The First Cause

Let me share this demonstration of “The Argument of the First Cause”, the second of St. Thomas Aquinas’ “Five Ways”.

Consider the following scenario:

Imagine that you went to the bakeshop to purchase a cake. Upon reaching the counter, you were informed that you must take a number before you could place an order. However, just as you were about take a number, you find out that you have to take another number. And as you’re about to take that number, you were told yet again to get another number! Suppose that the chain of numbers that you are required to take is infinite. You will NEVER be able to purchase a cake under such conditions.

Here's another case: 

Every effect requires a cause. A spoon, for example, owes its existence to a builder and raw materials. An existing thing Z owes it existence to some cause Y. In turn, Y owes its existence to some cause X, and so on. As with our cake analogy, we cannot have an infinite chain of causes; else Z would NEVER exist. Anything else for that matter, would not come into existence.

But we know for a fact that spoons and cakes DO exist. The chain, therefore, could not be infinite. There must be a Cause that is not in need of a cause. This First Cause, to whom everything owes its existence to, is the being we call God.

Reference/s:
Woods, Thomas E., Jr. (2005). How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. Regnery Publishing, Inc.