What Comes from Nothing?

I asked my 7-year-old “What comes from nothing?” and was, well, not surprised by her answer.  “Nothing comes from nothing, Duh!”  Oh the hours of laughter our family has had over the word “Duh”, but that is something and I am writing about nothing….or am I?  Of course, my daughter is very smart, but she is only 7 and has no grounds to argue with a PhD theoretical physicist and cosmologist that says something can come from nothing.

It is a well-established metaphysical truth (and basic intuition that even a child can understand) that out of nothing, nothing comes.  So, I was a little surprised when many atheists online began to tell me that Lawrence Krauss has demonstrated that something can come from nothing and pointed me to the video below called “A Universe From Nothing”.  Krauss has since written a book titled the same.  Here is what Richard Dawkins wrote about the book.

 “Even the last remaining trump card of the theologian, ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?,’ shrivels up before your eyes as you read these pages.  If ‘On the Origin of Species’ was biology’s deadliest blow to supernaturalism, we may come to see ‘A Universe From Nothing’ as the equivalent from cosmology.  The title means exactly what it says.  And what it says is – devastating.”

Those are some strong words!  He must really be on to something if this book/video is really as devastating as the Oxford professor claims it is.  Here's the video for those who want to sit through an hour long science lesson with a lot of theistic derision. 

I was very curious how he got around the 1^st Law of Thermodynamics, which states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, but can only change forms.  It was pretty clear how.  Here are some of my favorite quotes from the video: 

“by nothing I don’t mean nothing I mean nothing”

“nothing isn’t nothing”

“nothing weighs something”

“let’s calculate the energy of nothing”

“nothing is really a boiling, bubbling brew of virtual particles that are popping in and out of existence”

Nothing isn’t nothing?  Nothing weighs something???  Krauss says in the video that theists are experts at nothing, so since I am a theist, I can say with the authority of an expert that Krauss knows nothing about nothing! 

So what is this “nothing” Krauss believes produced our universe?  In empty space there is still energy present called the vacuum energy.  It cannot be seen and has not been directly detected, which is why it is also called dark energy.  Its value is known as the Cosmological Constant, which Einstein mistake nly put on the wrong side of the equation can called it his biggest blunder (even Einstein’s mistakes were brilliant).  How do we know dark energy exists if it cannot be directly detected?  Matter is attracted to other matter due to gravity.  If all we had in the universe was the matter we see, the universe would collapse in on itself due to the gravitational attraction.  We know the universe is expanding and energy is required to push matter apart; therefore, there is energy pushing the universe apart.  In 2003, WMAP measured the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation and determined that only 5% of the universe is made up of the matter we see (stars, galaxies, planets, etc), 24% is made up of dark matter, and 71% is made up of dark energy. 

Essentially Krauss is saying that 71% of the universe is nothing….except it weighs something, has energy, is full of virtual particles popping in and out of existence, contains quantum fields, and is pushing the universe apart.  Plus the laws of physics had to exist prior to the universe forming.  I’m curious as to why Krauss feels the need to change the definition of the word "nothing" if physics truly shows that God is unnecessary. 

David Albert, who is a professor of philosophy at Columbia University, wrote a scathing review here.  You know it’s bad when a fellow atheist says this:

“Krauss is dead wrong and his religious and philosophical critics are absolutely right.”

Krauss’s response was to call him a “moronic philosopher”.

This is what happens when smart people are determined to deny that God exists and try to use science to falsify the creator of science.  They profess to be wise and become fools (Romans 1:22).