Part I
The Kalam Cosmological Argument is probably the most famous contemporary argument for the existence of God because of its simplicity and that its primary proponent Dr. Craig, is well known. Not only is this argument well known but is one of the best arguments for the existence of God.
1.Whatever begins to exist has a cause of its existence
2.The universe began to exist
Therefore,
3.The universe has a cause of its existence.
This is a deductively valid argument meaning that if both the premises are true then the conclusion is also true. Another way of putting it is the truth of the premises guarantees the truth of the conclusion. A simpler example of another deductively valid argument is:
1. All plants are green
2. Roses are plants
Therefore,
3 Roses are green
It should be clear that as long as premises 1&2 are both true then 3 is true as well. However, one can obviously doubt the truth of either premises. If all premises in a deductive argument are true then the argument is sound meaning the conclusion is true. However, if at least one of the premises is false then the argument is not sound. This does not mean the conclusion is false but simply the argument does not give any reason to believe it is true.
When the Kalam Cosmological Argument was first presented, the truth of the second premise was more questionable because the big bang theory was still fairly new. As the big bang theory has gained accpetance it is not doubted nearly as much. But there was and still is good reason to accept premise two on philosophical grounds as well. The philosophical grounds will not be defeneded since premise two will be widely accepted. As for the first premise a person should believe premise one because things do not just pop into existence. There are no horses, unicorns, or popcorn that just magically* appears in our world. So, one should wonder on what grounds is one able to say the universe just popped into existence or why should the beginning of the universe play by different rules.
One question that could arise is the level of certainty a person needs to have in the premises of a deductive argument in order to believe the conclusion. For example, I think a liberal truth estimate of both premises in the Kalam is 90% which means that the conclusion is 90% certain. This means that one does not have to be 100% certain of the premises in a deductive argument to believe the conclusion.
A layman objection to this argument was presented by Christopher Hitchens in his debate with William Lane Craig. Roughly he stated something like the following,
I don't know what a good answer to the beginning of the universe is but it is certainly not any type of God. This my friend is a horrible argument against any type argument for all Hitchens did was state a position without any clear reasons as to why a person should hold that view or which one of the two premises in the Kalam he doubted. If one wants to argue against the Kalam then they must deny one of the two premises or conclude argue the Kalam does not reach the traditional definition of God. This latter objection is what the rest of the blog will be about.
When premise two states the universe began to exist it means the physical universe. The cause of the physical universe cannot be something physical since the question is where did the physical stuff come from. If the cause is non-physical then there are only minds and abstractions and since abstractions cannot cause anything then the cause must be a mind. Since, this being is a mind which is likely like our own in some way, one can conclude that it is able to be personal but whether or not it is in fact person, is still in question.
Now it could be that there are many minds and not just one mind that created the universe but one should not believe in many minds unless the evidence demands it. It is better to only postulate one entity when it can explain the data as well as numerous entities which is only following the rule of simplicity or Occam's Razor.
Part II
Another aspect is of this argument is that ends up leading to a reasonable belief that this mind is quite intelligent and powerful. This is because the mind must be creating out of nothing which is not even imaginable for us. We know that nothing is the lack of everything but we are so surrounded by everything that nothing is no more than a concept for us. But to be able to create out of the lack of everything to everything that is here clearly takes a lot of power and at least some knowledge.
1.The mind created the physical universe out of nothing.
2.There is no good reason to suppose that a mind who can create the physical universe out of nothing cannot do any other imaginable action.
Therefore,
3.It likely that a mind who can create the universe out of nothing can do everything.
It is possible that there is some action which is not imaginable for people and that a mind which can create out of nothing actually cannot do. Although that is possible there is no reason to actually suspect it to be true. Even if it is true, the type of power that this mind has is still something like what people imagine omnipotence to be so that we are justified in believing this mind is what is traditionally called omnipotent.
One aspect of power is the ability to obtain information. Humans with limited power can learn many things but a mind whose power is almost without limits could obtain any amount of information they like. Now, information is this sense is synonymous with knowledge and this mind has much knowledge to create such a complex universe and has the ability to obtain more knowledge. However, it is not clear that omnipotent being because it is omnipotent can become omniscient. This is because omniscience is typically defined as knowing all true propositions. An omnipotent being which created the universe out of nothing is clearly has knowledge of some kind and is probably supremely intelligent but it is not clear that this being is omniscient.
In summary the Kalam argument gives reasonable belief in a mind that is probably omnipotent and supremely intelligent and is capable of being personal. However, the Kalam does not establish if this mind is indeed personal, benevolent/all-good, omnipresent, or omniscient.