Evidence for God, in 500 words or less

The following is an adaptation of an article I wrote for a high school newspaper. I was asked to write an opinion article about anything I chose, so I chose a topic as controversial as I could!

In this article, I will provide (in 500 words or less) rational evidence for the existence of a self-existent, omnipotent, eternal being. In short, God. I'm not proselytizing, but I believe a cogent (logically coherent) argument can be made on this subject. I will attempt to be absolutely balanced, logical, clear, and brief. If I fail on any of these points, please feel free to show my error!

I will begin with a valid syllogism.

Premise 1: Everything that exists has a reason for its existence.

Premise 2: The universe exists.

Conclusion: The universe has a reason for its existence.

Most things are "causal," meaning something else brought them into being - you are the result of your parents, thoughts are caused by a thinker, etc. However, if everything required a cause, nothing would ever get started! This is called the problem of infinite regression. The answer is that not everything requires a cause. Some things have their existence in their own nature, like numbers. How can you have anything without having "one" thing? Numbers are self-existent, but since they are abstract, they are causally impotent - they cannot cause anything to happen. Self-existence and causal power (potency) are necessary to create anything.

Additionally, the cause of the universe must be immaterial, as "universe" is our word for all material things, and material can't exist before material is created. It must also be greater than its creation, as nothing can create something greater than itself. (People create other people, and buildings, and arguments, but nothing eternal or omnipotent. Bunnies make other bunnies, and holes in the ground, but not rational arguments.) Therefore the creator of the universe is more powerful than anything in the universe - which by necessity, means omnipotent.

Also, science tells us that time began when the universe began, as time is integrated into the material of the universe. (Einstein's theories spell this out, but he stubbornly refused to believe that the universe hadn't always existed, in spite of the logical and scientific impossibility of that belief.) Therefore, the cause of the universe must have existed "before" (or exists beyond) time, and therefore be eternal.

Lastly, at the core of our person is the concept of identity - it is what makes us who we are. Our bodies change, our thoughts may change, our names may stay the same - or not - but our identity remains throughout our life. But how do we arrive at our abstract concept of identity? In a word - sentience, which is the ability to perceive discrete feelings, thoughts, and experiences. As mentioned before, entropy prohibits creative forces from developing more complex entities than themselves. Therefore, since we are clearly sentient (as Descartes so beautifully stated - "Cogito, ergo sum") whatever created us must be sentient as well.

To sum up, if the universe exists, it must have been created by a self-existent, omnipotent, immaterial, eternal, sentient being. Now who does that sound like?

Or maybe nothing exists...