Nuke- I'm not the one who said there has to be a god, you did.
I challenged you in that there doesn't have to be a god, but can be. You really did nothing to prove that there has to be a god, as it is- the universe and matter could have always existed in one form or the other... in a singularity or in a laid out universe with galaxies and planets in it. You say there has to be a beginning, and MT's quote shows that even Hawking believes there was a beginning to the universe, atleast in the current rendition, but my point is- it could of always existed.. just not in the form we are familiar with.
The universe could constantly be recreating itself every (insert one helluva huge number here) years, so while we can tell the age of our universe... in the very distant future it could pull itself back into a singularity and then "Big Bang" again back into another universe, and repeat.
A god at any time in our not-so-distant past has been used to explain the, at the time, unexplainable- plagues, lightning, good crop seasons, rain, floods, etc.
In time, we have found the reasons for the above.
All I'm saying is, there doesn't have to be a god... its typically used as a means to explain the currently unexplainable, due to a lack of experience/intelligence on our behalf.
Hortlund- that statement is incorrect. Visit the above website I posted in this thread and read up on the Big Bang universe by clicking on the "Universe" link on that page.
MT- while Hawking is a very intelligent (if not the most?) man, what makes you think he can tell you for certain there is a god?
He certainly can't prove it mathematically.
-SW
