Universe
The word universe gets thrown around a lot in debates concerning its beginning and nature. I've noticed that atheists and theists tend to mean different things when they use it. This is at least true for my experiences.
The word universe means: the set of all things.
As a result of this definition, the universe cannot have been created, because even if there were nothing, it would still exist. It would be that 'the set of all things'=0.
The question then becomes, where did existence come from? How did we get something from nothing? (Assuming there ever was nothing)
To this question, the correct response is, "I don't know." This is valid because no one knows. And it may be one of the questions we can never answer with any certainty.
I have a problem with the theistic explanation for a couple of reasons. To say that something created existence is meaningless because, if there was some 'thing' to create, then we had already gone from nothing to something and the question remains.
It also sometimes says that there was existence in "another universe" which is also a meaningless statement. If it is a thing, it belongs in 'the set of all things' no matter where it is.
The word universe means: the set of all things.
As a result of this definition, the universe cannot have been created, because even if there were nothing, it would still exist. It would be that 'the set of all things'=0.
The question then becomes, where did existence come from? How did we get something from nothing? (Assuming there ever was nothing)
To this question, the correct response is, "I don't know." This is valid because no one knows. And it may be one of the questions we can never answer with any certainty.
I have a problem with the theistic explanation for a couple of reasons. To say that something created existence is meaningless because, if there was some 'thing' to create, then we had already gone from nothing to something and the question remains.
It also sometimes says that there was existence in "another universe" which is also a meaningless statement. If it is a thing, it belongs in 'the set of all things' no matter where it is.