What — or who — created the universe?

The moment of proof arrives. Tom proposes to Roger an impossible experiment with Camões's poem, invokes the calculation that disturbed a convinced atheist — and shows why the correct question about God is not who, but what.

— I am beginning to understand your point of view. But tell me: can you prove that the universe is not the work of chance?

— Of course! — says Tom — The simple fact that chance does not exist is already a proof in itself. But I could add yet another.

— Which one? — asks Roger.

— My dear Roger, do the following: gather sheets of paper, and on each one place each of the letters that make up the poem The Lusiads, as well as each comma, each full stop, each space... everything. Take all those papers and get into a helicopter. When you are high up, throw all those papers down to the ground. If chance exists, it will arrange them all so as to form that poem. Make as many attempts as you like. On the day you achieve that feat, tell me, and I will abandon my conviction of the existence of God and will come to admit that chance exists and that it is the cause of the universe. And notice, that poem is a far smaller and simpler work than the universe. When you succeed, let me know.

Roger, smiling, says:

— It is a magnificent image. But I imagine there is a way to make it even more concrete.

— There is. The mathematician Fred Hoyle calculated that the probability of the proteins necessary for the simplest life forming by chance is one in ten to the power of forty thousand. To give you an idea, there are approximately ten to the power of eighty atoms in the entire observable universe. A number with forty thousand zeros surpasses any human notion of possibility. Hoyle, who was a convinced atheist, was so disturbed by this calculation that he ended up admitting that life could not be the work of chance. His own words were: The probability of life having arisen by chance is comparable to the probability of a hurricane sweeping through a scrapyard and assembling a Boeing 747. And notice — Hoyle was not religious. He was a scientist who followed the numbers as far as they led him.

— It is impossible! — says Roger.

— Just as it is impossible that the universe is the work of chance.

Roger, realising that his atheistic conviction was going down the drain, says:

— All right, nothingness does not exist. Chance does not exist. But that does not prove that the universe is truly the work of God.

Tom became excited by his friend's question and said:

— The universe exists, correct? Then, whatever created the universe is what I call God. Other people call it by many other names. Names do not matter. What matters is the being. The cause of causes. The primary cause of all things.

Roger, thoughtful, says:

— But Tom, is calling it God not giving it characteristics that we cannot prove? It could simply be a force, an energy, something impersonal.

— That is a legitimate observation, Roger. And notice one thing — the correct question is not who God is, because who already presupposes a personal, human figure. The correct question is what God is. And what reason tells us is that this cause exists, that it is intelligent — because it produced laws and order

— that it is eternal — because if it had had a beginning it would require a prior cause — and that it is unique — because if there were two primary causes, one would necessarily be superior to the other, and that one would be the true primary cause. Call it what you will. What you cannot deny is the being.

Roger, raising his hand, says: — Wait, Tom. Before I accept that, there is a contradiction that troubles me. You say that this cause created the universe. But science says that nothing is created, everything is transformed. If nothing is created, how could this cause have created the universe? Either nothing is created, or the universe was created. It cannot be both.

Tom smiles and says: — The law that nothing is created and nothing is destroyed is a law that operates within the universe, after it exists. It is a law of the system. But the primary cause is not within the system — it is the cause of the system. It was the cause that established that very law. The creation of the universe is not a transformation of energy that already existed. It is the origin of energy and of the laws that govern it. Conservation applies to what is within the universe, not to the act that gave rise to it. That is why there is no contradiction: within the universe, nothing is created; but the universe itself was created.

Roger nods slowly: — The rule holds for the game, but not for the one who invented the game.

Tom smiles: — You could not have put it better.

Excerpt from the work The Great Discovery, by César Manuel Malainho de Oliveira.
Read the full work · Listen to the work