I was thinking about the origin of our universe, if there was any, and the big bang and what that means for most of us. The latest theory that I know of is 2 'membranes' colliding wich made the big bang. This was not even necessarily the begining of our universe, although if there was anything before, what would be left?

I have talked with people about this before, but assuming it to be true, I don't think this really has any conflict with most religions. The most obvious thing is creationism ... but what does it really matter if a persons religion says that things were created thousands of years ago, or billions of years ago. We know that if you go back long enough, that some churchs supported the belief that the earth was the center of the universe. It just meant that they did not know at the time.

Another interesting topic about human origins is of course evolution.

Any thoughts?

The theory I like is called Intelligent Design.  Let Creation testify that there is a Creator.  Everything is too perfect to have "just happened."  I don't care is the Earth is thousands of years old, or billions of years old.  I don't care if he created man thru the process of evolution and the planets via the Big Bang, or he merely spoke the universe into existence and breathed life into a clay mold and called it man.  All I do know is that God made everything (how He made it is irrelevant).

My thinking is a little different. I am more agnostic than anything I guess. I would never say there is no god however. I do seem to agree with what science has put forth. So why it this not proof there is no god? I say if there is a god, then science is definitely his language. From that point of view, learning about science may just be learning about god. This is a step further, but if I did believe in a god, my god would be the type more to create things from a good starting point. Perhaps one that is at least billions of years ago, so as to let things develope into what they are now. Know what I mean?

I completely agree 100%!!!  One of my favorite quotes:  "You're a scientist, Jack.  If ANYONE should believe in the existence of things which cannot be explained, and yet are true, it's you!!" 

That is a good quote :-)

 That is a good quote.  Where does it come from?

WHAT IF THERE IS NO origin of our universe

Everything must have an origin, a first cause and that cause is God.

Hey Variable, before you go wondering abut stuff as far back as the origin of the universe, what about your own personal origins? Are you certain that you were'nt adopted/built by a machine/an artificiallly inseminated clone?

No matter how sure we are of the past, there's really no true way of knowing so probably not alot of point in wondering. Unless there's a practical purpose like being able to describe the physical universe scientifically, in which case why not accept the big bang versions over creationism? The maths is probably alot easier.

And the evolution of faith perhaps played/plays an important role in the development of mind. Conflict and uncertainty trouble our thoughts and use resources in the brain. Faith, or in other words the belief in a higher power and placing one's self in the hands of a god, allows a person to let go of those concerns and perhaps leaves more room in the mind for other things. Like closing the other applications on your computer lets the one you're using access more resources.

I think conflict and conundrum have a very strong role in cognition, the more we don't understand something the more our mind works on it (provided there is also an importance attached) and the more thoroughly we learn it. For example we learn better from working things out than from having the answer provided, and a psychologicaly conditioned response takes longer to extinguish if the conditioning stimulus wasn't consistent.

So if a conundrum as big as the question of god , the universe and everything is given an answer (42) then we can stop thinking about it and use those precious resources elsewhere. So for me, the best answer is simply not to think about it :)

then what is Gods origin? its quite a paradox. How can everything have a cause when the first causes cannot have anything behind them? Therfor either, not everything has a cause. Implying that God or the big bang "just happened". Or, there is no beginning. Just a series of causes going back forever.