Another Big Big Thread of Religious Discussion

[ZAKtheGeek]

And now for something completely different:

Here's a site I found recently. It seems really interesting. I've barely read any of it though, so for all I know it could turn out like that other massive site somebody posted in probably the other thread: increasingly ridiculous.

The one article I read (most of) is this one on the cosmological argument, which is the one that says that the universe must have been caused by something, and goes on to say that that something must be God. Unsurprisingly, I found it to have holes here and there. Like, can somebody explain this to me:

However, there is an additional flaw with the proposed oscillating model. The oscillating model assumes that an infinite number of events can actually exist. However, this is by no means certain. The problem is that an infinite number of events leads to logical absurdities. This problem has been articulated by many esteemed philosophers. 7

The problem of an actual infinite number of things becomes obvious when one considers an analogy. Say, for instance, that there was a line of people waiting to ride a roller coaster that was infinitely long. In other words, an infinity of people are anxiously waiting to ride this new attraction. Now, let’s say that half of the people in this line decide that the wait is too long and they all head over to wait in the line for the Merry-Go-Round. Now, several inconsistencies appear. Even though half of the people left, the line for the roller coaster is still infinitely long! Additionally, the Merry-Go-Round also has an infinite number of people waiting in line! So now, there are two rides with an infinite number of people, instead of only one, even though the only thing that has happened is the transfer of half of the people from the roller coaster to the Merry-Go-Round. As is easily seen, this scenario has lead to numerous inconsistencies and contradictions.

Now, this analogy shows clearly that an actual infinite number of events cannot exist. Obviously, if the universe existed eternally, then there would have been an infinite amount of events. Therefore, it is concluded that the universe cannot be eternal. This serves only to reinforce the scientific evidences mentioned earlier.

I'm open to the idea that this just isn't clicking with me and is not, instead, a bunch of nonsense... As long as someone can tell me how it makes any sense.

...

(sorry for the derailment)