[bkepley]

Why do we have to go that route? We still aren't certain that the universe collapses are we? And if it does and recreates forever then the universe we see today would be inevitable.

[samtheman]

We still aren't certain that the universe collapses are we?

Not certain, but things are looking bad for the Big Crunch. Our expansion rate appears (recent observations) too high, and with the cosmological constant (that Einstein himself predicted and then rejected but which now turns out to be there) it will be harder than ever for the measured mass to pull itself all together again.

[sauron]

The idea is that scientists don't want a universe with a concrete beginning: it implies a creation event, and since nothing creates itself, it can imply a Creator, or another universe creating it, but then, what created that other universe (since nothing creates itself)--another Creator?

Steady State (or any pop theory amounting to such) is an elegant mathematical way to commit the logical fallacy of "begging the question" by not addressing: What was the First Cause?

Remember: Nothing creates itself.

Remember: There is no such thing as infinity.

Q.E.D., Kalam Cosmological Argument, q.v.

Sauron