Why do christians always ask atheists this question?

Question

Whenever I mention the fact that I'm an atheist to other christians, why do they always ask the following question: "Well, how can you believe the universe sprang from nothing?"

Hold up! First of all, the issue of how the universe began has nothing to do with my non-belief in god. I don't believe in any god simply because I have no evidence of "his" existence, no personal experience-nothing! How the universe began is a separate issue altogether.

Just because you don't have an answer for something does not necessarily mean that god did it. Why do so many of you need to have a god-of-the-gaps explanation for everything? Do you still think sickness is caused by evil spirits? Do you think volcanoes erupt due to the volcano god getting angry?

Sexy_latino: Honey, take a health class.

Answer 1

I don't know how they get the flavor into doritos, so God must have done it. And just how does an everlasting gobstopper change so many colors... God must do it... anything I don't know, God must do right?

Answer 2

Christians who say that are basically giving you an idiot's version of what is, in its real form, a pretty subtle argument. Basically, the argument goes that everything in the universe is contingent -- that is, it ultimately depends for its being on something else. But unless there were some reality which was *not* contingent, which existed necessarily, then there would be no "foundation" for the phenomenal world at all. It doesn't have to do with time (when the universe began), it has to do with ontology (what is the ground of the universe's being).

Now the problem is that you might well say, OK, I believe in the existence of "necessary being" as the ground for all the "contingent beings" I observe. But the characteristics of that "necessary being" are far from established by this argument. Personal? Conscious? Purposive? Who knows? It's an argument that can at best establish the God of deism, but not the God of a full-blown traditional theism. And if you say "God" and mean "the ground of being" or "the process of creative interchange" (which is what two great 20th century theologians mean -- Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman respectively), unbelievers will accuse you of sleight of hand, and believers will call you a heretic.

Answer 3

The Christians you are speaking of are focusing on the wrong issue. The question they should be asking is "why?". Then, they should pray for the Holy Spirit to enter your life.

We don't have free will to accept Christ as our savior. That is up to the Holy Spirit.

Anyway, I would bet that there are Christians out there, including me, that are afraid for all the atheists out there, because Christ died for them, too. As for why that is the question asked, I don't know. Maybe because that's all they can think of to ask you, and that's what did it for them.

For the record, maybe some sickness can be caused by evil spirits, and no there is no volcano god, because that is polytheistic.

Answer 4

You obviously don't know what you believe my troubled child. You say you are a member of the church of Satan, yet here you are saying you are an athiest. What will it be tommorrow? It is time you returned to the truth you were told as a child and come back to what you know in your heart is real and alive and required of you. As Christ hang bleeding on the cross for you and took the beating of the ages for you sin, see him dear. See Him clearly and boldly with the gashes in His sinless flesh gushing His pure blood for you. It is your time, you can no longer hide behind this nonsense little one.

Answer 5

Darwin has been plagiarizing my posts.
Guess it is difficult to answer personal concept, or just maybe pseudo personalities?

Being an Atheist is just believing in nothing.
It is a difficult concept since all we believe or know has some tangibility.

Answer 6

I don't know why they ask that. I'm lucky, I guess....a lot of my friends just don't care about religion. In my family they just cry and promise to pray for me or avoid me altogether. When I do get questions, it's usually something equally stupid like "What about sunsets?"
BTW, sexylatino is right about the extra set of ribs in women; it is something they change in sexual reorientation surgery.

Answer 7

Actually the first question I was ask is, do you know how many hairs are on the back of a tibetian yak, or how many grains of sand are there in the Sahara Dessert? I would ask that because to make a claim that there is no god one would have to know everthing there is to know in the universe to make sure that the claim is true.

Answer 8

Remind them that they're questioning existence because it doesn't follow logic.

"Where did the universe come from? It can't have come from nothing."

But when asked that question of God, their answer too is illogical.

"Where did God come from? He can't have always been"

So as I see it, they have no right to make the claim, "You can't have something from nothing" when their religion is based on the idea that, "God has always been"

Answer 9

i can understand your beliefs but the only question for you is this then..for example: most people believe in the big bang theory, let just say it happened but someone had to ignite the fuse thought, dont you think? i have a hard understanding how the big bang happened by itself, someone had to be behind it? someone had to have created the whole universe or started it up.

Answer 10

If I knew you, you would never hear me ask you that question. I've only known one avowed atheist in my whole life and I never brought up religion with him. One day he did though.