Talk:Eternal existence

Perhaps a connection should be made between the idea of eternal existence and an important recent discovery of the physical sciences: (eternal) conservation of mass/energy? --Seb

I guess the question is whether any scientist or theologian has drawn such a connection; seems very possible to me, but I don't know. If not, our including it in the article would smack of crankhood. In other words, please, no unpublished research. --LMS


 * Art d'Adamo does so in the book Science without bounds. Now the question is whether he is a scientist, a theologian, neither, or both... --Seb

Um, conservation of mass/energy is neither "eternal" nor "recent" nor a "discovery"; it is a theory proposed by Einstein for mathematical reasons long before anyone was able to observe or test it, and it has now withstood enough testing to be generally considered a physical law. And of course it has nothing whatsoever to do with any concept like "eternity", which has little place in science. --LDC


 * I didn't mean to say that the idea of conservation of mass/energy is eternal; I just meant that the current consensus in science is that the amount of mass/energy in an isolated system (such as the universe as it is usually conceived) cannot ever change. So that energy is in some sense eternally existent, isn't it? d'Adamo's point is precisely that a (the?) notion of eternal existence is at the heart of some of science's most fundamental theories. --Seb

Eternity has no place in science? But sure it does, in cosmology. --LMS

Why is this page titled "eternal existence" instead of the simpler "eternity"? Michael Hardy 21:24 Mar 24, 2003 (UTC)


 * I think the article is talking about eternal existence specifically as an attribute of God, rather than the concept of eternity in general. Eternity as a general concept can be discussed outside of theology, as in for example discussing the eternity of conservation of mass/energy. Wesley 18:05 Mar 25, 2003 (UTC)