If I remember correctly, Russell thought that if anything could exist timelessly, without a cause, it might as well be the universe and not God. But the problem is, we now know (with some reasonable certainty) that the universe began with the Big Bang. The universe could have been timeless, but it isn’t. Postulating that there is a timeless First Cause outside the universe solves this problem, since there is no similar theory that shows God has a cause, though it’s not a falsifiable or very satisfying solution.
We really don’t know with much certainty that the universe began with the Big Bang. For instance, if “eternal inflation” is right then what we call the Big Bang was the beginning of “our” universe but not of the universe.
If I remember correctly, Russell thought that if anything could exist timelessly, without a cause, it might as well be the universe and not God. But the problem is, we now know (with some reasonable certainty) that the universe began with the Big Bang. The universe could have been timeless, but it isn’t. Postulating that there is a timeless First Cause outside the universe solves this problem, since there is no similar theory that shows God has a cause, though it’s not a falsifiable or very satisfying solution.
We really don’t know with much certainty that the universe began with the Big Bang. For instance, if “eternal inflation” is right then what we call the Big Bang was the beginning of “our” universe but not of the universe.