Evolutionist's and Atheist's .....why?

Question

Could you please provide me with info stating why you believe what you believe? I am interested in the how's and why's. I am looking for your story not a synical short statement! Thanks!

Answer 1

This is how I became agnostic. I haven't finished it to explain why I'm an atheist, but that would involve discussing a lot of philosophical arguments anyway. So, this gives you the idea, although it's not all of the story:

I was raised as a christian...believed it blindly (like a child till I was in my pre-teens). Then became what is referred to in some denominations as born again (I grew up presbyterian and they didn't use that term). I accepted god with all my heart and felt we had a relationship...I was somewhat of an evangelical but not a fundamentalist. I believed that God used evolution to create all the life we see today. I did however think the flood story was probably true, but mainly because I had no reason to think otherwise at that time...true or not, I saw it as a story of god's loving forgiveness and how he gave us a second chance.

That made sense to me for a while, I was able to look over anything bad in the bible because 1) I hadn't really read much of it and 2) I viewed most of the bible as stories which were written to teach a lesson, even if I currently didn't understand the lesson. I started to view it as my christian duty to actually read the bible because doing so would allow me to bring more people to god. The more I read the less I started to view the bible as a holy text. My thoughts towards christianity changed from it being the one true religion to that maybe all religions were correct. I remained a chrsitian because it worked for me but quit worrying about if others believed the same. I started viewing jesus more as a symbolic teacher than a savior...although I couldn't have put that into words at the time. At this point I thought about converting to Judaism but knew that was a very time consuming process and decided god wouldn't care what religion I was anyway.

My pluralistic view of religion led to me not being that concerned about going to church anymore as an obligation to god...I continued going because I like to participate in choir and had some friends there. My childhood church started breaking up over a monetary dispute (old people wanted to keep the building for sentimental reasons even though it was falling apart, the younger crowd wanted to sell it and build a new building). I tried joining one of my classmate's churches but soon found my friends at that church were only my friends in church....so the appeal of going to church soon wore off and I quit going. I was about to go off to college anyway.

So, I get to college. Well, I forgot to explain what brought me to a pluralistic view of religion...so I'll explain here rather than going back and editing. At some point I realized that there are a lot more religions in the world other than christians and that each of those religions had people who believed just as deeply and behaved just as morally as christians. Seeing all these good people, I couldn't imagine a loving god sending them to hell just for not following a particular religion. So, I decided that all religions, weird to me or not, must be valid paths. So, back to being in college...I didn't think that much about religion for a couple years. My current bf and I would have the occasional late night chat centering around if there isn't a god how could anything exist. Through remembering our discussions I realize that's when I started becoming agnostic. During those times I'd still try to talk to god and seek guidance...maybe more as a way to self-contemplation that seeking divine guidance, after all I knew not to expect a verbal or obvious reply. I was never one to actually ask god for things anyway, I figured he was too busy trying to help those in more need than I, but I did occasionally ask..didn't pay much attention to if I got an answer or not...prayer had always been somewhat symbolic to me anyway.

Anyway...I had a deep faith in god even though I questioned...I had to have faith...how else could anything be here? The universe didn't just poof out of thin air. But then...how did god get there? These questions puzzled me...so I started searching for an answer. My search led me to discussing in some christian chat rooms...none of them or other religious people in those rooms had a very good answer other than god always existed. It's fine to believe that way, but it didn't really answer my question. Being in those rooms also gave me my first interactions with atheists. Needless to say, atheist who hang out in christian chat rooms aren't typically very nice so the way I was taught to view atheists was only further enhanced (atheists are mean, immoral etc). It wasn't until I met my bf and some of his friends that I started to realize that atheists can and often are good people too. It is important to point out here that my bf never tried to make me an atheist, I only knew his beliefs from my best friend letting me know he was an atheist, we didn't even discuss religion until I had some questions about atheists I wanted him to answer. The big question was...where did everything come from? I don't remember him actually giving me an answer, I think he must have realized the importance of me searching on my own. I also didn't want to start much of a religious discussion with him because I know that can ruin young relationships.

So, I started reading. I think I may have thumbed through a couple books he had on the shelf (he has a lot being a philosophy major). I decided to go to the bookstore to see what sort of books I could find dealing with the god question...so when I found "the question of god" it seemed like a good one...it really helped me put my thoughts together on god. In the book it compared the writings of C.S. Lewis to Freud. I will say that it's not the best book comparing the two 'sides' I actually didn't agree with a lot either had to say. What's interesting looking back is that I wrote little notes next to things in the book...what I was thinking. If anyone is interested I can try to find the book and type some of my notes into the forum. Anyway, that book is what made me realize that my beliefs had changed to pure agnosticism...I didn't know if god was real or not and saw no way to answer the question.

Answer 2

It is not because we don't want to except that there is a greater power out there solely, that makes us just seem to be stubborn to the truth and that deep inside we have accepted the "truth" and simply are too naughty and rebellious to follow along with the rest of the class. I resent that remark as dismissive and extremely narrow minded. Being religious, despite what you may believe, does not make you RIGHT, neither does being an atheist for that matter.

I believe what I believe because, personally, I have tried and studied the Christian path but did not agree with the teachings or opinions of those who followed that path. At the core of my being I feel there is no god and that evolution is an acceptable theory in which we can put our development into a context which we can understand. It is logical and can be shown practically to some extent, whereas creationists will say here is a book, this is the truth. If you ask how can we see this, how can we know it is true, you are told to accept it because it comes from god. I question and will continue to question everything. How about you? Are you content to allow someone else to do your own thinking for you without trying to discover the world on your own. Life is about growth, biologically and intellectually...

Plus I agree with the above posting, people should be allowed to make their own choices about which paths to follow, religion and science must be separate entities within our teaching at school...

Answer 3

No sense repeating what I've already written here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsIEWgHA6cVowRRMQZ1p7Ijsy6IX?qid=20060704033919AAaHQFk

I don't have enough information about evolution to have a personal opinion on the subject, but creationism is pure nonsense in that it claims complexity is absolute proof the universe was created while at the same time claiming the creator was not created.

That isn't a theory, it is illogical nonsense. So, evolution appears to be the only logical alternative. But, there may be other alternatives (space aliens?) which have yet been discovered.

Answer 4

I am an atheist - It's not enough for me to "just believe" in something which is what believers (christians/catholics/etc) ask us to do. When I ask for evidence the only things they provide are the beliefs of others, books filled with the beliefs of others, life itself, and fear of hell (which they only believe exists). All of which is not proof of anything.

I personally find belief, or faith completely unnecessary for my life. That includes, but is not limited too, belief or faith in creationism, intelligent design, and yes even evolution, as evidence of the origin of life.

The thing is we don't know how it started, and it doesn't matter.

Believers just believe they know.

I do understand that evolution through natural selection does happen, but it does not answer the origin of life question. It's a theory thats still being researched.

god is just pretend

Answer 5

I became an atheist after much thought and reading, religion was a big part of my life but then I started noticing some VERY incorrect things in the bible, but I couldn't stand the thought of me not having a God or a religion, so I started asking around and reading all about every religion, found out they're ALL the same, they all have unbelievable myths and children stories in them, along with a bunch of contradictions, I admit prophets were really exceptionally intelligent people, but then again they left some evidence to their.. non-prophet-hood!

Now that I got here, I'm very happy and in peace with myself.

Answer 6

FELLOW CHRISTIANS... PLEASE!

Stop spewing such ignorant, holier-than-thou nonsense. And stop pitting science against religion. It's no wonder atheists call Christians anti-science.

I am a christian who use to be strictly evolutionist. I spent a lot of time studying the subject. So much so that I became convinced that Darwinian evolution is not possible. However, evolution in general is almost certain. Please don't arbitrarily dismiss the science that supports it because you fear that it might not agree with your idea of what creation is and who God is. This mindset has given rise to the extremely embarrassing pseudo-science called creationism. For any serious student of science who is also a christian, this is INFURIATING!

Granted, atheist scientists tend to hi-jack science to 'prove' that there is no God. But creationism is a knee-jerk reaction to them, and only lends weight to there charge that Christians are anti-science.

To make it simple trust what religious teachers teach about religion, not science. And trust objective scientists to teach science, not religion.

Answer 7

Good question...

Commited belief in Evolution is ultimately because of a desire to not believe in God

(or alternatively a desire to leave God no room to operate within the universe - i.e., either dont believe in God, or believe in a small god who fits inside a small box where he can not interact with the universe once it has been created).

--
It is relevant to note that ...

There is no evidence that proves Atheistic MacroEvolution (without Intelligent Design)...

I used to believe in Evolution. However, over a period of time I have grown skeptical of the claims of Macro*Evolution... this is largely due to the weakness of the evidence for Macro*Evolution, and the fact that the evidence, rationally interpreted does not support the overarching claims made by Macro*Evolutionists...

For scientific and intellectual critiques of evolution, see http://www.godsci.org/gsi/apol/evo/00.html .

Cordially,
John

Answer 8

Well I believe God created man (not an atheist), but not in the form we are in now. I think we take the term "man" to literally. I think we were created in a certain from and have evolved into what we are today. I think we will continue to evolve. Maybe 5000 years from now we will all have wings and those people will debate whether or not they evolved from us. Is it that hard to fathom that at some point we were less than we are now?

Answer 9

creation is not more than myth no actual proof..

Evolution make more sense and sadly people who dislike that idea view evolution like a ladder hence the silly comments like if we came from apes then why are they still around?

Evolution is more like a ladder each branch has different species and each species are similar,,, for example dogs and wolves have a commonality to them just like a zebra and a horse.

An exploding dot (Big Bang) makes more sense then poof everything came into being..

The concepts of "god" are logically flawed.
If god is all-loving then he would not have thrown adam and eve out of the garden of eden..
if god is all-powerful then he would have used his powerd to prevent Hurrican Katrina and 9/11
If god is all-knowing than he would already have known that adam and eve, 9/11 and Hurrican kartian would happen and would have done something about it..

Several flaws in the idea of god these are the main ones others are similar

Answer 10

EVOLUTION

Suppose you are walking in a city one day. You come across a huge building. It is 120 feet long, 120 feet wide and 200 stories tall with no windows. The entire surface of the building on all four sides is covered with electric transistors; each one of these transistors has 1000 wires extending from it and connecting to other transistors and other wires. These transistors are closely and densely packed together. Each one with its 1000 wires takes up approximately one square inch. Electric signals are flashing through the wires at the rate of billions per second. You stare in awe at the immense complexity of this electric building.

You are becoming more and more enthralled with what you see, so you find someone on the sidewalk who seems to be familiar with this amazing building, and you ask him about it. He explains to you that it is, among other things, a vast computer that operates at a speed undreamed of by computer makers. He explains that the hum that you hear is the sound of millions upon millions of transistors communicating with one another in an undecipherable electrical codes. Some of these codes are used to define molecular structures within each transistor and others for the transistors to communicate with one another.

The outside of the building is a vast organized network containing numerous highly organized networks and sub-networks and sub-sub-networks, each one communicating with the others.

One of the sub-networks makes the building aware that you are standing on the sidewalk looking at it. Another sub-network stores information about you for its future use and instant retrieval. Another takes the information from other networks and determines whether you are a threat to the building. Another calculates your size and analyzes your movements.

Your friend explains that since these different networks provide different functions, their codes are different. The way that they communicate with one another differs depending on what type of information they send. No one knows how to read the codes except the other transistors and the other networks. He explains why you see no electrical wires going into the building. This is because each transistor produces exactly the right amount of electricity that it needs to perform its particular function - down to the millionth of a volt. Your friend tells you that there are other buildings like this in town. Sometimes the buildings wear out and stop, but before that occurs, the building has already created another building exactly like itself, with all of the millions upon millions of transistors and wires organized in exactly the right way.


There has been more study of those buildings than any other subject in town, but nobody can understand how they can do what they do. They are just too complicated. Sometimes scientists just walk away from them shaking their heads saying that it is just not possible for the buildings to do what they do.

You ask your friend if anyone knows where the buildings came from.

He informs you that their origin is certainly common knowledge; it is taught in every public schoolhouse. The buildings came from some type of mud and began with a lightning bolt. That started an amazing but never observed process that somehow produced the buildings through a series of extremely fortunate accidents.

The buildings gradually arose out of the earth and accidentally got better and better over time, because all the ones that did not have such vast complexity died out. Of course this process can never be observed because it takes so long. But we know that it just has to have happened this way because it is illegal to imply that God, if there is a God, had anything to do with it. And we know that if he did exist, then he couldn't do anything like this. But be assured, we are very scientific and theology has nothing to do with our logic.

So, it must have happened by accident because there is no one around who is smart enough to build these buildings, or smart enough even understand how they work. Not even the buildings themselves can understand how they work. So, they must have come from mud and accidentally grew into what they are. Isn't that evident to you? Didn't you learn this in school? You must be from another town. This explanation has been around since before the electric light.



Your friend is an evolutionist and the building is a poor illustration of the complexity and computing power of the brain of a honeybee. The argument that your friend makes serves to illustrate the real basis for evolution: Evolution must account for the existence of life, because if it does not, then there must have been a Designer, a Creator who created life. And the existence of a Designer and Creator is unacceptable. Therefore, it must be the mud, the accidents and the survival of the fittest that did it.

All God-talk aside, that is the most convoluted and utterly vapid reasoning offered by any intelligent human since the scientific community believed that the world was balanced on the back of a giant turtle.

Answer 11

Well, I'm not an Atheist, I'm a proud Christian. But I think I know why they believe what they believe.Two words...........









Rebellion










Unfaithfulness







(no offense to them, that's just MY belief about THAT)