A tennis ball rolls across the floor...

Something must have caused it to roll -- if it did not CHOOSE to roll under its own power.

(If NOTHING made the tennis ball roll then it could not have rolled, because there is no possibility or potentiality inherent in NOTHING.)

Whatever thing caused the tennis ball to roll was itself caused -- if that thing did not CHOOSE to cause its own action under its own power.

Whatever thing caused something to make the tennis ball roll was itself caused -- if that thing did not CHOOSE to cause its own action under its own power.

And so on.

No event could ever happen in this scenario because all events (like a tennis ball rolling across the floor) would have to be caused by a prior cause, with a prior cause, with a prior cause, ad infinitum. The whole scenario "collapses on itself."

The ESCAPE from this impossible infinite regress is via something that can CHOOSE to make all things happen under its own power.

Only an agent (God) can CHOOSE to make things happen.

Objection:  What if the tennis ball was instead some sort of "cosmic machine" that can randomly make things happen without choosing to do so?

Answer: Quite simply, something would still have to make the cosmic machine move. The principle is the same with a car engine. A car engine "moves on its own," but only after something causes it to start. And NOTHING cannot cause cosmic machines or car engines to start, because there is no possibility or potentiality in NOTHING. Possibility and potentiality are something. If they are not something, then they are directly equivalent to NOTHING. And if they are NOTHING, then there is no sense in appealing to them.


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