Critique One - Part Two - Bad Assumptions

"'Who made me?' cannot be answered, since it immediately suggests the further question, 'Who made God?' That very simple sentence showed me, as I still think, the fallacy in the argument of the First Cause. If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause."

This treatment of the First Cause Principle by Mr. Russell appears at first blush to be pretty logical, but there seem to be some bad assumptions behind his position. Namely the following:

(1) Mistaken Equality. In mathematics we understand the simple formula, If A=1 and B=1 then A=B. In this case, A and B are equivalents because the have the same value, and are therefore interchangeable. Saying A equals unity is the same as saying B is equal to unity. Unfortunately Mr. Russell makes this assumption about God and man, namely that they are equal with regard to causation. It could be stated thus, "If man has a cause and man is equal to God with regard to causation, then God must have a cause." Once we make the assumption that man is somehow on the same footing with God we are no longer discussing Christianity.

(2) Necessity. Man is not a necessary being. Human existence is not a pre-requisite for the function of the universe. We are dependent, this is why we must have a cause. The Bible is not confused here. God is a necessary being, independent and eternal. There has never been a time when God was not. This exposes a small part of the beauty of the Trinitarian view of God, the three-in-one (and we bring in Christ here). God didn't have to create anything because there was community in the Trinity from eternity past. Hence, "In the beginning God created..." He was necessarily there eternally before the "beginning" and created because He chose to do so.

I am not here trying to make a defense of the First Cause Principle in all its detail. I am concerned only with the usage of it in Mr. Russell's line of argument against the existence of God. I believe the assumptions inherent in the First Cause Principle as described by Mr. Russell are not valid and therefore cast no doubt or shadow on the existence of God.