Can_Something

Prior to the early decades of the twentieth century, most physicists, from Newton to Einstein, assumed that the universe was eternal, had always existed, and was static, “neither expanding from a beginning nor contracting toward an end.” However, by the 1930s, evidence pointing to a finite, expanding universe with a definite beginning began to accumulate. The “big bang” theory was finally established and widely accepted by the mid-1960s.¹

Some physicists who at first had resisted the theistic implications of a beginning began to accept the idea of a "super-intellect" or designer behind the universe based on the strong evidence for a finite universe and the extreme fine tuning of the laws and constants of physics involved in the initial conditions of the universe and its continuing ability to support life. However, other physicists unable to give up scientific materialism maintain that some type of force or energy has always existed. Some of these physicists theorized that this pre-existing force (gravity or some form of energy) gave rise to matter. However, this theory puts scientific materialists in a philosophical position similar to theists and presents the same question that atheists pose to theists. If a force or energy is substituted for God, then who or what created the force or energy? Where did it come from? If an infinite existence can be posited for some force or energy (either an infinite regress of causes or an eternal non-contingent prime moving force), then scientific materialists find themselves in a philosophical position that relies on the idea of an eternally existing, non-contingent entity.

Scientific materialists have two alternatives: (1) something has always existed, or (2) the universe popped into existence from absolute nothingness. Of course, the second option is an extremely difficult position to hold.

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Can Something Come From Nothing?

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