Here is where you should discuss your view of creation,if it be religious or not.

balorth : There is nothing to really talk about in here. No one has started anything yet.

My view is not religious but scientific. I believe the big bang theory is correct, mostly because we can tell that the universe is expanding from more or less one specific area. As far as life being created or as I would say starting, I think it has happened from random factors  that allowed simple life forms to emerge. I could expand on this If some one would like to discuss it.

smotpoker86 : And cosmologists can "see" how the Universe has come into being... Starting from the Big Bang, progressing through time, to where we are now. I thought that was wicked cool.

I share the same view, the scientific one. Life was created by the non-intelligent force of nature, and the nature of life is to respond to it's environment, thus we have the process of evolution leading to different life forms, including ourselves.

Whether or not an intelligence or supreme deity had a guiding hand in any of this, I cannot be sure of and I doubt, seeing as it was not necessary.

I am catholic and I believe that god exists but that doesn't mean that I do not believe in science being true I'm not sure what created the universe nor will I ever know nobody will probably ever know just because I'm catholic doesn't mean I object to all science that has been proved

D_Man : You bring up a good point. Even if there is a god that created everything , it is likely that nobody will ever know for sure. In my opinion , if there is a god he doesn't work like he is portrayed in the bible. What I mean is he would often reveal himself to people and even to an entire nation at one point. It is fairly clear to me that this isn't how God works.

well i believe the science theory.the earth was created through the big bang.the vast oceans a result of the ice meteors that impacted the earth.and the life brought to earth via meteors(whicg evolved to gain an edge,resulting in life getting more and more complex)

It seems to me that there are two far fetched theories about creation: the theory that God created everything, and the Big Bang theory. Both theories are quite far fetched in their own right.

One being waves his hands, snaps his fingers, and molds people out of clay and suddenly, the universe the earth and civilization is made. The theory is quite far fetched.

Then there is the Big Bang. Suddenly, a few particles and cells exploded and created a solar system. Also very far fetched.

It's all a matter of which theory seems more real to you as a person, and for me, I believe that God made the universe, the world, and everything that lives and breaths.

I believe that there is a heaven and I believe that God made heaven for us so that we will have somewhere to go when we die.

To me, the Big Bang theory is very empty and lonely.

Well I am the minority like usual. I believe that God made it of course. Why? There is a whole crap ton of evidence that proves that it happened that way, not just BOOM! It's here.

D_Man : This is true, you may not know it, but the Vatican has already announced that science and Catholicism can co-exist. I don't really know how the Catholic faith can intertwine with a theory that directly contradicts the story of Genesis and what-not, but who knows about that better than the Pope? It's good to see that even pre existing religions can accept and even encourage science in this modern age.

billythekidmonster : That's actually a common misconception. The Big Bang theory is not about the origin of the universe, it is about the development over time, much like biology. And it definitely wasn't an explosion of matter into already existing space.

I am still unsure regarding what it is that I believe in. I feel like if there is a God or something of the equivalent, he/she/it/??? is nothing like what the world religions have stated. The chance of the universe being created, of it not collapsing on itself, of celestial bodies forming a certain way which made life possible, and being alive this very moment typing about it is just so unlikely. I can't imagine what the probability is. I guess you could say that I have yet to place a vote on the origin of it all. I'm very open about it but to an extent. I don't believe that the world is only about 6,000 years old. I really do believe that you'd have to be very closed off from the overwhelming evidence around us and/or be in such a state of mind to find something like that to be a possibility. If that's not the case, then I am impressed by your faith.

In short, this could all be a dream - Link's Awakening style.

I am 100 % sure that god crated the universe but a few days in gods time might be millions billions or even trillions of years

Albert Einstein had my favorite quote on the subject, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

The creator of the universe in my humble opinion is not comprehensible by human beings and there is a barrier that keeps us from interacting on the physical plane to a certain extent. Also, every living being is definitely a little piece of the energy that makes up the creator, much like the Hindu belief in Brahman.

I recently looked at a picture of neurons and compared it with the mapping of the known universe, and incredibly, the filaments the patterns make are very similar. Take a look:

http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae330/FruityBlergs/comparison.png
On the left is a map of the known universe digitally rendered. On the right is a scan of neurons. Pretty mind blowing stuff if you ask me.

This made me have another perception on my own conception of "Brahman." Perhaps we are the inner workings of a larger mind, sort of the cells and neurons that seem insignificant in the grand scale of the universe but put together it creates a universal being...food for thought

I've also been reading the Toltec writings lately, it's worth a cursory look for anyone that is questioning their spiritual beliefs.

I was raised a wiccan, decided I was a Buddhist for awhile, then went Agnostic, and finally after I came to the current conclusion I found peace with the church of Unitarian Universalism, which states that spirituality is personal and an authority cannot tell you what is right.

This is a very interesting discussion! I am currently taking a religion class and learning about all of the oldest religions leading up to Christianity. I have to say though whatever religion I study they all have some similarities to another religion. For example, Buddhism uses some of the teachings of Hinduism as a basis for its teachings. Also in some eastern countries people can belong to three different religions at once such Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism. This is because these three religions are community based they emphasize, that you must take responsibility not only for yourself, but your family and community. This is polar to what most western religions emphasize, that a person is responsible for their own actions, but not others.

The easy thing to do would be to say god created all life. But that is the easy thing, where does god come from, did he just appear out of thin gravity? I think we need to find out the origin of god before we can decide who made us. Good luck with that I'll let the scientists and religious people figure it out

that depends a lot on how you define "create".

according to what we know in science matter cannot be created or destroyed... only changed into a different form. So technically we've all existed in some form or another forever. Death of the human body will simply be another change of form.

Big Bang or God's Creation?
Black or White, Left or Right; is this really the only way it can be? Most people seem to think that only one or the other could possibly be true. Isn't it possible that both could be right - or at least mostly so? The bible says that God created the world in six "days." This is an English translation, not the actual written Hebrew script. The word in Hebrew doesn't strictly mean a 24-hour period consisting of daylight and night time. It could also be translated to mean a period of time. So is it not possible that God created the universe by USING the Big Bang? Perhaps he found that the most practical way to set everything in motion was to fling it all from one central point, and then start from there?
What some call "random chance" I believe was more likely "divine direction." The 'accident' that life happened may have only happened because God himself wanted it to. Or perhaps life itself was only a mishap of molecules. But intelligent life? Not only that, but an intelligent life which has actively proved itself to seek God in some way or another since the dawn of civilization? Even those who did not seek the God of the bible still held some ingrained belief that there was a god out there somewhere, even if they didn't know who it was. It seems to me that all the signs point to God, and thus a creation. But who's to say that He didn't plan things out and let science keep its course through His work?

Somebody had to create something before the Big Bang, or whatever created the universe, happened. I honestly am unsure about what I want to believe in, but the theory that nothing was created from nothing is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. There has to be some sort of other factor, something that we cannot explain, that created the universe.

I adore science; I became enamored of black holes when I was 8 (but how can one not be?), and have loved astrophysics since.

I tend to side with the views of "Reasons to Believe" regarding the interplay of science and the Bible. In short, if they do not agree perfectly, one or the other is being misinterpreted. I view science as the method to read "the book of nature," which would be a part of the evidence of God's existence that is said to be all around us in Romans 1.

The Big Bang Theory is far and away the best theory of the universe's history. It has been attacked by many for the greater part of the last century because it necessarily implies a beginning point. It's actually been scientifically proved that no matter what (viable) scientific view of the universe you have, it had to have a beginning point (the paper was by scientists named Borde, Guth, and Vilenkin in 2003).

The need for something to begin the universe, as well as the need for the metaphysical ground of being (which means something that exists because it has to exist, sort of) lead me to conclude that a supreme being must exist. The historical evidence for the accounts of the resurrection lead me to believe it's the Christian God, but that's a bit off-topic.

I respect that many Christians believe that the most respectful interpretation of the Bible leads to a view that the Earth is 6,000 years old. I respectfully disagree. The Hebrew word used for "day" in Genesis has 4 literal meanings, only one of which refers to a 24-hour period. One of them roughly refers to "some specific length of time" (though the length can be different each time the word is used), and I think that's what "day" (Hebrew word "yom") means in Genesis. Is it possible that the text really refers to seven 24-hour periods? Sure! But I personally don't think it does.