In my opinion, atheists would be in a worse position...

[Anonymous]

BTW, that argument is based on a phenomenon known as the Poincare cycle.

[Mastermind]

That's the basis of my original argument though. We know matter cannot be created or destroyed, so it must have been here forever. If that is the case, an all encompassing intelligence is bound to be created.

[Anonymous]

Mastermind--I think I agree with you on this. Perhaps the only difference is that this intelligence is not necessarily 'bound' to be created; but if it is created, it is certainly bound to marvel at its creation. It is very hard to fathom chance and probability when we are dealing with seemingly infinite time and infinite combinatorical complexions of matter and energy (consistent with physical laws).

Fundamentally, I wrestle with the question of whether or not our world--and ourselves--would have come into existence by chance. And if it required the divine intervention of a Creator, how is it that the Creator came into existence? If we can imagine a Divine Creator who has always been, why can't our imaginations extent this to the observable universe? I do not see how invoking a Creator does anything more than push the question to the next notch of complexity in the universe; it does not answer any fundamental question which can't otherwise be answered by simply accepting the existence of nature as we see it.

[Mastermind]

Actually, give infinite time, anything that CAN happen WILL happen. And we know our observable universe hasn't always been around. We have singularities within it and they don't just go "pop" out of nowhere. You'd need a huge ammount of force to pull apart a black hole for example. Whether you believe in God or not, you have to admit that something outside our universe is what triggered its creation.

[Anonymous]

No question about that...There are clearly properties of our observable universe that force to make a choice: either our known physical laws are violated (such as the Big Bang being comprised of something coming from nothing), or that there is a history and likely physical laws attendant to this history which we do not yet understand (such as what preceded the Big Bang, what will become of our observable universe, and what else might lie beyond our observational capabilities). We tend to attribute the former scenario to God, and the latter to ignorance.

Thanks for the thoughtful responses.

[Alien]

what is to stop the multiverse to become intelligent as well?

The fact that the single universes do not interact each other and they do not overlap.

Each single universe would have its own physical parameters, different from those of the others. Therefore, each single universe would have its own history and evolution, different from those of the others.