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1).

How do we know what we know?  Charles Darwin, the god of evolution in his seminal book, On the Origin of Species, explained that scientists use a method of reasoning that points to "inferences to the best explanation for causes that we know."  For example, if we encounter ash at the foot of a mountain, we can infer that a volcano produced this because we know that a volcano produces such ash.  For a terrific and thorough explanation of this, see this short video by Dr. Stephen Meyer, the most prolific Intelligent Design proponent today.  Click here to see the video; it is worth watching.

For an additional fine intellectual challenge to Hawking's claim of the universe coming from nothing see this short video by Fr. Robert Barron made about 13 years ago before he was appointed a bishop.  Barron is perhaps the best Catholic intellectual cleric in the United States.  With a sharp mind and a powerful apologetic analytic defense.  Check it out:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-yx5WN4efo&t=8s