Why is there anything? (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, March 31, 2012, 15:56 (4621 days ago) @ David Turell

MATT: In other words: If God created the universe either panentheistically or as an act of "special creation" then by definition the universe came from something. Something from nothing is impossible, even when you invoke a deity.-DAVID: How do you justify that statement. A universal mind can will the universe into existence.-Matt and I are in complete agreement here. The point we are trying to get across is that a universal mind, whether panentheistic or separately creative, is SOMETHING, so even in your theology, David, it cannot be argued that the universe came from nothing, since you believe it came from God (= something).-And just to reiterate, the alternative is that the universe itself is the eternal first cause ... the Big Bang (if it happened) simply being one variation in an infinite history of variations. Matt, though, says he's "starting to believe in a static universe again". My alternative first cause ... eternal energy for ever randomly transmuting itself into different forms of matter ... is anything but static!