Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
sometimes, i run into this train of thought in conversations about the origins of the universe:
if the universe exists, what created it?
common answer: god
what created god?
common answer: god always existed
as carl sagan put it, why not take out a step?
why don't we just say: the universe and matter always existed?
is it that hard to believe that existence has always existed in some form or another?
Well the only problem with your hypothesis is the fact that it is wrong, or extremely unlikely.
All of our evidence to date indicates that the universe was generated in a single moment, at least what became the universe anyway.
The microwave background radiation was predicted to be at a temperature of 2.76 Kelvin when the big bang theory was proposed. In fact, they have
confirmed that the microwave background radiation, at present time, is very close to this temperature.
So why is it in the microwave wavelength of the spectrum you might ask,
That is because the microwave background radiation was actually within the visable light spectrum immediately following the big bang. Due to the
distance the light had to travel after the expansion of the universe and the continued expansion of the universe, the light became shifted into longer
wavelengths and began to cool.
The big bang model also correctly predicted the porportions of elements in the universe created after the era of nucleosynthesis. about 74% hydrogen
and and 24% helium and 2% heavier elements.
If you examine certain mysteries in the universe, such as gravitational constant needed to form protostars, you almost have to believe in divine
intervention. The reason being that if the numbers were off by even a tiny fraction, the universe could not exist the way it does.
[edit on 11-12-2006 by XphilesPhan]