Question for Atheists?

Question

The universe: How did the universe begin? How did life arise from non-living matter? The claims that the universe always existed or had a "natural" cause and that life spontaneously arose are just as extraordinary as the claim that an intelligent being created both the universe and life. If the universe is in its present state because of the Big Bang, what caused the Big Bang, and where did the matter that exploded come from? If the universe has always existed, why is there such a large quantity of mass and energy, not to mention intelligent life?

Science: Science exists because the universe operates in a consistent way and has phenomena that we can describe as "laws," such as the law of gravity. If the universe and/or things in it were formed by chance, why should the behavior of the universe be predictable instead of random?

Nature: Why do people uniformly admire nature? Why do we see so much beauty in it? It's no longer our natural surroundings, for we live in urban areas surrounded by pavement and man-made structures. Why do we prefer nature to what we ourselves have made? Why do we prize window offices and decorate walls with landscapes, instead of being content with our climate-controlled environment?

Psychology: Why do people seek for meaning and purpose in life - why are we not content simply to live in the moment? Why do we keep trying to explain how and why the universe came into existence? Why would evolution have given us this need for a purpose, when the instinct to survive would suffice and when lack of a purpose leads so many into despair and self-destructive behavior?

Religious experience: If there are no gods and nothing spiritual or supernatural exists, how can religious experience be explained, and why do the vast majority of people believe in God and/or spiritual and supernatural things? If religion is a placebo for the weak-minded, why do even intelligent, committed atheists convert - and why do people have a need for religion in the first place?

Morality: Why do people feel guilt? Why are monogamy, altruism and humility regarded as virtues, if morality is the result of evolution?

Love & emotion: From an evolutionary standpoint, emotions (except fear and possibly paternal feelings) are a waste of resources. Other creatures only need instincts to survive; why should we have the capacity to love and feel happiness? More to the point, why should we be able to feel emotions like annoyance, grief and hopelessness, when they only retard our ability to survive and reproduce?

Art & music: Why do we spend so much time and energy in making our surroundings attractive rather than merely functional? Why should we have an appreciation for art and music at all?

Answer 1

Genesis 1
1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Answer 2

"If the universe has always existed, why is there such a large quantity of mass and energy, not to mention intelligent life?"

If you look at how big the universe is, it is really a small quantity of life. You would have to look outside the pages of that book to see it though. Contrary to what you believe, the stars go on farther than you can see (they were not just created as a light source)

I don't know how it was done, but I do not try to fill in the gap with "god"

" If the universe and/or things in it were formed by chance, why should the behavior of the universe be predictable instead of random?"

Not everything can be predicted. For things that can, if you give me an example, I will look up the scientific explanation.

"Why do we prefer nature to what we ourselves have made?"

I don't. In a work environment it is pretty drab by design. I think a window is nice, even if it only lets you see other buildings. This would fall under humanity to admire nature or anything for that matter.

Psychology: Self important people with a fear of death look for a reason why, and find it in religion.

"why do people have a need for religion in the first place?"

See Psychology. Religious experience can be explained the same as false memories.

"why do the vast majority of people believe in God and/or spiritual and supernatural things?"

They were raised that way. They don't know any better. 3000 years ago no one believed in your god. It says they did? In the bible? Most of those stories can be found elsewhere as well.

Morality love emotion art and music all fall under humanity. These are the things that make us human.

Answer 3

The universe:
If the universe is in its present state because of the Big Bang, what caused the Big Bang, and where did the matter that exploded come from? How did the universe begin?
Unknown. . .same amount of empirical data as religions have

How did life arise from non-living matter?
Abiogenesis

If the universe has always existed, why is there such a large quantity of mass and energy, not to mention intelligent life?
It didn’t always exist

Science: Science exists because the universe operates in a consistent way and has phenomena that we can describe as "laws," such as the law of gravity. If the universe and/or things in it were formed by chance, why should the behavior of the universe be predictable instead of random?

Science doesn’t exist because the universe operates in consistent ways. Science exists because the human mind can’t comprehend the magnitude of complexity that the universe entails from individual perspective alone. The brain is too limited and the process of science helps to sort that out. The universe is definitely not consistent, and that is why we don’t have a cure for every disease, we can’t fly the speed of light, and we can’t predict the next earthquake or next asteroid impact.

Nature: Why do people uniformly admire nature? Why do we see so much beauty in it?
The brain doesn’t admire all nature, it prefers particular views and environments and resists others. The brain comes with a genetically defined preset learning program that allows us to understand enough of the world to get along. Often this learning tool is wrong because it isn’t based on science but the evolutionary process.

Why do we prefer nature to what we ourselves have made?
That’s a matter of opinion. Engineering and architecture schools would have a hard time getting students if it were true.

Why do we prize window offices and decorate walls with landscapes, instead of being content with our climate-controlled environment?
Primitive, illogical programming; socialization to support cooperation, see above.

Psychology: Why do people seek for meaning and purpose in life - why are we not content simply to live in the moment?
The human mind develops from its genetics to be curious, and that function of curiosity has no bounds (depnding on environmental forces). It’s obvious that the genetics that designed us are purely based on probability not intelligent design. All things that humans design have purpose, so we don’t have to ask that question about them, but if we do, we can normally can find the answer. That’s how most anthropologists figure out what’s what.

Why do we keep trying to explain how and why the universe came into existence?
Curiosity is a good survivable trait preferred by evolution

Why would evolution have given us this need for a purpose, when the instinct to survive would suffice and when lack of a purpose leads so many into despair and self-destructive behavior?
Because it is an unthinking process and the cost of a small population of those who despair is less than a good number of those who benefit from the search.

Religious experience: If there are no gods and nothing spiritual or supernatural exists, how can religious experience be explained, and why do the vast majority of people believe in God and/or spiritual and supernatural things?
God is an over-simplification of a human, and being so is an excellent devise to explain almost anything. As we see, God’s role declines as nature is explained by science. God is an easy answer to a complex world. Living things prefer what programmers call “fast and frugal” processes, simple solutions, because they take less time. If all human minds operate similarly, which genetics and evolution tell us is true, then we default to common behavior with common inputs. Simple solutions become universally accepted as true, until they are shown, overwhelmingly false. Some examples: the earth is flat, the sun revolves around the earth, the sun is a god.

If religion is a placebo for the weak-minded, why do even intelligent, committed atheists convert - and why do people have a need for religion in the first place?
Socialization pressure, personal circumstance, environmental conditions

Morality: Why do people feel guilt? Why are monogamy, altruism and humility regarded as virtues, if morality is the result of evolution?
Guilt aids cooperation which makes living less challenging; monogamy insures offspring survival particularly if the offspring takes time to develop to be self-sufficient like humans; altruism and humility aids cooperation. Cooperation is recurrent genetic traits and have been simulated and the behavioral traits which support it are found in other animals.

Love & emotion: From an evolutionary standpoint, emotions (except fear and possibly paternal feelings) are a waste of resources.
Not true

Other creatures only need instincts to survive; why should we have the capacity to love and feel happiness?
Animals perform behavior that we can correlate to human love and happiness, particularly if they cohabitate, especially with children.

More to the point, why should we be able to feel emotions like annoyance, grief and hopelessness, when they only retard our ability to survive and reproduce?
These emotions actually all make you do something about the stimulus that is causing them. You deal with an annoyance; you act on hopelessness. They also affect your brain chemistry, which normally grows in a path of assumed continuation of the status quo. Once that path is significantly altered, the brain needs to be changed to match, which happens when we feel grief.

Art & music: Why do we spend so much time and energy in making our surroundings attractive rather than merely functional?
Depends on who you talk to. I’ve seen some pretty not-attractive, not-functional places in my time. Mostly this has to do with the need for socialization to facilitate cooperation and appropriate competition.

Why should we have an appreciation for art and music at all?
Part of curiosity which is an evolutionary tool. Art helps us think differently, not get stuck in a rut. Part of it involves socialization for cooperation and appropriate competition.

Answer 4

Everything that exists in the universe is ruled over by the laws of physics. You're imagining the universe coming into existence under those "laws". But before the universe existed, the laws of physics weren't the laws that dictated what could, and could not happen. So basically, there were no natural laws to dictate that something like say, a universe, couldn't just pop into existence. Anyway, how did god begin? Where did god come from?

Answer 5

Your reasoning is backwards. You imply you know the answer simply because the questions exist in your mind. Unanswered questions do not in anyway, shape, or form help to establish the existence of a higher power, or prove it's absence for that matter.

If you contend that your "God" is real, the only way you can establish this is by presenting evidence to support your contention. Your questions are worthless in this regard.

If faith alone is not enough for you, and you're compelled to argue with Atheists and assorted non-believers, the burden of proof lies with you alone. So far you've failed.

Maybe you should take a more introspective and personal approach to your belief in a higher power. After all, if your faith was stronger you wouldn't need others to validate it for you.

Think about it..............

Answer 6

Dude. You're thinking about this way too much. It doesn't matter what anyone else believes. They are entitled to their own beliefs, just as you are entitled to yours. It's called free will.

Answer 7

That's about 50 effing questions. You would have better luck if you a broke it down AT LEAST to separate categories.

Answer 8

What makes you think a god did all that??? Have a desperate NEED to have everything with one answer???

That is very sad...

Answer 9

YOU GO BOY. Make those atheists feel confused and in need of a HIGHER POWER, who is GOD ALL MIGHTY BABY!

Answer 10

boreing boreing boreing ....get a grip hon if your so confused and tortured find an outlet ....

and if you go with all this **** cant you just be happy enough being in your own private winning circle why bore everyone else?

Answer 11

Anthropocentric sophistry - get an education.