Attention Atheists.

U R M T L O L

God said "let there be light" and then the big bang happened.

No-one's thought of that yet, have they?

I was created at the big bang?
FFFFFFFF

This is because they feel that God created the world -- from the beginning of time to the rise of humanity -- in seven days, not in several thousand billenia.

The seven days is metaphorical.

EDIT: and the fact that he "said" let there be light.

This post has been edited by thingy on Jul 22 2008, 01:17 AM

Depends on your religion.

I've attended many a Lutheran (both conservative and otherwise) Bible study and brought up this supposed metaphor when the topic of the first seven days arose, and I can't say the groups took to kindly to the notion. I imagine many other religions are the same way -- the seven days are taken literally, not metaphorically.

Which is ironic, since other parts of the Bible (according to these religions) are supposed to be read "metaphorically" (like the passage that bans shellfish), so I'm really not sure if the whole book is a metaphor or not. It's all very misleading.

This post has been edited by Mrs. Aforcer on Jul 22 2008, 01:38 AM

I doubt it.

the universe wasn't created. it was always there. it doesn't make sense for existance itself to have a beginning.

And if existence had a beginning, then before then there was no sense either -- so what does it matter if it's nonsensible in your limited perspective of it?

as far as i know, this can not be, because if it was, then things would be moving together, or at least, deaccelerating. However, as we all know, the Universe is expanding... it's not slowing down either, it's speeding up.

If the universe was shrinking at present time, it would be decelerating at a humanly immeasurably slow rate. So you wouldn't even "know" if you tried. It's not noticeable. It could take years, maybe centuries, just to move a microscopic amount. The theory that the universe will, in time, shrink, is directly correlated to our belief that it is currently expanding. Basically, the idea is that when the Big Bang occurred, the universe rapidly shot outwards, and as time passed, it's expansion slowed. Once the expansion ceases completely, gravity (if I recall correctly) will take effect, and begin pulling everything back together again. It's like if you stretch out Silly Putty; eventually it reverts to it's original shape and size (which isn't a great metaphor, but whatever).

Dr. Light never said the universe was shrinking now. He said it will begin to after it expands to it's full capacity. If you believe the theory that the universe is expanding now, then logically you should believe that it will also begin to shrink in due time. The theories are one in the same.

This post has been edited by Mrs. Aforcer on Jul 22 2008, 02:01 AM

To add onto Lady-A's point, if the universe were to keep expanding forever, it would eventually become too cold for anything to live and we would all be dead anyway.

You might notice by now that nature rarely does anything to permanently foil itself.

Hey, that's rather catchy...!

Easier to type, too. I'm hoping it's not you guys' real names since everybody will call you by the wrong name.

Like, your bosses would be like "Enforcer! See me in the office."

*open door*
*closed door*

"... it's not Enforcer, is it?"

Aforcer, sir.

"Ah. Sorry about that."

It's fine, sir.

Heh, no, it's not. As I'm sure you know already, it's derived from "Medaforcer," which was a concept taken from an anime from the 90s, Medabots.

Which coincidentally Medaf and I have been watching in our spare time. He has the old VHS tapes.

This post has been edited by Mrs. Aforcer on Jul 22 2008, 02:12 AM

I was never a fan of those silly medabots :<

you make it sound like there's a divine force controlling the rocks in space

One, heat death is very likely cause for the end of the universe and goes along well with what I was saying.

Two, rebuttal time!

If. If if if. We KNOW that the Universe is expanding and we KNOW that it's accelerating. Normally, when we have a projectile like the end of the universe, if it's in freefall (and usually, things are not) it tends to go the same speed. Makes sense, something wouldn't randomly speed up or slow down. You know, newton's laws of motion. Things in motion tend to stay in motion.

However, because of random stray particles, debris, etc, things are usually, not in free fall. This is true in space. What happens when things hit things? Friction! Friction is what causes deacceleration often enough, and as I said, the same is true in space. It would make sense that yes, the Universe exploded, big bang, everything shot outward, slowed down, gravity pulled it back, lather, rinse, repeat.

But it's not slowing down. It's accelerating, which from what I've said so far, doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It should be slowing down, due to friction, or at least, remaining close to it's original speed (okay, maybe not after billions of years. lotta friction).

but that's the thing, it is not slowing down. it is doing the opposite. The reason why is quite interesting but it's right about where my physics class ended so I can't go into detail about it. At all.

EDIT: Here are some links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energy#Negative_Pressure
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerating_universe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_expansion_of_space

This post has been edited by FuzzMaster on Jul 22 2008, 02:22 AM

This actually brings up a decent question.

What happened before the big bang?

What made the big bang?

Some people would say God did.

But then, what made God?

Well, you might say "God always existed," but then why can't you just skip a step and say "The universe always existed"?

There's no point in adding "God" into the equation where he doesn't belong.

I think the current consensus is that prior to the big bang, space and time did not exist.

Could be wrong. I understand that's sort of hard to comprehend.

Last I checked, most of the theories being brought up here are "if" concepts. So I don't know what you're trying to prove, but redundancy doesn't make your argument anymore valid. Sorry.

Also, while, yes, it is still indubitably expanding, scientists are still debating whether the universe is accelerating or decelerating. Regardless -- yes, things in motion tend to stay in motion only if other forces aren't exerted on them. Such as gravity, pressure, temperature (as Draco mentioned), entropy, friction (as you mentioned), etc.

Also just because it's not slowing down now (which is still not a positive fact, mind you), doesn't mean it won't some time in the near or distant future. You even said that some of the going-ons of the universe should, in theory, eventually slow it down, so by saying, then, it never will, you are out and out contradicting yourself. You essentially stated "The universe should slow down due to the factors within it, but it hasn't." Well, no. Not yet. Also, keep in mind -- friction isn't the only thing that can slow things down (as stated above).

If you are still miffed, this should clear things up for you.

This post has been edited by Mrs. Aforcer on Jul 22 2008, 02:42 AM