In The Beginning? (Origins)

by David Turell , Monday, December 15, 2008, 02:34 (5821 days ago) @ BBella

But, one thought I see that is often used or refered to in the guide, aand/or sometimes taken for granted, is the question or belief of a beginning, or origin of all that IS...as if a beginning is a must? - BBella: The way a beginning has been discussed in past threads is whether the Big Bang was a true single creation from an absolute void OR are we really part of an eternal gigantic multiverse with new universes popping in and out of existence from each other like a giant sink full of detergent soap bubbles, all connected with each other. One theory is that a new one comes about through a black hole. Another eternal theory is that we are part of giant set of parallel membranes (from string/membrane theory)and universes are restarted by the membranes coming in contact, which reverses the universe's expansion. It contracts and goes back to a new Big Bang. String theory allows for an infinite number of universes. So there are only two alternatives: a beginning or an eternal scheme.
 
> Scientist state the possibility of a big bang in "theory" but is this theory any more reliable than the first verse of the bible? When I studied Hebrew back years ago I remember this verse was also to mean another beginning of earths cycle not that it was the beginning of all things. Also I remember reading that the 6 days of creation was only a metaphor for innumerable amount of years that is giving the order in which they appeared. So, what about the idea there was no origin, everything just has always been, just always been changing? - You are certainly right about the meaning oF YOM: day, year, eon, whatever is called for in the context of the Hebrew. You might be interested in Judah Landa's book, "In The Beginning Of", 2004, in which he reinterprets Genesis, and for example says "biraishit", the first word of Genesis really means "in the beginning of [God's creation of the heaven and the earth]". But Genesis says there was a beginning, and Nahmanides in his 13th century "Commentary on the Torah, Genesis 1:1" describes the creation just as the Big Bang theory states. (See "Genesis and the Big Bang",pg. 65, by Gerald L. Schroeder, Ph. D., 1990) 
 
 
> So, if this is so, (not saying anything is for sure), the question would then be, what part of our conscience, as beings, remains thru this eternal existence? - Do you mean "conscience" or consciousness? Consciousness implies survival of a soul. As humans it appears to me that we have a beginning when we are conceived. Each combination of DNA is unique, as forensic science shows us. There can be no reincarnation. But does the soul it creates in consciousness (probably at the quantum level) last forever?