that the universe couldn’t have just popped into existence on its own—its existence had to have been caused by something else. More formally stated: 1. The universe had a beginning. 2. Anything that had a beginning must have been caused by something else. 3. Therefore, the universe was caused by something else, which we call God. Let’s briefly look at each part of this argument. I know that sounds like a no-brainer: “Of course the universe had a beginning. How else