Different in degree or kind (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, November 09, 2013, 14:17 (4032 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: Your "only mystery" is how eternal energy could have acquired consciousness. The atheist could also say that the "only mystery" is the appearance of life and consciousness on Earth. In both cases, wow, some mystery! Either of those is enough to make anybody sit on a picket fence.-DAVID: You make it sound as if the atheist doesn't recognize a first cause. And of course that is why they wsnt a cyclical universe or an eternal universe. Anything to get around a big bang.-I can't speak for all atheists, but since no-one knows what preceded the big bang (if it did indeed happen), and since you and I agree that the first cause is eternal energy, I see absolutely no reason why the big bang should be seen as supporting the God theory. It doesn't make the slightest difference to the argument whether our universe began with a bang, is one of a big-crunch cycle, is one in an existing multiverse, or has been here forever. We don't know what else exists or existed outside or before our universe, and eternity allows for whatever scenario you care to conjure up.