Dear R****,

I don't subscribe to the big-bag theory to that extent.  Sorry but something-from-nothing can't happen in my books.  I don't have an explanation for what appears to be happening inside of vacuums, but I will say that vacuums are not the same beast as the conditions before the beginning of the universe.  Outside of vacuums there is material whereas this is not the case before the beginning of the universe.

In my books time is married to completely-occupied-space, but, (timeless) completely-empty-space precedes the (latest) big-bang.  You see, my revision of the big-bang theory is that all the completely-occupied-space condensed to the smallest "orderly" volume of space, then went BANG and that this is a reoccurring happening.  Also, there could be other big-bangs elsewhere in the expansive domain of space that are simply undetectable with today's level of technology.  I don't want to make you feel insignificant in the scheme of things, but ...

In fact, at the risk of insulting you, if you are going to insist that universe had a beginning then this is no different from taking the leap of faith and concluding that God did it--i.e., you have inconclusive evidence that there was a beginning to the totality of existence and you are assuming or taking a leap of faith that there was.

Darwin Bedford
www.atheists.net

Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002 15:47:30 -0800
Subject: your article
To: Darwin Bedford <darwin@atheists.net>

At 23:31 02/01/01 -0800, you wrote:
 Is it gods all the way down?  The writer personally
        feels that it is ridiculous to consider that there was even a time
        before the beginning of the universe as nothing
        can come from nothing.  However, this logic assumes the
        complete denial of the existence of the spiritual realm (a
        non-material spirit world).

Oops. Essentially the big bang is just that.  Something coming from nothing.  It happens all the time on a small scale in a vacuum.  Particles and anitparticles spontaneously appear.

The current scientific thinking is that time and space also began with the big bang, therefore it does not make sense to ask what happened before the big bang because there was no time then.