Stopper wrote:Well, Bertrand Russell said something similar about a teapot which orbited between Earth and Mars. If someone was to tell you that there was such a teapot, which was so small it couldn't be seen by telescopes, you would probably choose to believe that it didn't exist.
You can't prove the teapot doesn't exist, so you would still have to leave that .00001% uncertainty that the teapot might actually exist, but this is so immaterial that effectively you're an atheist with regard to this teapot. No faith is required as to the non-existence of the teapot.
Interesting analogy. And yet... since we are here, atheists must believe we came from SOMEWHERE... just not God. I gave a spiel on the Big Bang and it's immense improbablity without the presence of a supreme being earlier. If you want to read the full thing, it's on page 97, and some posts following it contain some points as well. Here are some vital points:
Now, how do atheists claim that matter became what it is today? The Big Bang Theory. All the matter in the universe was massed at ONE SMALL POINT (for our purposes let's assume it's the size of the head of a pin) at an infinitely small size, and it exploded, and now the universe is ever-expanding outward at mind-boggling speeds.
But how long was all that matter massed up like that? If matter has always been around, and before it resembled what it is today it was all amassed at that INIFINTELY SMALL point, then logically the argument by atheists must be that before matter expanded into the universe as we know it, it was at that point INFINITELY LONG.
Impossible. Against the laws of physics. Matter cannot exist for ANY longer than an infinitely short period of time in such a condensed form. When there is a high concentration at one point (in the case of our proverbial point in which all the matter in the universe is housed, the density/concentration is near-infinite, clearly a HIGH concentration, right? Wink ) and a lower concentration at the other (since we're talking ALL the matter in existance, this means the concentration everywhere but that one point is zero, so we're talking an infintely large difference between the two), it will expand to fill the difference. That's why, scientists say, the Big Bang occured in the first place, and why we're still expanding.
But HOW was this infintely dense point held together for an INFINITELY LONG PERIOD OF TIME? In a one word answer, I'd tell you the following:
God.
Plain and simple. The presence of a supernatural being is a perfect explanation for why such a point could ever come into existance.
But I was taught by various books and teachers that the big bang occured the instant that the matter reached that infinitely condensed state. That the pent-up energies held within that single point of space that it reached critical mass in such a short amount of time that it couldn't be measured.
Precisely. But what made the matter reached that infinitely condensed state? That's where my view of the supernatural comes in... if everything around is vacuum, what force could make matter defy the laws of physics and converge into an infinitely small point, thus doing exactly the opposite of what the laws of physics suggest, it SHOULD go the other way around, unless there is an external force... see where I'm going?
Here's the main point. Someone posted the following reply to me:
Some scientistst think the big bang might have started as a singularity, i.e. a black hole in another universe, and because singularities screw with the laws of physics the only way for it to continue is to bud off into another universe i.e. ours. In which case we are supremely lucky to live in one that is able to produce and sustain life...
So we came from another universe? The prefix of universe being "UNI", I find that ridiculously unlikely. Probably just as unlikely as you find the concept of a god.
There is no way you can prove that we came from another universe. Nor is there any way you can prove ANY possible explanation for said point of matter's existance, which completely contradicts the laws of physics.
People then went on to say that there are phenomena in the universe no one can explain. If you believe that we came from one of these phenomena, and you claim you can't explain or know them, then is that not faith?
I could see the
sans-God explanation of creation as the teapot just as well as I could see the
avec-God explanation as such.
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