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In the following post titled an atheist's challenge, by Ray Comfort,on the pull the plug on atheism Web site, it would seem that Comfort thinks he is answering the challenge put to him at the very beginning of the post.
He continues, in all his writing and speaking, to use the term “create,” which implies a creator. The first thing to understand is that because atheists and many scientists do not believe in a deity (a creator), his use of the term “create,” when discussing atheists’ “beliefs” is a complete misnomer.
I suspect that Comfort knows what he is doing. He uses this term continuously to manipulate those who follow him who don’t have the mental capacity to understand the difference between what he contends atheists say and what they actually say.
His post follows:
an atheist's challenge
I've challenged you repeatedly to cite even a single instance of an atheist stating that nothing created everything, and have been met with silence every single time. Every time. - C. Howdy
“It is now becoming clear that everything can—and probably did—come from nothing.”
- Robert A. J. Matthews, physicist, Aston University, England [1]
“Space and time both started at the Big Bang and therefore there was nothing before it.”
- Cornell University "Ask an Astronomer.” [2]
“Some physicists believe our universe was created by colliding with another, but Kaku [a theoretical physicist at City University of New York] says it also may have sprung from nothing.”
- Scienceline.org [3]
“Even if we don't have a precise idea of exactly what took place at the beginning, we can at least see that the origin of the universe from nothing need not be unlawful or unnatural or unscientific.”
- Paul Davies, physicist, Arizona State University [4]
“Assuming the universe came from nothing, it is empty to begin with . . . Only by the constant action of an agent outside the universe, such as God, could a state of nothingness be maintained. The fact that we have something is just what we would expect if there is no God.”
- Atheist, Victor J. Stenger, Prof. Physics, University of Hawaii. [5]Author of, God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist
“Few people are aware of the fact that many modern physicists claim that things—perhaps even the entire universe—can indeed arise from nothing via natural processes.”
- Creation ex nihilo—Without God (1997), Atheist, Mark I. Vuletic [6]
___________________________
[1] http://www.nanogallery.info/news/?id=8735&slid
=news&type=anews
[2] http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=364
[3] http://scienceline.org/2006/08/21/ask-snyder-bang/
[4] http://www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/big-bang.html
[5] http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/
Godless/Origin.pdf
[6] http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mark_vuletic/
vacuum.html
In all of his “proofs,” not once did Comfort answer the challenge put to him by Howdy. Not one of those citations claims that nothing “created” anything, let alone everything. Not one.
Pulling the plug on Comfort-able ignorance: Part 1
Pulling the plug on Comfort-able ignorance: Part 2
Comments
I hate to defend Comfort, but I think he did a good enough job of answering the challenge. It may be misleading of him to equate the two, but as far as I'm concerned the idea that nothing "created" everything and the idea that everything "came from" nothing are equally preposterous.
Personally, I'm in the infinite existence camp for that very reason. Whether by natural process or a god, the idea that everything that exists could have come into being from a state of total non-existence strikes me as absurd and contrary to all reason. Now, you could theorize that matter & energy have changed states, locations, forms, etc. in countless ways (including a big bang), but in the end if something came after there had to be something before.
Dawkins is right not to debate RayRay. Richard already came across as a buffoon in the movie Expelled! He sure doesn't need anymore bad press!
"The fool says in his heart, There is no God." Proverbs 14:1
Ahh...the Banana Man strikes again. Can Comfort, let alone any creationist not contort the real words to suit their 6000 year old universe worldview? Nothing DID NOT CREATE everything. A singularity of matter and energy created everything. Nothing CAME BEFORE the singularity.
And P.S. Ben Stein twisted Dawkins' words. Stein asked if it was possible, what evidence might be found for intelligent design in the DNA evidence. Richard says that if evidence exists, which doesn't at all, it could only be that an EVOLVED advanced civilization might have seeded life on Earth, not a supernatural god.
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