The Transcendental Argument

I always love hearing arguments for the Existence of God, seeing God transcend through space and time, through all matter and existence, ignites a sense of joy inside of me. Although, no argument could fully prove the existence of God, I do believe some, show God’s existence as more probable than others. Recently, I stumbled across a debate between Greg Bahnsen and Gordon Stein. Bahnsen, a Christian Philosopher, presented one of the most convincing arguments for the existence of God that I have ever heard. Bahnsen, used what he called the transcendental argument, to attempt to show the probability of God. So what does this argument consist of?

It looks similar to C.S. Lewis Moral Argument. In fact, you could conclude that Lewis’ Moral argument does have transcendent properties, in order for Lewis’ argument to work, he has to show that Morals transcend the human race. Although, to most, morals may come as intuitively objective, some atheist still attempt to explain away morals as evolutionary bi-products. So, instead of using morals as the catalyst for the transcendental argument, Bahnsen used, logic, as an additional way, to show the existence of God. I must note here the importance of a transcendental object. Essentially, transcendental objects transcend the human species, meaning, they exists as truth for every human being. Therefore, evolution has no part in the establishment of transcendental truths, for example 2+2 will always equal 4, no matter who, what, when, or where. So the question for both the Atheist and the Theist; How are transcendental objects established?

Bahnsen intelligently puts it this way:

The transcendental proof for God’s existence is that without Him it is impossible to prove anything. The atheist worldview is irrational and cannot consistently provide the preconditions of intelligible experience, science, logic, or morality. The atheist worldview cannot allow for laws of logic, the uniformity of nature, the ability for the mind to understand the world

Basically, Bahnsen has masterfully shown that  Darwinian evolution, cannot account for transcendental objects. The Atheist cannot explain why 2+2 equals 4 for all human beings. According to the atheist worldview all of creation exists because of an accident, so how could the laws of logic that transcend human existence, and moreover time itself, come about due to an accident? Something outside of the human species has established logic. Something that I view as God. Take a listen to the Bahnsen debate and see for yourself.