Originally posted by: Arkitech
Let's say for the sake of your argument that God and religion are mere products of the imagination. And to continue in this line of thought let's assume that evolution is more than just a theory, this would lead us to ask several questions.
1. If life evolved on Earth into what it is today, how did the Earth come into existence?
2. Was the Earth and the universe always here? Or did it arrive by means of a chance encounter of certain elements and matter?
3. Going with the supposition that universe was born from random events and materials, where did these things come from?
Hopefully you see the direction that I'm headed in. Even if a person believes soley in science there is a point where you will encounter questions that can't be answered through scientific data and analysis. Personally I believe in God and the bible, I realize that this is a very unpopular stance these days. My belief system requires a certain amount of faith which is not so far removed from the faith many have in science to explain the unknown and make sense of what is not easily understood. I think it's a weak minded person who ridicules others because of a different belief.
Science has always encountered things it can't answer right away. Light, sound, gravity, fire - all were once not understood, and the perception at the time was that they were simply impossible to understand. There is "faith" in science to explain the unknown because it has a very good track record of doing so. Observe something happening, and then figure out why it does it.
"We accepted the products of science; we rejected its methods." - Carl Sagan
Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy
1. The Earth was formed as matter, expelled in the Big Bang, began to bond together to create larger celestial bodies. This is how the stars, the planets, the moons, meteors, comets, asteroids, etc., were all formed. I think your question would better be asked as "Where did life come from?" That's the great stumbling block in any theory about life, as the origins of life remain a mystery.
2. No. The matter that makes up the Earth and the Universe has always existed, as matter cannot be created or destroyed, but the Earth itself has only been here for roughly 4.5 billion years.
3. The matter that comprises everything in the Universe was all contained within a singularity before the Big Bang sent it flying off in all directions. This matter coalesced and became everything that can be found in the Universe today.
Sorry to complicate things needlessly,

but technically matter and energy can be changed back and forth.

It was all originally energy in the instant after the initial eruption, but quickly cooled and condensed into matter.
Finally, I posted this in another thread:
Another reason we see order is because of our short lifespans. We often don't see extreme disorder by that nature. The place is freaking chaotic, but does obey some certain rules, which are simply inherent to this realm. There is no "why" - they simply are that way. If they were some other way, we'd still be asking the same question, "Why is the Universe like this?" And if those laws didn't permit the formation of matter in the first place, intelligent life wouldn't come to exist in the first place, thus no one around to ask "Why didn't life ever develop here?"
5 billion years ago, this region was a big cloud of gas and dust, with a dense region that was slowly accumulating matter. Soon it was massive enough to start a fusion reaction in the center. Suddenly the region is bathed in electromagnetic radiation, and the solar wind began stirring things up.
Small lumps of matter coalesced into planets and asteroids. Bodies were flying all over the place. Eventually something about the size of Mars slammed into Earth, and the result was a satellite, our Moon.
In time, various molecules by chance acquired the property of self-replication by way of interactions with other molecules, among a vast ocean warmed by sunlight, and stirred by turbulence. With the abundance of energy, both radiant and chemical, these molecules increased their complexity over time, giving rise to primitive bacteria. Bacteria begin working together, and soon you have multi-cellular life forms, all of which constantly adapt to changing environmental conditions. Those that don't adapt die off, erasing their genes from existence, in a place that no longer needs them.
From a chaotic cloud of dust to a ball of metal and rock orbiting a giant ball of plasma. And on that tiny ball is a thin film of self-replicating, self-sustaining reactions, some of which are able to say, "Where the heck did all this come from?"
Originally posted by: tenshodo13
2.The cosmic microwave background radiation graph. Basically, it measures the amount of background radiation there is around us. Scientists predicted what the chart would look like in modern times if the big bang happened billions of years ago. The observational and theoretical data was almost exactly the same. For me, this proves that the Big Bang happened.
I've heard this called one of the greatest scientific triumphs of the modern era. The matchup between theory and observation was just unbelievably close.
Theory: Here's what it should look like if the Universe was once a tiny point, which then erupted into the bubble of space, time, and energy we see today.
Observation: Exactly like the theory said.
You make the conclusion.
