the universe created itself, is philosophically impossible.
The atheist asks, “Why?”
Well, of course, before the universe existed it would not have been around to do the creating. Obviously, a non-existent universe could not have done anything! It did not exist. Ask most atheists, “What was around before the universe came into being?” and they will say, as does the well-known atheist Richard Dawkins: “Nothing.” [Richard Dawkins, The Ancestor’s Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution, (First Mariner Books, fifth edition, 2005), p. 613]
Well, we all know that nothing can not do anything. What is nothing? Have you thought about that? Right here; this is what nothing looks like…[fade PowerPoint to black screen]. What is nothing? No - thing. No-thing can’t do anything. It cannot see, smell, act, think, let alone create something. In fact, it sounds pretty ridiculous for me to even refer to nothing as an “it" because nothing is not even that!
Even David Hume (1711 – 1776), one of the most zealous skeptics of Christianity ever, agreed that things don’t just pop themselves into existence. In 1754, he wrote, “I never asserted so absurd a proposition as that anything might arise without a cause.” [David Hume, The Letters of David Hume, 2 vols., ed. J Y. T. Greig (Oxford: Clarendon, 1932), 1:187]
The impossibility of something creating itself is in harmony with a basic law of physics called “The Law of Energy and Matter Conservation.” If you’ve ever had a physics class you’ll recall this. It basically states: “From nothing, comes nothing." Now, I don't know who the rocket scientist was who finally penned this down, but this is considered to be a bedrock law of science. Why? Well, there has never been a single observed instance in the history of mankind in which this law has been violated. Can you imagine turning on the news and seeing the headline: "Nothing caught doing something on film! See the footage at eleven." What? No. You'd think, "What channel is this?! What's going on here."
Even the well-known atheist, J.L. Mackie said: “I myself find it hard to accept the notion of self-creation from nothing, even given unrestricted chance.” [J. L. Mackie, Times Literary Supplement, February 5, 1982, p. 126.]