Lee Strobel’s Question

Lee:  If you could ask an atheist just one (or two) questions, what would you ask?

Me:  I would pose an ancient question, one that trades on the cosmological argument: “Why is something here rather than nothing here? Clearly, the physical universe is not eternal (Second law of thermodynamics, Big Bang cosmology). Either everything came from something outside the material universe, or everything came from nothing (Law of Excluded Middle). Which of those two is the most reasonable alternative? As an atheist, you seem to have opted for the latter. Why?"

Comments

[ToNy]

>> Really? It's hard to imagine an infinite Mind being a little hard for us humans to grasp?

About a setting up an appointment time

yup

[Sage S]

ToNy,

Que? What appointment time?

[ToNy]

when the J man is comming (er...or going) depending on how you interpret the verse.

[Dusman]

Regarding endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), creation scientists have done some extensive research on this phenomena, and a most recent article by Shaun Doyle (Large scale function of endogenous retroviruses Journal of Creation 22(3):16, 2008) points out:

"Moreover, researchers have recently identified an important function for a large proportion of the human genome that has been labelled as ERVs. They act as promoters, starting transcription at alternative starting points, which enables different RNA transcripts to be formed from the same DNA sequence. … We’re not just talking about a small scale phenomenon. These ERVs aid transcription in over one fifth of the human genome!"

Since the so-called ERVs clearly have a vital function, this is consistent with a design explanation.

[Joe]

Yes, retroviruses clearly have a vital function. They often kill the host. Nice design.

[Sage S]

"when the J man is comming"

Jesus said no one knows the day nor the hour when He is returning. So of course it is a mystery to us.

But come on - this is not hard to reason through.

1) If Jesus literally meant that He was going to return to the earth in the triumphant 2nd coming within that generation's lifetime, then He would have made a MAJOR false prediction.
2) If this is what He meant, then any number of well-intentioned scribes, or even the apostles could have conspired not to record that statement.
3) By FAR the easiest, most likely, most reasonable conclusion with the most contextual support is that He was speaking figuratively, referring either to OT imagery or to the Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John. Or both. But there is no theory that He literally meant the 2nd coming was in a few years that can make any sense out of that passage.

[Paul S]

Paul S.,

You seem to be hanging too much on the word "universe" by equating it with "existence." Existence refers to anything that is. The universe refers generally to all material objects that exist (that really are). When we posit spiritual realities (mind, spirit, soul, and their attendant properties), we regard another dimension, if you will, alongside the physical universe. This dualistic worldview that ToNy keeps attacking describes a universe with both physical and non-physical entities. -- Sage S

I think here, there is a problem with sematics. I'm making the distiction between what is in reality/in existence and reality/existence. I use the term universe to refer to all things in existence in distinction from existence. And so the universe is not limited to only the phyiscal reality. If something is real and then so it is in existence, in reality as such, it is in the universe. I do not see reality as dualistic. Either something is real or it is not real. To say all that is non-physical is not real is a problem with truth. Ideas are not physical. Yet while the subtence of an idea may not exist or be real, the idea does exist. Ideas are non-physical and real in that those thoughts exist.

Reality would be the sum total of all that exists. If God created the universe, then He is not a part of His creation. That's logical - He can't create Himself, so He cannot be part of the universe. He can govern, indwell, and impact His creation, but He can never be part of His creation. This is God's other-ness, His transcendence. God, if He exists, is part of reality.-- Sage S

The universe is the sum tolal of all that exists. The dictionary - universe(noun) the complete system of all that exist.

Being that God is omnipresent then He is present throughout the whole unvierse too.

All that makes up the unvierse, excpet "reality" existence proper is "in the reality," "in existence."

Does the unvierse exist? Does reality "exist?" Only "existence" is of itself. The universe, what we call reality are all subject to existence. Only Existence is not subject to anything else but itself.

So unless Existence is the God there is none else. Existence exists because that is what it Is. Existence defines reality, not the other way around.