Are religions manmade and natural or supernaturally based?

Cat writes:If the Big Bang Theory requires the Universe to have a beginning to exist, then there would be a point in time where the Universe did not exist. The Big Bang says the opposite of that: The Universe has existed at all points in time.

Stephen Hawking writes:It seems that Quantum theory, on the other hand, can predict how the universe will begin. Quantum theory introduces a new idea, that of imaginary time. Imaginary time may sound like science fiction, and it has been brought into Doctor Who. But nevertheless, it is a genuine scientific concept. One can picture it in the following way. One can think of ordinary, real, time as a horizontal line. On the left, one has the past, and on the right, the future. But there's another kind of time in the vertical direction. This is called imaginary time, because it is not the kind of time we normally experience. But in a sense, it is just as real, as what we call real time.If space and imaginary time are indeed like the surface of the Earth, there wouldn't be any singularities in the imaginary time direction, at which the laws of physics would break down. And there wouldn't be any boundaries, to the imaginary time space-time, just as there aren't any boundaries to the surface of the Earth. This absence of boundaries means that the laws of physics would determine the state of the universe uniquely, in imaginary time. But if one knows the state of the universe in imaginary time, one can calculate the state of the universe in real time. One would still expect some sort of Big Bang singularity in real time. So real time would still have a beginning. But one wouldn't have to appeal to something outside the universe, to determine how the universe began. Instead, the way the universe started out at the Big Bang would be determined by the state of the universe in imaginary time. Thus, the universe would be a completely self-contained system.

Cat writes:Because, to exist is to be. If there is not existence, then there is no being. For there to "be non existence" is self-contradicting.

Straggler writes:Imagine God in the situation you keep referring to of "before T=0". He is sitting there pondering his own existence. "Why does anything, why do I, exist rather than nothing?" he asks himself.How would God go about finding the answer to that question do you think?

Cat writes:I'm referring to real time that is not determined by the rotation of the Earth

Cat writes:I've explained this already in Message 145:

Cat writes:My point doesn't rely on imaginary time so you can stop bringing it up to me.

AZPaul3 writes:No, your supernatural is not required.

1.61803 writes:OR..........it came into being from nothing. Poof.

Cat writes:I've been trying. Do you know what a manifold is in physics?

Cat writes:That is the classical non-relativistic scalar quantity concept of time.That is not what I am talking about. That is not what the Big Bang Theory talks about, which is based on General Relativity.

NoseyNed writes:That isn't an issue if the sum of the universe's energy and mass is zero. It is my understanding that is the case.

Straggler writes:I am simply asking how you think God would go about answering the question "Why does something rather than nothing exist?" where God himself is the 'something' in question.

Straggler writes:If God asks himself the question "Why do I, rather than nothing, exist?"

Straggler writes:If the laws in question are properties of the universe itself the the laws you speak of wouldn't actually exist until the universe itself existed. Thus applying these laws to the creation of the universe would be unwarranted.How do you react to that idea?

Cat writes:Right, so since the Universe exists then there cannot be non-existence.
That is what you were questioning so perhaps you may now see an answer.

Admin writes:If it was a reasonable question for you to ask about the universe it's certainly a reasonable question to ask about God. Could you please answer the question?

1.61803 writes:link: So as to not post bare links and equations, The proposal that things can come from uncaused causes is a idea that has, and is one of many modern theories, thoughts, dreams, guesses.

Tangle writes:Look, you're not making a point that's difficult to understand. It just resolves to 'God did it.' Fine, we all get that. But It's been pointed out several times by several people that that just pushes the argument back a stage. So who or what caused God to exist? It's hardly an original thought, why are you not answering it?

Admn writes:The question was, "Why does God exist rather than nothing at all?" Your answer is equivalent to, "A supernatural power exists because we exist," just as Straggler stated.

ICANT writes:I thought I was referring to a supernatural power that supplied the energy and mass that was used to create our universe.
That supernatural power would not be natural as it would have to exist outside of the universe.I do call that supernatural power God. You can call it anything you want.It makes no difference what we call it. It had to exist to supply the energy and mass needed to create our universe.If that supernatural power did not exist we would not exist.

Straggler writes:If God does exist and he is pondering the question "Why do I exist rather than nothing" I doubt he will take much solace in your answer that he exists because we do.