Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Jar]

>you're assuming that matter was created correct? Could not matter have always been here? Could not matter then be your god? So for convenience of discussion could not the "big bang" be the start of our long strange journey to our current existence?

Matter could not have always existed. Here's the proof in one sentence:

If anything exists now, something has existed for all eternity.

Explanation: If we see something in existence now, it either had a beginning (was created), or it has no beginning (it is eternal). If matter was eternal, then the structures of matter (planets, etc.) would have long ago (an eternity ago) crumbled due to the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
If matter was conserved in a loss-less state for eternity-past (the pre-bigbang "singularity"), then what moved the matter to make it bang? Either way, there's no escape from God.

>Your first premise that god exists can only be attributed to having faith.

I disagree. The nature of that God is subject to debate though.