Ah, here we go - the 'Cosmological Argument' so beloved of fundies (and 'He Who Must Not Be Named', the Canadian fundie spam monster). If we're going down that well-worn path (and this level of debate), okay. In that case, remember the Mayans? They were the first to invent & use '0' (Zero) in their numerical system. And the ancient Chinese invented negative numbers. Therefore there was a cause BEFORE the 'First Cause': The Zero Cause. Which means there was a being/deity before God (the 'First Cause'). Thus the Zero Cause created God. Which means the Minus First Cause created the being who created God, the Minus Second Cause created the Minus First Cause, and so on into infinity. All of whom are superior beings to God (the 'First Cause').
Which means your 'First Cause' (God) is looking pretty pathetic eh? So if, for the sake of 'argument' (as per this, the 'Cosmological Argument'), your 'God' does exist, thus your 'First Cause' had a creator (the Zero Cause, Minus First Cause etc & so on...), therefore your 'God' is an inferior being, and not worthy of belief & worship. Ergo, Atheism.
QED. Even the watchmaker had a mother and father. [/smartarse]
...oh, and as for 'The universe could never have not existed and come about on its own. That would require energy, which, mind you, can neither be created nor destroyed by a finite human', you haven't seen a certain episode of the BBC's science documentary series "Horizon", which - via cosmologists & theoretical physicists - put forward the notion that our universe is just one of the myriad dimensions in the Multiverse that makes up our space-time continuum. Said cosmologists - including no less than Prof. Stephen Hawking - have proved the existence of at least eleven dimensions. And via use of 11-Dimensional Mathematics, have solid maths to back up what they say.
And they say that there are an infinite number of these universes, or 'Membranes' (which can be not just spherical, but hemispherical, cubical, or even 'Mobius Strip'-shaped); they posit the notion of these 'Membranes' colliding, releasing unimaginable amounts of energy, one of such 'collisions' was the spark that started the 'Big Bang' which resulted in the formation of our universe, and the matter which formed all the galaxies, stars, solar systems & planets - including ours.
Sounds far more credible than what a bunch of Bronze Age goatfuckers who had ideas above their stations could possibly conceive as a tale of our origins. But at least the tale by said cosmologists has solid maths behind such, which at least lends what they say credibility. You do the maths. (pun may or may not be intended)
...oh, and speaking of "Horizon", better not click on this link, if you value your 'faith'. Certainly your sanity.
'Information cannot be destroyed'
-Prof. Stephen Hawking
Moral: Even a watchmaker had a mother and father. Use of bad analogy. Your argument - and therefore not only your 'faith', but your beliefs' doctrine, nay, your right to even think that your 'God' exists - is not just invalid, but never had the right to exist in the first place.
To paraphrase the film "A Few Good Men", 'Logic? you can't handle logic!'. Just as you - and your 'faith', 'beliefs' and your religion as a whole can't handle the facts. Facts fuck 'Faith'. Reality rapes Religion.
...oh, and as for 'Thus, we arrive at the concept of a God', remember some years ago, how the Vatican had removed from it's doctrine 'Limbo', because they'd concluded that it was 'nothing more than a theological concept'? Strange how something that was part & parcel of unquestioned, rigid & unbending Catholic dogma & Holy Writ for centuries previously could be so easily dismissed as a mere 'concept'? Certainly a real paradigm shift in their own way of thinking. Yet, the Catholic Church acknowledges that not only was our universe formed by a 'Big Bang', and is not just expanding, but is accelerating; just as when Darwin's paradigm-shifting, nay, potentially beliefs-annihilating discoveries came to light, who were the ones who embraced his theories in "On the Origin of Species"? The Church of England themselves (who, in his early years, Darwin was in training to join their clergy). And why? Because the C-of-E openly acknowledge that much of the Bible is purely fable and metaphor; as in it's not to be taken literally. Concepts.
So, as you yourself say, verbatim: 'Thus, we arrive at the concept of a God'. You said it, I didn't. Therefore, destroyed your own argument again much, blackchaos182? [/smartarse]
Never mind Yahoo Answers, you won't last five seconds in any other debating forum (least of all the august institutions of the Oxford & Cambridge universities' Debating Societies). Face it, fundies, you've not only lost the argumemt, you never had an argument to start with. Sure, science doesn't have absolutely all the answers, but we know infinitely more than one 'faith'-lobotomised moron whose only answer to any & all questions of this nature is 'Godidit!'. 'Godidit' didn't give you that computer you're using for a start; it's operation is the essence of logic. And it's invention & development to what we have today (and will have in the future; Quantum Computing, AIs etc) is as a result of scientists. Logic. And speaking of AIs...:
"you can't prove that 1/2 the people on yahoo answers are even real. just by judgments you can assume'' we are but lack evidence and only evidence you have is words, which is not evident enough"
AIs have been a staple of Sci-Fi for decades: Colossus/Guardian in "Colossus: The Forbin Project". HAL 9000 in "2001: A Space Odyssey". Proteus IV in "Demon Seed". WOPR/Joshua in "WarGames". K.I.T.T./K.A.R.R. in the TV series "Knight Rider". Skynet in the "Terminator" films & TV series. LCARS in "Star Trek: TNG/DS9/VOY". Wirbelwind in the anime series "Kiddy Grade". The Quantum CPU-based E.D.I. in the 2005 film "Stealth".
Quantum Computers exist today.
PROTIP: Several years ago, there was a drama-documentary on the UK's Channel 4 about how, with so much information existing on the internet, and constantly being added to, it became sentient. So, what was that about 'you can't prove that 1/2 the people on yahoo answers are even real. just by judgments you can assume'...? Be afraid. Be very afraid. >:D
The anime films/series "Ghost in the Shell". Just throwing that one out there...!
@Jack Bauer
"Care to discuss the latest updates to string theory?
I thought not..."
Well, considering the discovery (and thus confirmation of the Standard Model just a coupla days ago at CERN) of the Higgs-Boson, then this Yahoo would not think, period. I've said oit before, but bears repeating: 'theories' have a rather nasty habit of becoming facts; to the extent that - with every gap each one fills - you'd think that fundies would just give up with their whiny 'apologetics', which have absolutely no right to be considered 'theories' in themselves, as the book of fairy tales they come from can't be used to explain such.