The universe must have had a definite starting point in time.

Thank you for your response. I'd like to point out that my opponent only gives one source to this astounding claim, which is a Wikipedia page about the universe. However, the inferences he draws from this page are not only absent from said page, but also logically contradictory. First and foremost, my opponent identifies space, matter, velocity, and time to be four separate dimensions. However, if you were to search the Wiki universe page for "dimension," in all of the fifteen matches, you would only see the three spatial dimensions and one temporal dimension. Space comprises of the first three dimensions. Matter is what takes up space. Velocity is a formula relating space and time. Time is the fourth dimension. "Since these dimensions are all interrelated, Albert Einstein concluded that as objects approach the speed of light (the speed limit of the universe aside from theoretical particles and the big bang) mass becomes infinite and TIME STOPS (emphasis added…E=MC2). " Wrong. . http://startswithabang.com... The conclusion was that as an ordinary object comes closer and closer to the speed of light, time SLOWS DOWN, and it takes more and more energy to go faster. He concluded that it would take an infinite amount of energy for matter to travel at the speed of light. The thing is, we don't have infinite energy. It's kind of like an asymptote, as seen in the Time Dilation graph in the link above. . http://en.wikipedia.org... There is absolutely nothing in science to suggest that stopping time is possible, as it is logically impossible. If time stops, no natural event could possibly make time start up again. "Now, as my opponent pointed out via his link, the big bang event occurred nearly instantly "brief period (less than 10−32 seconds)". This time frame is millions (if not trillions) of times faster than the speed of light. " How can a time frame be faster than a speed? What if matter hardly moved at all during that brief time frame? Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that the speed of light may be slowing down (. http://www.khouse.org...), in which case, pretty much any hypothetical speed at the time of the Big Bang may have been slower than the speed of light at the time. This, combined with the fact that it is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light, proves that the Big Bang could not have traveled faster than the speed of light. "Since time is nonexistent at speeds greater than the speed of light, and the big bang (cosmic inflation) happened at speeds greater than the speed of light, than the big bang must have occurred in the absence of time. " This is refuted by the above. "Time is only really present when an object moves slower than the speed of light. " Well, seeing as an object can only move slower than the speed of light, this is essentially correct. "Since the Universe started out at speeds much faster than the speed of light, time must have started sometime after the big bang and relative to the object traveling at less than the speed of light. " As I have already shown that it is impossible for the universe to have started out with speeds greater than whatever the speed of light was at the time, any conclusions drawn from that fact are irrelevant. "Although these conclusions may sound like science fiction to those not versed in these theories they are indeed science fact! It's been proven not only mathematically but in function as well. " Well, seeing as there are no sources given to show that this is "science fact," I'd have to take my opponent's word for it. Which I won't, because I don't believe him. As for the GPS example, that only shows that time slows down with increased speed. It does not show that matter can reach the speed of light, which is what my opponent needs to win this debate. "Again, these concepts are based in scientific fact. " Repeating this doesn't do anybody any good. I need to see some sources. "These facts provide clear support that the universe started in the absence of time (because there isn't a distinction between space AND time) and as such, it's not possible that the universe had a definite starting point in time. " Actually, even if there was no time before the universe, as long as the universe started with time, then the definite starting point in time would indeed be the Big Bang. The universe started to end the absence of time. "Based on these proven concepts, I ask that you vote against the absurd notion that my opponent believes is accurate. " This statement actually mirrors my own thoughts. Which is more absurd, the idea that time had a definite starting point due to an unrefuted logical explanation (see the time machine question), or the idea that an object can go faster than the speed of light thanks to its greater-than-infinite energy? Anyways, thanks for this debate. It was fun to dive back into reading articles about Einstein and the speed of light and such. The resolution has been affirmed.