In this excerpt from Nothing Left to Chance, R.C. Sproul reminds us that if there was ever a time when there was nothing, there would be nothing now.
Transcript
Nothing can create itself. Nothing can do nothing. And people argue about creation and I say to them "do you believe that anything exists now? Do you exist now? Is there anything here?" Even if you think it's all illusion, "do you think the illusion's real?" Where did it come from?" Ladies and gentlemen, if anything exists now—this is elementary—then there never could have been a time when there was nothing. Because the most fundamental maxim of all reason, and all science, and all philosophy is the maxim, "ex nihilo nihil fit" out of nothing, nothing comes.
If there was ever a time when there was nothing, the only thing there could possibly be now couldn't possibly be now. Because the only thing there could be would be nothing and nothing is not something. Not even a little something, not even a microscopic something, not even a subatomic something—it is nothing. And if there ever was a time when there was nothing, there would be nothing now. So there always had to be something—something that had the very power of being within itself or nothing could possibly be. Is there anything more elementary than that. If the equation is God or chance, the only possible solution ladies and gentlemen, is God. Because chance can do nothing.
What does that mean about atheism? I said, "if you believe in chance, that what happens is by chance," what you're saying is that God is not sovereign. And I've never meant a Christian yet—I've meant plenty of people who weren't Christians who denied the sovereignty of God—but I've never meant a Christian who said I do not believe in the sovereignty of God. Every Christian says they believe in the sovereignty of God. But it takes about 5 minutes to probe that to discover that not one out of a hundred Christians believe in the sovereignty of God. As soon as you begin to examine it, there's precious little sovereignty left. If God is not sovereign, God is not God. It's that simple.
