Neat evidence of Noah's ark

[AccessBlaster]

The whole "something from nothing" idea wasn’t always considered a fallacy, before 2012, it was a serious scientific proposition, and that’s the thing with science it evolves, leaving people clinging to different versions of what they thought was settled.

Same goes for creation, those ideas have evolved too. Neither side is frozen in time.

 

[Isaac]

That depends on specifically how you define it. I believe in the physics definition of "eternal" - which doesn't include any eternal inhabitants thereof.

It's thought provoking, for me at least. I guess without really having 'thought' about it, I subconciously assumed that an atheist could not believe in eternity, defined as something outside of time that always has been and always will be - necessarily involving the containment of things or beings inside of it (otherwise does it really exist?) - oh my, this is making my brain bleed actually ! But it is interesting to me that you feel you can believe in it without believing in any beings existing in it. I'm not saying it's irrational or illogical or wrong, I'm just thinking out loud and pondering.

 

[Isaac]

that’s the thing with science it evolves, leaving people clinging to different versions of what they thought was settled.

Eventually every knee will bow and every tongue confess, better to err on the side of caution!

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I subconciously assumed that an atheist could not believe in eternity, defined as something outside of time that always has been and always will be

Actually, the phrase "outside of time" is the problem. Recent articles have suggested that time isn't uniform, either. Thus to say something is outside of time has a prior question to answer... what IS time? You can't say something is outside of something that you can't define.

Einstein's viewpoint implicitly required a uniform flow of time because of the concept of simultaneity. JWST and its observations are blurring some of those lines, and the work done with quantum computing is also making that discussion quite bumpy.

The strict definition of eternity in the NON-religious sense simply says that this question makes sense: "What happened before the Big Bang?" If you took the initial view of the BB, time started when the BB occurred, which implies that there WAS no "before the BB." I have never been a proponent of that view because the occurrence of the BB depends on probabilities of something happening, but if time doesn't exist, what COULD have happened before there WAS a "before"? Let's just say that all such questions are currently in flux.

My comment about JWST includes findings of fully formed galaxies being viewed from an apparent time (estimated via red-shift) older than the BB. Things seen in the distance are developed enough that they didn't have time for the "normal" events related to galaxy formation. Which has led some astronomers to suggest that the BB might have occurred - but that it was one of potentially MANY such events, and therefore was merely a regional event rather than a singular event.

 

[Isaac]

Actually, the phrase "outside of time" is the problem. Recent articles have suggested that time isn't uniform, either. Thus to say something is outside of time has a prior question to answer... what IS time? You can't say something is outside of something that you can't define.

Einstein's viewpoint implicitly required a uniform flow of time because of the concept of simultaneity. JWST and its observations are blurring some of those lines, and the work done with quantum computing is also making that discussion quite bumpy.

The strict definition of eternity in the NON-religious sense simply says that this question makes sense: "What happened before the Big Bang?" If you took the initial view of the BB, time started when the BB occurred, which implies that there WAS no "before the BB." I have never been a proponent of that view because the occurrence of the BB depends on probabilities of something happening, but if time doesn't exist, what COULD have happened before there WAS a "before"? Let's just say that all such questions are currently in flux.

My comment about JWST includes findings of fully formed galaxies being viewed from an apparent time (estimated via red-shift) older than the BB. Things seen in the distance are developed enough that they didn't have time for the "normal" events related to galaxy formation. Which has led some astronomers to suggest that the BB might have occurred - but that it was one of potentially MANY such events, and therefore was merely a regional event rather than a singular event.

I think in the spiritual context, we probably DO focus more on eternal beings as being the center of the whole concept.
I.E., a being that had no start and always has been and always will be. That to me is eternity in its essence

 

[Pat Hartman]

and that’s the thing with science it evolves, leaving people clinging to different versions of what they thought was settled.

I'm pretty sure that the earth is not flat (at least in our dimension) but who knows about anything else