Did matter poof into existence on its own, explode and then evolve?

Question

shaminderkaur - Oh, you must believe in God then. Great!

ODDONE - Science has indicated that energy can neither be created or destroyed. So yes, God's power is eternal.

Daniel - What science knows, regarding "what is", had a beginning.
In other words, we see the power of God in the universe, but no where near all of that power.

Answer 1

It may be of some interest to you to listen to William Lane Craig's audio lecture on the subject.

But unlike the previous responder, I disagree that matter has existed eternally. Cosmologists now roundly agree that Matter and Energy both came into being at the Big Bang, as well as Space and Time itself. Therefore, the universe had a definite beginning, which natural physics lack the resources to begin to provide much of a satisfying explanation as to why something exists rather than nothing.

Answer 2

Since -1 +1 = 0, it is possible the sum total of everything is also in a sense zero, which somehow got separated out into the different components at the big bang, which initiated the space-time manifold with its mass/energy actors.

My question is if there is nothing beyond this universe, what caused the big bang to happen 13.7 billion years ago, rather than 20 trillion years ago or 12 days ago. Seems to me some external mechanism must be at play. Perhaps the concept of colliding membranes in M space answers the immediate question, but it only pushes the question further out there.

All the way to 42.

Answer 3

Your question is, in a sense, suggestive of two descriptions of the universe:

- the description of the "evolution" of the universe that comes from physics following the Big Bang (physicists cannot tell you what happened before, or at the moment of the Big Bang), and

- the understandings that come from religion.

The descriptions are not incompatible, and neither are they doing the same "work," if you will. There is a difference between physics and metaphysics.

From a believer's perspective, revelations about the wonders of God's creation do not render those same revelations, as a result of their specificity, less valid. Nor less glorious. Yet the physical world and how it works are vital and integral to our daily living.

From the perspective of someone looking at the "mechanics" of the physical world, religion may not be especially important in divining how things work. Yet the physicist may be devoutly religious (and many are), finding great meaning in the results from the cloud chamber.

Answer 4

Matter always has been and always will be. Would not a god be of matter?
I do believe it expands and contracts in enormous amounts of space and time which would cause pressure excursions of great magnitudes. such as a big bang, seeming to us like a "poof into existence". Matter also has the ability to *evolve a *'bad example of the word" but it can morph over time into a wide variety of combinations of matter. which again can seem like the word evolution. Humans have such a limited experiance of time in the universal experiance as a whole.

Answer 5

Energy cannot be created or destroyed.

Matter is a manifestation of energy.

Therefore, matter was not created and cannot be destroyed. So no, it did not just 'poof' into existance, but rather was always there to begin with :)

Answer 6

Those who proclaim that matter cannot be created or destroyed are citing a fundamental law of physics known as conservation of energy. (conservation of matter really is the same thing)

Turns out that the universe did not always have to obey the laws of physics as we understand them. For instance, when it was a point singularity.



-T

Answer 7

big bang. So that would be all of the above. Some people say God created it all.. but that don't explain where God came from. And people say he just exists. I say the same about everything it just exists. Nobody created it.

Answer 8

Depends how you view life. If you are a Christian, you would say that God made the world and etc for other religions...

Answer 9

No