Athesists, can something exist if nothing existed before it?

Question

Engage brain.... Something cannot come from nothing. Even a "stupid" Christian gets that. This universe is not eternal. It began. How can that be stupid to wonder about?

Answer 1

Let me just pull out my degree in science. Oh.. and that video footage I have of the birth of the universe...one sec...

No wait. I don't have either of those things. Sorry.

Answer 2

Well, I suppose that depends on your definition of "something" and "nothing". Could existence appear when there was no existence at all before? I don't think so, though I don't know for sure. Now could matter, energy, p-brains, spacial dimensions, or rules governing any of the preceeding appear? Yes, I have no reason to think otherwise.

You mentioned in your extra details that the universe isn't eternal, but there really isn't any reason to say that any more than there is reason to say that space isn't infinite, as time is a dimension, not all that different from any other, then I see no reason one would ever have to stop moving through time in either direction any more than one would ever have to stop moving through open space. Unless you believe that the universe is inherantly bounded, surviving in some giant box, then saying the universe can't be eternal is silly.

The universe as we know it might be cyclical, it might be a random twist on an old set of themes with a random set of rules, and it might be one out of many constantly being created and destroyed. We have no reason to think existence hasn't always been there, going infinitely into the past, and honestly, even less reason to think that an incomprehensibly sentient being has always been there, stretching infinitely into the past.

Answer 3

Of course not. That's why every single moment in time is, was and always will be. Every single moment is present. I am thinking that NOW is present, the me from a year ago "thought" that THAT time was present. It's not as if there is some "arrow" moving up a dial the way most people imagine it (in which timeframe would this "motion" be occuring?). It only FEELS that way to us.

There is no such thing as time. "Time" is merely a relationship between different universes that we call "moments of time" although strictly speaking it's more accurate to call the entire block "space-time" because different observers will perceive different "slices" as occuring at the same time. The universe as a whole (collection of all these moments of time) is timeLESS, outside of time! This is how you can have the beginning of time, the first moment in the sequence, the big bang. It's really no different than having the rightmost piece on a jigsaw puzzle.

Answer 4

The Big Bang theory is obsolete. Quantum Theory is now going with "crossed membranes". One brane touched our brane and caused a huge influx of matter/energy which is ever-expanding.

That tends to cause a crimp in all of the something from nothing questions, and puts all of the things that were debunked by "energy and matter cannot be created or destoryed, only converted" back into consideration (the statement is still considered true but we have a new source for both which we didnt have before)

It even reopens "where did God stand before everything was created" :-)
Come on people! Keep up with things.

Answer 5

Christians don't wonder about it though, God is your answer. Wheres the thought process in that? Of course the earth was created, there is an excellent theory and even a documentary on it that was on discovery channel. it was called "how the earth was created" or something like that. It was fascinating.

Answer 6

Do you mean like a god? Nope.

Wondering about the origin of the universe isn't stupid, although it really doesn't matter. Inventing and worshiping a humanesque God because you don't know the real answer IS stupid, IMO.

Answer 7

Hmmmm, lemme check.

Well, the last time we managed to observe the creation of mass/energy, what happened was - well, actually, we've never observed such a thing, so we don't know whether or not something can exist if nothing existed before it.

Answer 8

Yes. Read any physics text less than 30 years old that is above high school level.

The observation of mass energy creation is actually pretty common. It just takes a great deal of energy to create a sufficient vacuum.

Here is another mindbender from an official source
http://www.padrak.com/ine/NEN_5_3_5.html

Answer 9

No just always existed,if you mean the universe...Who made God?I believe no one!

Answer 10

Yes.

What if the universe has ALWAYS existed? Matter can't be created or destroyed. The universe is matter, so its not a leap to consider that is has always existed.