How did the big bang happen?

Question

I am confused between Christianity and Atheism, i guess i am an Agnostic, The first law of physics is that Energy can not be created nor destroyed, if before the big bang there was vast emptyness, how did the big bang happen? What caused it? Was it an it? Was there anything before the big bang? Ifso what and what came before that? Is the universe really still expanding? Ifso what is beyond the expansion of the universe? what is beyond that?

Answer 1

Well, the short answer to each of your questions is ... we don't know. We don't know what caused the Big Bang. We don't know whether it needed a cause. We don't know whether time began with the Big Bang, or whether there was something *before* then. What we do have are a few theories and ideas (vacuum fluctuations, multiverses, etc) all of which are mathematical conjectures with no experimental evidence to support them (yet!).



The fact that we cannot yet explain everything does not mean that the Big Bang didn't happen. One of the things people often forget is that our particle accelerators like in CERN are recreating the conditions shortly after the Big Bang. We can sit and watch the formation of particles from energy. We can see the interactions and the creation of the matter around us. So there's virtually no doubt about the veracity of the Big Bang theory.



Also, the fact that we don't know what caused the Big Bang does not mean that 'God' is the solution. Saying that God created the Big Bang might seem like an explanation but it isn't. What do you mean by God? How can a God exist without a creator? And if He can exist without a cause, then why can't the Big Bang? Why did God create the universe when He did, and not before then? So adding God into mix doesn't answer the question of what caused the Big Bang either ... it just raises even more problematic questions than you started with.

Answer 2

The Big Bang Theory has nothing to do with atheism. It is not required for an atheist to believe anything outside of the subject of the existence of god. So long as they don't believe in any god that's all that is required.

Also, there is nothing that states that before the Big Bang that there was a vast emptyness. The Big Bang was an expansion event. What was there before we do not know. Yes, the universe is still expanding. What is beyond it, we also do not know.

It is okay to not know some things.

And lastly, being agnostic just means that you do not claim to know whether god exists or not, you can still be an atheist or a theist as they are about what you believe.

Answer 3

It's the first law of the conservation of energy (not physics) so not to be degrading but you obviously don't know enough about the subject of the big bang theory to make a definitive answer (which is very normal) but you should learn the facts of it before coming to a conclusion. Besides the big bang model does not attempt to explain what initiated the creation ( it did not have to be a thinking agent a.k.a., a creator) of the universe, or what came before the Big Bang, or even what lies outside the universe. All of this is generally considered to be outside the remit of physics, and more the concern of philosophy. Given that time and space as we understand it began with the Big Bang, the phase “before the Big Bang” is as meaningless as “north of the North Pole”. Therefore, to those who claim that the very idea of a Big Bang violates the first or second law of Thermodynamics (also known as the Law of Conservation of Energy) that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, proponents respond that the Big Bang does not address the creation of the universe, only its evolution, and that, as the laws of science break down anyway as we approach the creation of the universe, there is no reason to believe that the First Law of Thermodynamics would apply. Most scientists including Lawrence Krauss is coming to the realization that our universe is probably a product of a multi-verse.

Answer 4

This has nothing to do with either Christianity or atheism.



It's physics.



1. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. But both positive and negative energy, in equal and opposite amounts, can come from NO energy. Heat and matter are positive energy, gravity is negative.



2. We think the big bang was initiated by a gauge boson of a field called the inflation field, quantum tunnelling to a non-zero state.



3. We do not know if there was anything before the big bang, or even if there was a "before", but we are working on it.



4. Yes, the universe is expanding. A moderately sensitive radio spectrum analyser and a good antenna will allow you to measure it.



5. There is no "beyond". All of space is expanding, but no matter where you are the universe, you are still in the middle.

Answer 5

"if before the big bang there was vast emptyness"



This is one of the most common questions, and also one of the questions that conveys perhaps the greatest misunderstanding about the Big Bang.



There *was* no "vast emptiness", *ever*. On the contrary, the further back you trace the timeline, the *less* "empty" the universe becomes, until you reach the universe's initial state, the singularity at the origin point of the universe's temporal continuum, when everything in the universe was at the exact same place at the same time.



This is the complete *opposite* of "empty". It's physically and logically impossible for anything to be *less* "empty" than the point in time when everything in existence was crammed into a single point.



This point is what is known as the "First Cause"; there *was* no "before" this point, because that point is where time begins.



Try this link; it'll answer pretty much any question you might have on the subject:



"On the Origin of the Universe": https://sites.google.com/site/alexisbrookex/on-the-origin-of-the-universe

Answer 6

First off I want to clarify something. Our laws of physics are bounded by our universe. We don't know what the properties of "nothing-ness" is. So this means that it could be possible that nothing can instantaneously spawn something. The laws of physics were created after the big bang and so do not apply to instances prior to that.



No Atheist can definitively say something other than God created the universe, and no Christian can definitely say that nothing other than God created the universe. Arguments such as this become pointless when you involve people of opposing views - you will never, ever reach a conclusion.



The universe is indeed still expanding as evident by the hubble constant and redshifts observed in light coming from distant objects.



No one can tell you what exists outside the "bounds" of our universe. I put that in quotes because there is most likely not a hard boundary to our universe. There may be a limit to the distance that galaxies and stars exist (this is well outside the observable universe), and if this is the case then the universe becomes truthfully bounded by the objects that comprise it and you would have empty space that exists outside our "universe".

Answer 7

Energy isn't really an object, it's abstract and literally is 'work'.



At some point something had to come from nothing, to say something came from something makes no sense, because the 'something' that it came from is part of the 'something' that came of it.



It's nonsensical to say spacetime always existed for an eternity before, because eternity is limitless, and the fact there's a 'present' means it has some sort of limit, not extending further from that point.





If there was once nothing (or more correctly: there wasn't something) there was a lack of physical laws, meaning there is infinite potential energy if there are no boundaries of physics. So the instance existence came into existence was the only chaotic event in history, as time began with it, there wasn't time before it. Time is a property of the universe and cause and effect is a property of time, so the first moment of time was a reaction without a cause. All that follows is now bound by cause and effect. because there now IS time.

Answer 8

The big bang is the expansion of the universe and is still visibly in progress.



The rate of expansion is increasing against the force of gravity, so we know some force is causing it. We have labeled this force "dark energy". In this case, "dark" is used to express the fact that we know almost nothing about this type of energy other than its quantity.



(One should not confuse a possible origin of the universe with the big bang. There is no evidence for or against the universe having an infinitely long past.)

Answer 9

Here is a free video lecture you can check out



God and Modern Physics – Module 2 Video

The Big Bang Theory and the Parameters of our Universe



God and Modern Physics – Module 3 Video

Evidence for the Standard Big Bang Model



God and Modern Physics – Module 5 Video

What is the “Law of Entropy” and how can it indicate a Beginning of the Universe?

Answer 10

Scientist believe nothing can be known. However, if you use big bang to theorize the cause of the universe, logically something caused it. If there was nothing, than there could not have been a big bang, something has to exist to cause something. The big bang couldn't have caused it self, the big bang is the reaction of something.



That is God. Genesis 1:1-2 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was void and without form, and darkness on the face of the surface, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. God existed before the universe, there has to be something that is uncaused and that is God.

Answer 11

You say you are confused between christianity and atheism



Then you ask a lot of questions specifically requiring scientific answers, but ask none from christianity



Why is this?



Surely if you are confused then you should be asking questions on both sides?



For example - from christianity you COULD ask

1) where did this entity exist before the big bang?

2) WAS there a "before" the big bang?

3) If "nowhere" existed before the big bang, then where did this entity exist?

4) if "nowhere" existed then how did this entity manage to create "somewhere" (i.e our universe) in "nowhere" ?

4) how did this entity violate the 1st law of thermodynamics?

5) how did this entity create the universe?

And of course you COULD ask for evidence for each of these questions.



But you didnt

(and surely with all those "christians" out there one of them MUST have some ideas as to the answers to these questions)



Science has a lot of answers but not answers to everything - YET -

but at least is trying to find the answers



But on the other hand all christianity has to offer by way of explanation is - "it was all done by magic" and there it stops.

No attempt to actually answer anything, and no attempt to find the answers - "magic" being christianity's answer to everything



If you are REALLY interested in science - then there are loads of books that can explain things a lot easier than can be done on YA

And if you had taken the trouble to read them you would not be asking the questions you did (cos a lot show an ignorance of even the basic facts of the big bang theory)



And one thing to bear in mind

"christianity" is not the default answer

that is - it aint the case that if science aint got the answer then it must be christianity

Only the stupid would assume this was the case (but this is the one theists try to push onto the uneducated or less intelligent)

"I dont know" is a perfectly good answer and is the only valid one if both science AND christianity dont provide an answer

And since to date christianity has never provided any actual answers except "it was all done by magic", then if science aint got the answer then the position SHOULD be "I dont know"

So unless unless you regard "magic" as a valid answer there is nothing to be "confused" about , in which case your questions are irrelevent (cos this would show you start with an assumption "goddidit" unless someone can prove otherwise, and "I dont know" is not part of your vocabulary)



(And maybe I'm wrong but something tells me you aint interested in scientific answers)

Answer 12

The first law of physics is that Energy can not be created nor destroyed,



This was proven to be false over 100 years ago.



And all events have causality. The "big bang" was caused by God.



And please don't go into the sophistic argument regarding what caused God. There must be a first cause, and that is God who exists outside of time and space where physical causality is irrelevant.

Answer 13

Okay,first you must accept that there are many universes,not just this one.Then,think about black holes.I believe the Big Bang was simply the opposite end of a black hole.If you could somehow travel through a black hole,you would emerge in another universe.

Answer 14

The big bang is just the most widely accepted theory of the origin of the universe !!! There are thousands of others !!!

Answer 15

Big Bang = astrophysics

Christianity = theistic belief system based on ancient middle eastern myth.

Atheism = disbelief in the existence of deities (and usually the rejection of supernatural explanations of natural things)



Your confusion is not between atheism and christianity, it's between science and religion.

Answer 16

The Laws of Physics came into existence after the big bang. so the law that suggests energy cannot be created and destroyed was not in existence before the Big Bang.;LOLOLOOLOLOOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Answer 17

Who says there was "vast emptiness"?



If the Big Bang was the end result of the cycling universe, then it was merely the next step after the "Big Crunch".

Answer 18

Well the thing is, no one knows. But my theory is that energy had to exist before the universe. If not, how did the universe came to be ? Right energy can not be created or destroyed but what if energy was just always there ? What if energy is the reason for all existence ? What if energy is god ?

Answer 19

It didn't. God made everything just like it says in Genesis. There was no "big bang" there was merely supernatural creation.

Answer 20

what if God has energy? Then that solves the big bang and it fits well with the uncaused cause.

Answer 21

Those are good questions, especially directed toward the idiot atheists who don't believe in "magic." These clowns claim to be all about the science but when science can't explain something these morons don't know what to say or do so they get a stupid grin on their face and drool.

Answer 22

Very loudly. But then, in space, sound is transmitted from one particle to another by virtue of their vibrations. But in true space, particles are SO far apart that when they vibrate from the "impact" of some sound, they are too far from their neighborly particle to impact THEM and transmit the sound onwards. This is why movies that show, say, space ships RUMBLING through space are erroneous. There is no RUMBLING in space.





Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (John 20:28-29)



MARANATHA! Come, Lord Jesus, COME!

Answer 23

We don't know yet. But scientists say "we don't know yet, but we'll keep looking". Religious people just give up and say "oh, I can't understand that, so god did it". So science is truth-seeking and religion values ignorance.