Naturalists only: Is matter eternal?

Question

If matter was NOT created then you are saying that it is eternal.
If matter was created/came into existence then WHO or WHAT brought it into existence?

If you believe in CREATION/ ID, please don't comment.

Edit 1
Zero- Yes I do contradict myself much.
How DID IT come into existence?

Edit 2
Ad-hominum...
rational=to believe in NO god? No, I disagree with that.

Edit 3
Wow LAB you are SO smart! Thanks for the put down but for NOT answering the question.

Eternal= no beginning OR end

Edit 4
U98- thanks for your decent answer. I will have to see that site.

Answer 1

WHY does there have to be a "someone" or "something" that brought it into existence?? Do you understand what you're asking?

Look... what you're saying is: "Ok, so matter has no beginning or end, it is eternal... so who started it? What caused it's beginning?"

Um... contradict yourself, much?

Answer 2

And here I thought naturalists were those people that studied bugs and plants and stuff.
Oh, with a capital letter. Aren't those the ones running around with no clothes on?

Honestly though. Modern physics has done the experiments and found that matter and energy can appear out of nowhere.
http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?chanID=sa005&articleID=0004D0F8-772A-1526-B72A83414B7F0000&topicID=13

even worse is that virtual particles appearing in nothing can react with each other creating real particles that can react and create even more particles.
It has also been shown that quantum vacuums spawn real particle out of nothing as well. A place with no matter or energy would fill up with matter and energy from now where. (literally no where)

as for there being a who or what, it is a bit presumptuous to ask isn't it. I doubt if it was any form of God invented by desert dwelling shepherds.

Answer 3

Well matter and enegry are different forms of the same thing. (See Einstein) I do think that the stuff the universe is made of has always been here in some form. That is just an educated guess and I am more than willing to look at any evidence because we really don't know for sure.

Adding in a "who" just delays the question a step because now you have well who made them and so on. You really don't answer a damn thing that way.

Answer 4

My rules:
#1: There's no such thing as nothing.
#2: Everything That Exists has always existed in one form or another.

My theory: when the previous universe or form of the universe collapsed completely it brought about what is commonly referred to as the big bang which was followed by this expanding universe. Everything that expands contracts or collapses and everything that contracts will eventually expand again.
It's all the same "matter" as you put it. I don't know if quantum physics totally explains it, but they are leaning in the right direction. And many physicists believe in "God". Which I'm guessing is the soul of the universe.

Answer 5

Matter is not eternal. It is a particular manifestation of energy. That began to occur "shortly" (inside joke for physicists) after the big bang.

In 200 trillion years the atomic structure of all matter in the observable universe will have decayed into neutrinos. The universe will undergo heat death and cease to exist.

Answer 6

matter and energy are equivalent (E=mc^2). Matter formed during the first few plank times of the universe (when it cooled down enough). Before that, it was energy (until the beginning of time 10^-43 seconds beforehand, there is no before the beginning).

If you imagine spacetime as a closed 4D manifold, then there is no beginning or end (much like the surface of a sphere, there are no edges).

Answer 7

Um. What do you mean by Naturalists? Like Nudists?

The problem with your question is one of definition- eternal means without end or beginning. A beginning does not imply a creator and twisting language as if it does only makes you seem like
A. You don't know what you are talking about.
B. You do, but you're being intentionally manipulative.
C. You do,kinda, but you haven't thought this through at all- you got it from someone else.

Answer 8

Energy is eternal. Nothing and no one created it. Because nothing cannot exist--by definition--something had to be.

It's simple, but not easy to understand for those who can't think rationally. This is why some grad school programs test logic. But if you can't fathom the rational explanation, feel free to believe in magic, voodoo and talking snakes. I'm a pro-religion atheist . . . for the irrational among us.

Answer 9

If matter is eternal then it was never created. For it to be created it would not be eternal, would it?

We know that matter comes from energy and energy cannot be created or destroyed. Energy always existed and always will in many instances it manifests itself as matter.

Answer 10

All the rules I remember from high school... IS
'You can not create or destroy matter'
Stuff your "don't comment"
this is an open forum
It was GOD and God put every partical and element, every part of (his) self into (his) perfect plan. and where it became in conflict... the evolution factor, corrected the possiable error.
(evolution factor = knowing an instant before and adding a gravitational + to an astroid)
Get real no one knows