progressive christianity

[YoManGo!]

anyone else follow it?
link (http://hostdiva.com/liberalchristians/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1)

plz no immature ZOMG GOD ISNT REAL LOL posts.

[Technologic]

I cba to read all that. Put it in a sentence for me :)

[YoManGo!]

1) We are willing to be open to all the possibilities of who Jesus was said to be, and focus more on His life than His death. We may question His divinity, believe in the Trinity, or be Unitarian.

2) We believe that the Bible contains truth but is not always literal. We believe that it is a map and not the final destination of our journey.

3) We believe other faiths contain truths as well.

4) We believe that asking questions is okay, and that there is rarely such a thing as a single black and white answer to those questions.

5) We are seeking closeness to God, not points for following certain rules which will buy our way into heaven. We take Jesus' admonitions to the Pharisees to heart and focus on the grace and compassion of God.

6) We welcome other seekers regardless of who they are as God wants us to include people rather than exclude them.

7) Many of us believe in universal salvation.

[Sentrax]

I don't know why but I would feel very deceived if I was Jesus and my followers started believing things from other religions.
I agree with all of them points, except for the third.
Interesting, though.

[CrazyColaist]

*Removed*

Edited by micky.blue.eyes (Forum Administrator): Please don't create inappropriate posts.

[English]

*Removed*

anywho, this looks like a decent following and i agree with all of the 'bullet points' to be honest. i've always leaned towards religion rather than atheism.

Edited by micky.blue.eyes (Forum Administrator): Please don't be rude towards other members.

[Sentrax]

*Removed*

That's not very fair to say.

[Dentafrice,]

To be honest,

I don't know.. I don't think anyone knows the truth, its whatever you believe, and everyone should respect what others believe whether or not they think they are right or wrong

Personally, I don't believe in anything.. I think we die, and rot in the ground.. just like any other creature does.

[English]

To be honest,

I don't know.. I don't think anyone knows the truth, its whatever you believe, and everyone should respect what others believe whether or not they think they are right or wrong
I think that's a stupid thing to say. I'm not respecting everyone's opinion, and never will I.

[Dentafrice,]

Then no one is going to respect yours.
What you just said is a load of ****.

You should respect their opinion, even if you don't like it :\

[English]

Then no one is going to respect yours.
What you just said is a load of ****.

You should respect their opinion, even if you don't like it :\
I earn respect and people should earn theirs. If people are gonna start mugging off something and saying how it's a load of crap then I'm gonna mug them off.

[Mentor]

Then no one is going to respect yours.
What you just said is a load of ****.

You should respect their opinion, even if you don't like it :\
Ok, step back, take a deep breath and notice what a hypocrit you just were.

Dance offers an opinion. You say what the said a load of **** and people should respect each others opinions.

Notice the problem?

Thinking someone elses opinion is stupid is an equaly valid opinion as the one put forward to start with. You should always allow people to have and state there opinions, but at no point, ever, should you be forced to respect it. By doing so you take away any value or merit from you own opinions.

I dont belive in god, im not a theist, thus i belive these people are just as delusional as those who take the bible literal. Not quite as completely and utterly stupid, these ones appear to have brains at least, but still deluded. If no evedence suggests somthing, beliveing in it is absured. You may as well belive in invisable pink dinosuars named tim or bob.

[Virgin Mary]

I'm a Catholic and don't feel the need to be an evangelist or prostitute or w.e. and I'm certainly not believing in the 3432 gods that other religions have.

[Nixt]

That's exactly my religion :D. I read a lot into Christianity and religion, the existence of God etc and came to the conclusion that Christianity is the right choice. I eventually decided to follow the Liberal Christian path :).

[Dan2nd]

Yes thats exactly me aswell.


Ok, step back, take a deep breath and notice what a hypocrit you just were.

Dance offers an opinion. You say what the said a load of **** and people should respect each others opinions.

Notice the problem?

Thinking someone elses opinion is stupid is an equaly valid opinion as the one put forward to start with. You should always allow people to have and state there opinions, but at no point, ever, should you be forced to respect it. By doing so you take away any value or merit from you own opinions.

I dont belive in god, im not a theist, thus i belive these people are just as delusional as those who take the bible literal. Not quite as completely and utterly stupid, these ones appear to have brains at least, but still deluded. If no evedence suggests somthing, beliveing in it is absured. You may as well belive in invisable pink dinosuars named tim or bob.

That my friend is why its called a Faith You have to have faith in God and his existence because there is no evidence of his existence

[Sentrax]

Yes thats exactly me aswell.



That my friend is why its called a Faith You have to have faith in God and his existence because there is no evidence of his existence


The guy has a point, people choose what to have faith in, and they don't need to be told that they are deluded because of that. It's like, for kids, there is no evidence of Santa Claus' existence, but they believe it anyway.

[BL!NKEY]

The guy has a point, people choose what to have faith in, and they don't need to be told that they are deluded because of that. It's like, for kids, there is no evidence of Santa Claus' existence, but they believe it anyway.

except santa brings them presents and is at the mall downtown where you sit on his lap.

God is just supposed to be. You have to accept everything the people who made up the religion decide.

I don't know if there is a god or not but I am not all closed off to the fact.
I don't think there is the God of christianity or any other religion but there might be some superpower who set up the universe a few billion years ago but has not done anything since.

[Virgin Mary]

People have faith in some theories like gravity and water being H20, but without evidence nothing is right or wrong.

[Mentor]

Yes thats exactly me aswell.



That my friend is why its called a Faith You have to have faith in God and his existence because there is no evidence of his existence

No, thats just a load of rubbish they feed you to convince you of that fact, you yourself dont even belive it because it makes no sence.

Even to have faith you need a reason. Your reason is because people, be it your family, friends of just the old book told you to.
Take Tim, hes an invisible floating green dinosaur. Do you believe he exists? Do you have any reason for beliveing or not beliveing? have you even concidered the matter before.
No, because theres no evedence suggesting it, so its a none issue. Just like god is. But if you had faith im Tim, maybe things would be differnt.

Or to take a better quote:

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just go one god further than you. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
- Stephen Robert


People have faith in some theories like gravity and water being H20, but without evidence nothing is right or wrong.
The things are still right or wrong, we just dont know which is which at the time. Plus we dont have faith in gravity like the example suggests you do god. I have evdence for gravity, when i drop somthing it falls. If i have evdence, and proof, its not really faith.

[N!ck]

I think that religion is for weaker minded people that can't accept that there is no explination to certain things and want an answer.

What happens after death? No-one really knows. They use religion to explain things no matter how far fetched regigios theorys may be.

[:Hazel]

that all seems a very generalised religion/following to me :S

[Jazza]

People have faith in some theories like gravity and water being H20, but without evidence nothing is right or wrong.

That has got to be the most idiotic thing I have ever seen. Of course water is H2O. Scientists have seen Oxygen molecules and they have seen Hydrogen molecules so they can easily see that water comprises two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule. However God has never been seen by anyone who can be taken seriously. I'm not even going to go into the fact that you think gravity is a theory because it's just moronic.

Until actual proof is found that supports that God is real (and not some 1000 year old book or the old line that 'The earth is so amazing that someone must have designed it') I will not believe it.

[Dan2nd]

No, thats just a load of rubbish they feed you to convince you of that fact, you yourself dont even belive it because it makes no sence.

Even to have faith you need a reason. Your reason is because people, be it your family, friends of just the old book told you to.
Take Tim, hes an invisible floating green dinosaur. Do you believe he exists? Do you have any reason for beliveing or not beliveing? have you even concidered the matter before.
No, because theres no evedence suggesting it, so its a none issue. Just like god is. But if you had faith im Tim, maybe things would be differnt.





no,

none of my family or friends belive (sp?) in god I havn't even read the bible but I do have faith in Gods existence.

[YoManGo!]

I dont belive in god, im not a theist, thus i belive these people are just as delusional as those who take the bible literal. Not quite as completely and utterly stupid, these ones appear to have brains at least, but still deluded. If no evedence suggests somthing, beliveing in it is absured. You may as well belive in invisable pink dinosuars named tim or bob.


i dno, i used to feel the same but im completely changed now. its hard to explain but once you feel god in you you dont need there to be physical proof in his/her/whatevers existance you know that what you can feel inside you is strong enough to convince you at least. i know this post is gonna get me bare flamed, but anyone else with faith will back me up, im sure.


I don't know why but I would feel very deceived if I was Jesus and my followers started believing things from other religions.
I agree with all of them points, except for the third.
Interesting, though.

its not really that, more that we cant prove/disprove any other world religion more so than we can with christianity and many of them do contain true teachings etc. so we choose not to close them off; but we still follow the teachings of jesus christ.


To be honest,

I don't know.. I don't think anyone knows the truth, its whatever you believe, and everyone should respect what others believe whether or not they think they are right or wrong

Personally, I don't believe in anything.. I think we die, and rot in the ground.. just like any other creature does.

heh, many progressive christians dont believe in an afterlife and many accept noone fully knows the truth. you pretty much just agreed with it.


I'm a Catholic and don't feel the need to be an evangelist or prostitute or w.e. and I'm certainly not believing in the 3432 gods that other religions have.

i was brought up a catholic but it annoys me how much organized religion adds extras onto the basic concept of god. noones asking you to believe in any other gods, all it says is that other religions can contain truth too, whether they be in its teachings, commandments or whatever. just because it isnt christianity you shouldnt shut yourself away from it and write it off =/

[Virgin Mary]

That has got to be the most idiotic thing I have ever seen. Of course water is H2O. Scientists have seen Oxygen molecules and they have seen Hydrogen molecules so they can easily see that water comprises two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule. However God has never been seen by anyone who can be taken seriously. I'm not even going to go into the fact that you think gravity is a theory because it's just moronic.

Until actual proof is found that supports that God is real (and not some 1000 year old book or the old line that 'The earth is so amazing that someone must have designed it') I will not believe it.
Of course I believe in scientific laws, they can be considered proof of some kind of creator. Scientific theories are all about which label stick, not facts. When the big bang was first suggested it was rejected by scientists and the general public but accepted by the Pope and the Catholic community. And just for the record, water is a substance formed from H2O and many other elements, not H2O itself.

[Concentric2]

And just for the record, water is a substance formed from H2O and many other elements, not H2O itself.
If we're talking about pure water, what else are you going to find in there?

[YoManGo!]

pope's sweat or something

[Virgin Mary]

If we're talking about pure water, what else are you going to find in there?
Ions and salt or something similar. HOH is the mere component.

[Jazza]

Ions and salt or something similar. HOH is the mere component.

HOH is just another expression of the formula, it is no different to H2O

[Concentric2]

Ions and salt or something similar. HOH is the mere component.
Salt? That would make it salt water... If we're talking pure water then H2O molecules is all you'd have.
You're right though about normal (tap, bottled etc) water, there are other bits.

Anyway, going a bit off topic here :P

[OMGitsaROSS]

I agree partly with those points but i'm agnostic//atheist.

[Virgin Mary]

How can this be? :'s If you have H2O molecules (water is arranged HOH) then you have H2O molecules not water. Water is a substance in which H2O is the primary molecule. Unless it's ice or steam then water begins ionising almost immediately. I don't know what I'm talking about, wait till I get a PhD then I can continue.

[Mentor]

no,

none of my family or friends belive (sp?) in god I havn't even read the bible but I do have faith in Gods existence.

You can have faith elvis is still alive if you like, in fact theres More evdence suggesting thats the case than there is for god "/


i dno, i used to feel the same but im completely changed now. its hard to explain but once you feel god in you you dont need there to be physical proof in his/her/whatevers existance you know that what you can feel inside you is strong enough to convince you at least. i know this post is gonna get me bare flamed, but anyone else with faith will back me up, im sure.
Unluckly a gut feeling, how ever strong, is not what i define reality by. God is a none issue, theres no evidence for or against, i have no reason not to belive in him as equaly i have no reason to belive in him. Since i lack a reason to belive in him, in the same way i lack a reason to belive in Tim the invisable dinosour. I simply dont concider it an issue, im an aithiest - without a belief in god. (not the same as beliveing god doesnt exist)

Until somthing suggest or at least points to the possiblty or likelyhood of such a thing, i see no reason inderving to establish more about the abstract concept that is god.


i was brought up a catholic but it annoys me how much organized religion adds extras onto the basic concept of god. noones asking you to believe in any other gods, all it says is that other religions can contain truth too, whether they be in its teachings, commandments or whatever. just because it isnt christianity you shouldnt shut yourself away from it and write it off =/
Christanty just offers one possible idea of what god could be. The one in christanty is jellous, wrathful and pretty stupid alot of the time. Far from perfect as most concepts claim. Hence why he gets so mad and comits mass genaside when people beliveing in a differnt god than him (which happens a number of times in the bible)

The christian conception of god is just one possible god concept. Many others exist, although i agree, its far better for people to establish there own idea of god that will benifit them and with luck make them better as a person, than to have a large organised religion which simply lends itself to a neverending stream of corruption.


Of course I believe in scientific laws, they can be considered proof of some kind of creator. Scientific theories are all about which label stick, not facts. When the big bang was first suggested it was rejected by scientists and the general public but accepted by the Pope and the Catholic community. And just for the record, water is a substance formed from H2O and many other elements, not H2O itself.
Water is H2O, its true pure water is very rair, but only the H2O is actualy water, the rest are just other minerals and chemicals mixed in with it. The water remains as just alot of H2O.

Plus all science is with facts, a scientific theory is a best explaintion at the time for the evdence avaible, when more evednece appears you can check the theorys predictions were correct, if they were, theory seems to be right, or at least close to it. If not, the theory needs refineing in order to get closer to the truth.
Gravity = fact. We know gravity exists and that things are attaracted to each other by a gravition pull
The theroy of gravity = a theory explaing how this actualy works, we have a good idea, but we dont know for sure exactly how gravity is working, so it remains a theory.


How can this be? :'s If you have H2O molecules (water is arranged HOH) then you have H2O molecules not water. Water is a substance in which H2O is the primary molecule. Unless it's ice or steam then water begins ionising almost immediately. I don't know what I'm talking about, wait till I get a PhD then I can continue.
H2O molecules = Water. There just to names for the same thing, the H2O is simply a statement of which elements combine in order to create each water molicule.
Water IS H2O. Often Water is mixed with other stuff, because its to expencive to filter completely, thus the water from a tap isnt just water, its water + clorine and any number of any other chemicals, salts and minerals.

[Jazza]

How can this be? :'s If you have H2O molecules (water is arranged HOH) then you have H2O molecules not water. Water is a substance in which H2O is the primary molecule. Unless it's ice or steam then water begins ionising almost immediately. I don't know what I'm talking about, wait till I get a PhD then I can continue.

You've got it wrong, H2O is 2 H (Hydrogen) molecules and 1 O (Oxygen molecule) which is exactly what HOH is. Water which is found naturally is less commonly H2O because it will have trace amounts of whatever it has been in contact in with it but H2O is just the water part when pure.

[Concentric2]

Unluckly a gut feeling, how ever strong, is not what i define reality by. God is a none issue, theres no evidence for or against, i have no reason not to belive in him as equaly i have no reason to belive in him. Since i lack a reason to belive in him, in the same way i lack a reason to belive in Tim the invisable dinosour. I simply dont concider it an issue, im an aithiest - without a belief in god. (not the same as beliveing god doesnt exist)

Until somthing suggest or at least points to the possiblty or likelyhood of such a thing, i see no reason inderving to establish more about the abstract concept that is god.
Then you are more agnostic than atheist; atheism is actively disbelieving the existence of a greater power.

[Mentor]

Then you are more agnostic than atheist; atheism is actively disbelieving the existence of a greater power.
Not really, athism correctly means "without belife in god" just look at the word.
a = without (think of asyimetrical or amoral etc)
theism = belief in god

Although if you want to get in to the more technical side, i would classify myself as a weak athiest, which is admittedly quite close to an agnostic option, since i dont claim to know ether way. I hold the stance because from a purely logical point of view, beliveing there definitely isnt a god is just as stupid believing there is one, in that no evidence exists to suggest ether way. (the position a strong aithiest would have is an active belife that god doesnt exist)

The difference between my position though and an agnostic is an agnostic belives there may or may not be a god, and hasent decided which one is true, setting for an undecided opinion. My own as a weak aithiest is that no decison exists since it makes no sence to deny or accept a proposition that hasnt been made. By made i mean in terms of being indicated by any form of evedence.

You dont belive in magical super goats. You dont have any reason not to belive in them, theres no evedence that proves they dont exist. The reason is theres no reasonable evedence that actualy suggests or implys there existence. The same is true from my prospective of god.

[FlyingJesus]

Getting away from the pointless discussion of water and back to the original topic; I think this is the worst form of Christianity available. It's basically a way of being able to tell everyone you're a Christian without actually following any Christian laws. It's the "pick and choose" sector of Christianity, where if you don't want to live by a Bible law you can just say "nah I interpret it differently so it doesn't apply to me in that way".

In my opinion, if you're going to be a Christian you should actually read the Bible and live by its teachings rather than just saying you believe in God. Fair enough, you could have a belief in any god without following any rules, but to truly believe in the Judeo-Christian God should mean that you respect (and hell, if the Bible's any example, fear) Him enough to do as He says, to the letter. You can go on about certain laws being outdated, but social codes shouldn't affect how you follow your religion. Do it properly, because you're only kidding yourself otherwise.

[lAdmire]

is progressive christianity different than christianity?
cause i'm christian & like.. yeah.
umm... i unno.

[Concentric2]

The difference between my position though and an agnostic is an agnostic belives there may or may not be a god, and hasent decided which one is true, setting for an undecided opinion. My own as a weak aithiest is that no decison exists since it makes no sence to deny or accept a proposition that hasnt been made. By made i mean in terms of being indicated by any form of evedence.

You dont belive in magical super goats. You dont have any reason not to belive in them, theres no evedence that proves they dont exist. The reason is theres no reasonable evedence that actualy suggests or implys there existence. The same is true from my prospective of god.
I know what you mean but i still think what you're saying is the same as being agnostic. If you're agreeing that there is no evidence either way then how can you argue that you're being scientific about it and yet leaning towards one side.

[hobo]

imo, religion = bull. none of them appeal to me in the slightest.

& i don't agree with progressive christianity.
if you're going to be a Christian, you should follow the proper christian religion and it's rules, instead of following some adapted rules to make it easier.
it's kind of an easy option.

[English]

imo, religion = bull. none of them appeal to me in the slightest.

& i don't agree with progressive christianity.
if you're going to be a Christian, you should follow the proper christian religion and it's rules, instead of following some adapted rules to make it easier.
it's kind of an easy option.
I personally disagree with your opinion! Fair play if religion doesn't appeal to you, but to call it bull is quite unfair really! I'm not a Christian or whatever, but you gotta have some respect to people who are (and I think quite a lot of your friends are aswell!)

Religion has a lot to do with interpretation and therefore Progressive Christianity is just another interpretation of it that holds Christian characteristics/structure just not as 'extreme'.

[hobo]

I personally disagree with your opinion! Fair play if religion doesn't appeal to you, but to call it bull is quite unfair really! I'm not a Christian or whatever, but you gotta have some respect to people who are (and I think quite a lot of your friends are aswell!)

Religion has a lot to do with interpretation and therefore Progressive Christianity is just another interpretation of it that holds Christian characteristics/structure just not as 'extreme'.

that's why i said "imo", so nobody would be offended by me calling it bull :}

& yeah, but this just seems like an easy option for people who don't want to have to follow christianity's stricter rules.

[FlyingJesus]

Why not follow a religion to the extreme? It's interpretation that's more dangerous. What are known as Muslim "extremists" don't actually follow the religion to the extreme, they just pick and choose like in progressive/liberal Christianity, and that's where the danger lies. Also, if you really believe in God, why would you need to question His word? Surely if it was meant to be open to interpretation then that would have been said, rather than the instructions and laws as they are.

[Mentor]

I know what you mean but i still think what you're saying is the same as being agnostic. If you're agreeing that there is no evidence either way then how can you argue that you're being scientific about it and yet leaning towards one side.

Because nothing is more logical than something. Your claiming it would be just as scientific to assume when your blind/curtains blows open, that a giant marshmello thats invisable came up and pushed it. Its far more logical to assume it was just the wind, yet in that instance since you likely wernt monitering it or checking in ant great detail you dont actualy have any proof ether way...

The sames true of god. Thus i dont accept the option of there being a god at all since its non-suggested nore implyed but any form of evedence avaible. In the same way i also dont belive harry potter exists, yet theres more evedence he does than there is for a judo-christanic god.

Now would you concider your selth an a-potterist (someone who doesnt belive harry potter is realy) or a potter-nostic (someone whos unsure) takeing in to account theres no evedence to say ether way?

Do you follow?


Why not follow a religion to the extreme? It's interpretation that's more dangerous. What are known as Muslim "extremists" don't actually follow the religion to the extreme, they just pick and choose like in progressive/liberal Christianity, and that's where the danger lies. Also, if you really believe in God, why would you need to question His word? Surely if it was meant to be open to interpretation then that would have been said, rather than the instructions and laws as they are.
Not nessarly theres quite a bit in the quran about killing and murdering non-belivers, as there equaly is in the bible. no holy book ive ever read has truely been very peaceful the whole way though, although peace is the underluying message, to take that you have to ignore a great deal of violence thats also contained "/
Also christans DO NOT belive the bible is the work of god. It was written by men, thus is imperfect. Its not the literal truth, much of it is just experessions from the time period idiots today confuse.

"a son of god" was pretty much any person who was particualy religious, alot of people, not just jesus, it was applied to almost everyone, after all if u accept the bible, everyones the "son" god. its just people misread it and take an expression literaly. Belive it or not, even 2000 or so years ago, they had slang, expressions, and methods of literaly expression. most the writers were likely also poets, and that shows in how they write. Takeing it literaly is not takeing it how it was meant, so accepting it is writen in the way is not really picking and chooseing.

[Concentric2]

Because nothing is more logical than something. Your claiming it would be just as scientific to assume when your blind/curtains blows open, that a giant marshmello thats invisable came up and pushed it. Its far more logical to assume it was just the wind
If i were investigating scientifically what caused the curtains to blow open then i wouldn't make any such assumptions.


yet in that instance since you likely wernt monitering it or checking in ant great detail you dont actualy have any proof ether way...
I agree - we don't have any evidence that there wasn't a giant invisible marshmellow so that might be the case.


The sames true of god. Thus i dont accept the option of there being a god at all since its non-suggested nore implyed but any form of evedence avaible.
I also agree that we shouldn't waste time thinking that there might be a marshmellow and try proving it, because there would be an infinite number of things to investigate. But you can't say that just because nothing we've investigated so far suggests there is one that it's more unlikely that there is.


Now would you concider your selth an a-potterist (someone who doesnt belive harry potter is realy) or a potter-nostic (someone whos unsure) takeing in to account theres no evedence to say ether way?
potter-nostic.

[Virgin Mary]

If i were investigating scientifically what caused the curtains to blow open then i wouldn't make any such assumptions.


I agree - we don't have any evidence that there wasn't a giant invisible marshmellow so that might be the case.


I also agree that we shouldn't waste time thinking that there might be a marshmellow and try proving it, because there would be an infinite number of things to investigate. But you can't say that just because nothing we've investigated so far suggests there is one that it's more unlikely that there is.


potter-nostic.
People apply logic to things with ambiguity I guess. I think it's more logical to believe something created everything rather than everything blew up out of nothing then randomly formed everything. People will think the opposite, each to their own.

[N!ck]

People apply logic to things with ambiguity I guess. I think it's more logical to believe something created everything rather than everything blew up out of nothing then randomly formed everything. People will think the opposite, each to their own.

But the theory is that there was just a load of energy, which exploded, creating everything that we have today.

The big bang theory is probably the most beleived in scientific theory of the creation of the universe, but there are other scientific theorys.

[Mentor]

Technicaly speaking the big bang theory has nothing to do with the beginning of the universe. The theroy simply states that a "big bang" took place near the beginning of the universe and is what send all the planets shooting out, plus accounting for everything from background radiation to the universe explanding (as shown by red shift)

But like evolution it gets confused alot, half of the internets christans cant tell the difference between evolution and a-biogenisis in the same way nearaly all of the internte cant tell the difference between the big bang and the universes creation.

[N!ck]

Well technically I should have put "universe as we know it", but several definitions from google support what i said. http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=define%3Abig+bang+theory&btnG=Search&meta=

Also wiki states that it happened at or close to the creation of the Universe. No-one con be really sure though as they weren't there :P. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang

[Virgin Mary]

Why didn't gravity pull it back in? >;S

[N!ck]

Because the energy of the "explosion" forced it outwards. The universe is explanding still today at an accelerated rate (it is getting faster) and it is thought to be due to dark energy.

[Virgin Mary]

Because the energy of the "explosion" forced it outwards. The universe is explanding still today at an accelerated rate (it is getting faster) and it is thought to be due to dark energy.
But technically the resulting amount of mass and gravity would cause a black hole.

So is progressive Christianity basically Buddhism but you believe in Jesus instead of Buddha?

[Mentor]

But technically the resulting amount of mass and gravity would cause a black hole.
Some still think it will, but not for a very long time, after all it was a BIG bang :p then again, since the universes expantion is speeding up that may not happen. Being that knowledge of physics relating to matter and absolute nothing are almost non-existent for now after all, it isnt all that surpesing we aint figured out how its doing what its doing yet.