What do you believe preexisted the Big Bang?

[The Yank]

Just wondering. I'm simply a theist, I believe in God but I don't affiliate myself with any religion.
I'm not launching an attack on you guys, just want to know what you guys think, thanks.

EDIT: I've now changed the title, so anyone's welcome to answer this if they want, not just atheists. Even if you don't believe in the Big Bang, I'd like to hear your opinions/ideas. Also, please don't repeat ideas/opinions that have already been posted many times.

[Pseudo-Onkelos]

Asking what was before the Big Bang is like asking what's south of the South Pole.

[Madame Van Damme]

From my limited understanding of physics, I personally believe whole heartedly in equations and all that sort of stuff.

Stars die out all the time. They explode and destroy solar systems and turn into other celestial bodies. Our solar system was formed by a star forming. That is, matter gravitated together into a very dense, but very small, mass, and collapsed in on itself, creating our sun. The planets are simply debris, it just so happens that Earth is in the Goldilocks Zone, which means it's 'just right' for supporting human and animal life as we know it.

I personally believe that the universe as we know it was formed in a similar way, but on a far larger scale. If the universe, time and space are infinite, then there is more than enough 'space', if you will, for big bang style events to be happening constantly and to be creating new galaxies and clusters of galaxies. It's just that we don't yet have the technology to see far away enough to pictorally prove it. However, I'm a big believer in proof and science, and I have a lot of faith in theories and mathematics.

I'm curious as to what you think happened, considering you say you don't affiliate with a religion. Do you side with the Christian view of there being darkness and a deity creating the world, solar system, universe etc.? Or do you have a different view of your own which doesn't particularly take from any other theory out there?

[Indecent Mule Man]

Cthulhu sat down on a toilet?

[stealthmongoose]

I believe an alien named Ted was drunk in his apartment (the known universe at the time) and spilled his space-beer over the couches in the corner of his room. Since space-beer is made of anti-matter and supermagicaljuice, the ensuing chaos destroyed his apartment, causing the universe to be created where his couch used to be. We are now living in Ted's apartment and the day will come when he cleans it up, removing us as a universe forever until he gets drunk again.


Now ask me what i know.

[Arturos Knightblade]

What happened before the beginning of time? Probably a nonsensical question.

So far I'm moved by the revelations of Ted.

[The Catfish Blues]

Before the big bang? Who knows.

[The Yank]

Madame Van Damme

From my limited understanding of physics, I personally believe whole heartedly in equations and all that sort of stuff.

Stars die out all the time. They explode and destroy solar systems and turn into other celestial bodies. Our solar system was formed by a star forming. That is, matter gravitated together into a very dense, but very small, mass, and collapsed in on itself, creating our sun. The planets are simply debris, it just so happens that Earth is in the Goldilocks Zone, which means it's 'just right' for supporting human and animal life as we know it.

I personally believe that the universe as we know it was formed in a similar way, but on a far larger scale. If the universe, time and space are infinite, then there is more than enough 'space', if you will, for big bang style events to be happening constantly and to be creating new galaxies and clusters of galaxies. It's just that we don't yet have the technology to see far away enough to pictorally prove it. However, I'm a big believer in proof and science, and I have a lot of faith in theories and mathematics.

I'm curious as to what you think happened, considering you say you don't affiliate with a religion. Do you side with the Christian view of there being darkness and a deity creating the world, solar system, universe etc.? Or do you have a different view of your own which doesn't particularly take from any other theory out there?

I'm a big believer in science too. I love physics and astronomy even though I'm not exactly a genius on those subjects. I believe God created the universe via the Big Bang and set it in motion and I also believe in evolution. I believe these were all processes guided and directed by God.
I believe God is everywhere and that we're all within "him". I try to avoid referring God as "him" because I don't believe God is an anthropomorphic being. I agree with panentheism, but I think it would be a lot easier to call myself a theist.

Sorry if I sound a little blunt, it's almost 3 in the morning where I am and I'm about to fall asleep haha... sweatdrop

[Ban]

The general answer given by armchair pop science geeks is that the question may not even be coherent as proposed. Spacetime is theorized to begin with the Big Bang, so there can be no "before" since there is no time for there to be a "before." There are alternate ideas, such as a cyclic model based on brane cosmology, meaning that before the current iteration of the universe, there was just another universe.

But, yeah, nobody really knows.

It's kind of interesting this question gets posed to atheists, since the Big Bang was originally conceived of by Monsignor George Lemaître, a Roman Catholic priest. The secular scientific community originally complained of how it imported religious concepts into physics, because of how it implicated a seeming creation out of nothingness.

[Xiam]

Pseudo-Onkelos

Asking what was before the Big Bang is like asking what's south of the South Pole.

So um... air?

[Quinzel]

I don't know what happened if anything happened. To answer your question, I don't believe that the concept of "before the Big Bang" is valid. The aforementioned cyclic model is interesting, but I wouldn't say I'm convinced.

[Pseudo-Onkelos]

Xiam

Pseudo-Onkelos

Asking what was before the Big Bang is like asking what's south of the South Pole.

So um... air?

Air is ubiquitous.

[Xiam]

Pseudo-Onkelos

Xiam

Pseudo-Onkelos

Asking what was before the Big Bang is like asking what's south of the South Pole.

So um... air?

Air is ubiquitous.

Including before the big bang. cool

[Pseudo-Onkelos]

Xiam

Pseudo-Onkelos

Xiam

Pseudo-Onkelos

Asking what was before the Big Bang is like asking what's south of the South Pole.

So um... air?

Air is ubiquitous.

Including before the big bang. cool

I don't know what you're talking about. I thought that upon the Big Bang, we had hydrogen, but no oxygen.

[Retrauk]

I believe in science 99%. But I am not a scientologist or atheist. I believe that a god did create the big bang and set everything in motion, he was also behind the random events that created life. So... i'm not sure what to call that. Not atheist though for sure.