Cosmological argument

===Big Bang cosmology===

Some cosmologists and physicists argue that a challenge to the cosmological argument is the nature of time: "One finds that time just disappears from the [[Wheeler–DeWitt equation]]"<ref>{{cite web|last=Folger|first=Tim|title=Time may not exist|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jun/in-no-time/|access-date=August 17, 2012}}</ref> ([[Carlo Rovelli]]). The [[Big Bang theory]] states that it is the point in which all [[dimension]]s came into existence, the start of both [[space]] and [[time]].<ref name="sciam">{{cite magazine |last1=Gott III |first1=J. Richard |author1-link=J. Richard Gott |last2=Gunn |first2=James E. |author2-link=James Gunn (astronomer) |last3=Schramm |first3=David N. |author3-link=David Schramm (astrophysicist) |last4=Tinsley |first4=Beatrice M. |author4-link=Beatrice Tinsley |title=Will the Universe Expand Forever?" |magazine=[[Scientific American]] |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24950306 |jstor=24950306 |access-date=December 10, 2023 |page=65 |date=March 1976}}</ref> Then, the question "What was there before the Universe?" makes no sense; the concept of "before" becomes meaningless when considering a situation without time.<ref name="sciam"/> This has been put forward by J. Richard Gott III, [[James Gunn (astronomer)|James E. Gunn]], David N. Schramm, and [[Beatrice Tinsley]], who said that asking what occurred before the Big Bang is like asking what is north of the [[North Pole]].<ref name="sciam"/> However, some cosmologists and physicists do attempt to investigate causes for the Big Bang, using such scenarios as the collision of [[Membrane (M-Theory)|membrane]]s.<ref>{{cite web|last=Britt |first=Robert R. |title=Brane-Storm {{pipe}} Challenges Part of Big Bang Theory |publisher=Space.com |date=April 18, 2001 |access-date=June 21, 2008 |url=http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/bigbang_alternative_010413-3.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511144628/http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/bigbang_alternative_010413-3.html |archive-date=11 May 2008 }}</ref>

Philosopher [[Edward Feser]] argues that most of the classical philosophers' cosmological arguments for the existence of God do not depend on the Big Bang or whether the universe had a beginning. The question is not about what got things started, or how long they have been going, but rather what keeps them going.<ref>{{cite book | first = Edward | last = Feser | author-link= Edward Feser | title = The Last Superstition | publisher = St. Augustine Press | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-1587314520 }}</ref>{{Rp|103}}