God gives evidence of his existence to everyone (Ps 19:1; Acts 14:17; Rom 1:18-20). However, many choose to willfully suppress their knowledge of the existence of God (Rom 1:18-23). Classical apologetics can unmask this willful suppression of the knowledge of God. Classical apologetics seeks to prove the existence of God by reasoning from general revelation that is universally available to everyone, everywhere. It does not get us all the way to truth that is necessary for salvation. Only special revelation can do that; but it can be a powerful springboard into the gospel. Natural reason can move one towards the truth of special revelation. This kind of apologetics becomes more pertinent as culture changes from an Acts 4 to Act 17 perspective, becoming more hostile to the church & pagan.

Cosmological arguments are part of classical apologetics and are based on the observation that everything that comes into existence, has a cause. Nothing pops into existence on its own. Nothing comes from nothing. Paul asserts in Romans 1: 19-20 that we can know something about God through His creation. This has fostered various arguments for His existence. Among them are the cosmological argument (reasons from the universe as an effect to a First Cause). There are multiple variations of this argument in various forms; all argue from the fact of the universe to the cause of the universe. The force of cosmological reasoning maintains that nothing apart from the existence and activity of a transcendent first cause (immaterial, simple, eternal, etc.) can possibly explain the existence of things within the Universe. Here is one of those arguments – the famous “Kalam Cosmological Argument.”