If atheists don't believe a greater source of power created everything what do they believe. What happened before the big bang, was there once nothing? How was the first thing created.
2006-11-05 06:51:18 · 14 answers · asked by Alex 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Us atheists have very different ideas about those things, so no one atheist can speak for us all. I can tell you what I personally believe though.
Like many theists believe god has always existed, I believe the universe has always existed, in one form or another, without having been created by any god. I believe the universe has always been and will always be changing. Maybe it keeps expanding and contracting and expanding again etc. I can only guess, because I believe this stuff is beyond human comprehension and that mankind will never fully figure out the history of the universe.
I don't believe that something can be made from nothing (neither the universe nor god), I believe it was always there and it makes sense to me to assume that it was the universe that always existed, because I know that it exists, while I have never gotten any sign that any god exists elsewhere than in people's imagination.
2006-11-07 00:59:06 · answer #1 · answered by undir 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Good question. I am not an Atheist. I wonder why would you ask your question in a science category? Do you think all scientifically minded people are atheist? Science is not a religion. I like your questions: "What happened before the big bang, was there once nothing? How was the first thing created." You have an inquisitive mind. Science is an every growing body of knowledge about the universe. At this time your questions are beyond the capabilities of science. However, this doesn't mean it will always be that way. And since science does not know many people are uncomfortable with that fact. Religion provides humans a way to see beyond the horizon without actually scientifically providing facts. Some people (Atheists) are not comfortable believing in unproven concepts. I think religion is good because it gives hope to people. However, too often religion is used to limit people by discouraging the asking of questions.
2006-11-05 11:12:40 · answer #2 · answered by timespiral 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I have a question for religious folks:
Why is it necessary to have an answer to these questions? And why are the religions of the world so brazen to believe that they KNOW the answers? Especially when even the least educated of us know immeasurably more about everything than those that created the dogmatic and superstitious religions 2000-10000 years ago.
Let go of the fear folks. You can search and search for these answers, but humanity will not find the answers anytime soon. Maybe never. Maybe there is no reason at all why we're here. Maybe the chain of events that formed life on Earth are extremely rare, and we just happened. Why is that so hard to believe?Religion's general underlying base is a fear of death, and this is what creates the unquenchable need for answers to such profound questions.. Death is a natural part of life. Every living being on this Earth is animalistic. We are born, and we die. In that way we are no better than dogs, lions, pandas, fish, dolphins, or even other humans. And once people get that into their heads, maybe the world will become the better place we all want it to be.
We humans think we are so high and mighty, but we have lost our way. We have lost touch with the natural world, and in that way all other animals are better than the homo sapien. Animals understand th order of things, humans understand how to overindulge and overtake. Now, I am not a nature freak nor am I against humanity. But if we really are the dominant species on this planet why can't we just act like it.
What I'm basically getting at here, is that just because you can't comprehend something, doesn't mean it isn't true. Religion is a veil pulled over the eyes of humanity. It blinds and decieves. Remove the veil and see the world as it is. Beautiful, but in need of repair. But, I digress.
There is one thing science can answer for you in your question. Most evidence points to the Universe being about 14 billion years old. And with every passing year greater evidence points to the Big Bang. However, the Big Bang sparked a chain of events that occurred over billions of years, and not just some split second happening that created everything as it is today. The Universe is ever evolving, ever moving, and always changing. It is so vast and amazingly complex that as we are today noone could ever hope to understand all of its intricacies. And that is where these questions come into play.
We don't need an answer to those questions. Humans are a curious, and now technologically advanced race. Someday, we may have those answers, but you have to ask... once you know everything there is to know, what else is there to learn?
2006-11-06 10:48:59 · answer #3 · answered by AresIV 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am VERY religious. But from a scientific perspective I would answer that the universe came from the big bang. How the big bang happened; we dont know. But some science theories believe that the universe and time are infinite - space and time have no begining or end.
The concept of infinity is a very difficult idea to grasp right away, but science is the answer that keeps asking questions.
2006-11-05 10:04:29 · answer #4 · answered by A.R 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
"But I say unto you, whosoever shall say, 'Thou fool,' shall be in danger of hell fire." Matt 5:22.
In other words, by the implication of your question to the effect that atheists are somehow people that are foolish by comparison to you with your Strong Faith, you disobey the commandments of Jesus and submit yourself to at least the danger of Hell Fire.
On your little pink toesies. So be careful, Okay? If you believe what you claim to believe, you are in danger of your own kind of damnation.
As to your specific questions: It isn't a "why" kind of thing. We are here. Get used to it. There is no "why" to it. We just are.
The universe gives cogent evidence of being about 14 billion years old. The universe wasn't "made," in the sense that one "makes" a machine or a souffle. The universe is a process, always becoming. Never new, and old only by comparison to things that don't last very long.
There is strong evidence that there was no "first thing" in the sense that we think of it. We move into a new house, and there is a first thing that we bring into our house. A painting, a table, or a box of books. Not so with the universe. The universe is a process, always becoming. Never new, and old only by comparison to things that don't last very long.
The "big bang" is only one of an array of events that seem to us to have happened a long time ago. "Behold," says the Lord, "I make all things new."
"Creation" is something that people do. The universe doesn't work that way. God doesn't think that way. "Creation" is "People Think."
And please don't imagine that atheists and scientists are one and the same, or that atheists are somehow defective. That makes you a person who calls your neighbor a fool, and, in your own religion that places you in danger of hot toesies.
2006-11-05 15:17:06 · answer #5 · answered by aviophage 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I accept the fact that I don't know the answers to those questions. It is much like asking a child to explain exactly how a rocket flies to the moon with complete technical details. The child does not know the answer but it doesn't mean he never will or never can. So my answer is that I accept that I am not all-knowing.
Only through reason will we find the beautiful truth. Imagination is great but it doesn't compare to reality.
The wonder and power of reality is so great I am a little saddened by those who think they already have the explanations for everything in a tidy package called God. Life isn't tidy and easily understood. It's messy and strange and mysterious. One tiny shred at a time we're figuring it out, tiny bits of truth are stacking up.
2006-11-05 12:07:49 · answer #6 · answered by catalamity 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
some do, some do no longer. there are greater than a number of theories provided as an evidence for the life of the universe, as yet another to theism. i individually decide to take the medical independent place of "we don't understand yet". Atheism has no longer something to do with the place you have faith the universe got here from, as an concept this is basically involved by the (non)life of God. And just to characteristic, explosions do no longer wreck issues, explosion strikes and disperses issues. it would wreck finished issues (e.g. homes) because of the fact it splits them into smaller products yet no longer individual debris. the great bang concept would not state that an explosion created the universe as this is, it basically moved a great mass of debris right into a greater physically powerful piece of area and placed distance between them. this is precisely what an explosion does. that may no longer coming from a huge bang concept supporter, so i'm no longer basically attempting to preserve it, your argument against this is improper.
2016-10-15 10:08:06 · answer #7 · answered by spates 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Whatever answers you think you have, given your professed belief system, you have no answers at all. Just because you think it's true doesn't make it true. Nobody knows the answers to your questions, and if they say they know, how do they expect to get into heaven being liars themselves, or at the very least delusional. As for how long "everything has been around," that may be a question that will at some point be answerable with some accuracy. If you want to know how "the first thing was created" you'll find far more things to think about by studying cosmology and high energy physics than if somebody just told you "god did it, end of subject."
2006-11-05 06:56:55 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 2⤋
It's called science - biological, chemical, and cosmic evolution. Look it up some time. We don't need a god - we can explain the universe without a god. The parts we can't explain yet, we're working on. We're not going to just give up and say 'god did it' - what if we had done that 50 years ago? You wouldn't have a computer. 100 years ago? You'd most likely be dead by now.
2006-11-05 07:29:25 · answer #9 · answered by eri 7 · 5⤊ 1⤋
im not atheist but if i was my answer would be that through science we will figure out the mysteries of this world
weve learned about the big bang and in time we will learn more about the universe
2006-11-05 06:56:47 · answer #10 · answered by mishakatrina 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋