Does eternity stretch both ways?

Question

We go on about "for ever and ever" into the future, but surely eternity goes back without end too. (In the same way as infinity is omnidirectional)
So no beginning and no end.
What about creation theory? (Is it a theory?)
What about big bang? (and big bird?)

Answer 1

I recommend you read a wonderful book about physics and time called "Time's Arrow" by Jayant Narliker.

It's very accessible, not at all scietifically wonky, and will give you some amazing ideas about the amazing nature of time/space.

Answer 2

Creationism postulates a God who has always existed; it is thereby a deference of the question.

Big Bang theory postulates an explosion as the beginning of time as we know it. However, something must have triggered that explosion. In the language of cause and effect, the Big Bang, if it occurred, must have been an effect and therefore have had a cause, which in turn must also have had a cause etc. etc. So logically as well as theologically there must have always existed *something* (or some One). So yes, eternity does stretch both ways (though not necessarily in the form of time as we know it). The question is: is it a mathematical (infinite) straight line? Or are the past and the future connected? Is the chain of cause and effect really a circle?

Answer 3

Yes and No. Yes, in the sense that as it goes forward it goes backward as well and vice versa. On the other hand at a given point in time it would appear either to go forward or backward depending on what reference point one is using.

Let me put it simplier this way. Think of the eternal process as a full circle. Similar examples are the seasonal cycles, hydrogen or nitrogen cycles. Let us say at a given point in the seasonal cycle one has to find to be in one of the seasons (winter, spring, summer or fall). Say you are in spring, so eventually it will go forward to summer then to fall and then winter. But as you allow the season to go forward it will eventually go back again to where you had your first reference point which was spring. And so on and so on, so you will see that it is an endless going forward and backward at the same time.

The big bang theorizes that the universe started as a very small dot of high density matter. It explodes (big bang) and expands and slowly cools, as it does it brings about the formation of galaxies and stars. But in the very far future when the last star dies off and turns into a high density black hole which sucks up everything that comes its way the universe will start attracting each matter again and the " Big Crunch" will happen again which will eventually bring about the big bang again. See the big-bang and the big-crunch as the universal cycle while Creation is a reference point somewhere after the big bang.

Take note that the Creation theory started with " let there be light". I suppose you cannot have a big bang without a big light. Creation theory ended with God taking a rest. Imagine what would the universe be like when the last star dims out. Wouldn't it be like God putting the last light out as he goes to sleep for the next big bang in the morning of the next Creation story?

Answer 4

Like a throbbing heart...

Like a boomerang that starts from a central point or origin and curves back into itself, universe exploded outward and will curve back into self, back and forth, like a throbbing heart.

Imagine a line that starts from point A and ends at point B. Now connect point B to A. You still have the beginning and the end but they are one now. If B was eternity with respect to A, it is now the beginning, or point A.

So eternity stretches both ways, just as it does in math. On the axis, past is negative, future is positive, and present is the origin.

Answer 5

According to some versions of the Bible, time has no beggining and no end. Like God. The creation theory goes that the earth was created before man was put on it, and man has only been on the Earth about 6 to 7 thousand years. This is according to some versions of the Bible. I am not sure I totaly believe it all.

Answer 6

We are created so we have beginning but no end. However one who created us has no beginning and no end. This is religious explanation.

Since the science has yet to find answers of many of the questions and its research is still incomplete so we can't establish any opinion on the basis of incomplete research. Thus the religious explanation will have to be accepted until it is denied/rejected on the basis of concrete scientific facts which can be established only at the completion of research.

We can't ask/request/force/compell anybody not to believe anything which has not been proved wrong on the basis of scientific facts. Who knows that the religious point of view will not be proved right at the completion of scientific research?

Answer 7

The past is a memory,
The future a guess.
The begining and an end of time
...is now.
~

Answer 8

Nope, it only goes forward. The past is no longer real.

Answer 9

So many theories, so little consciousness. Infinity is. :))))