Follow the Source
The workbook calls a human being contingent: we receive existence rather than possessing it independently. Follow the relationship, then test what it would mean to call a dependent being “God.”
Contingent being · Received existence · Eternality
Where does existence come from?
Reveal each step in the family example. Then evaluate four claims about dependence and deity.
Explore the example
A child receives life
The child did not bring herself into existence. Select “Trace one step” to follow the workbook’s question.
Receiving existence from another is the point of the example.
Test the reasoning
Choose an answer.
Explain the conclusion
If a proposed deity was itself made by another being, it would depend on a prior source. The workbook’s test asks us to distinguish such a dependent being from God as eternal and uncaused.
Discuss: Why does knowing that a person’s parents gave them life illustrate contingency without making those parents the ultimate source of all existence? What question remains beyond this illustration?