Atheist = Confusion?

Question

Ok Atheists say that there is no God. But is it not true that we former monkeys (according to Atheists) are still very much oblivious when it comes to so many things. We still don't know much about the Universe. We still don't know anything about this 'dark matter' which comprises most of the Universe.

So when there is so much unknown, how can one be sure that there really is no God? Would it not be better if you are an Agnostic? Because the unknown factor is always there.

I was not condemning anyone! Was curious! :)

and I am not pushing my beliefs. I am just bringing the 'what if', and I hope i was not disrespectful to anyone :)

Answer 1

Actually, my friend, these little monkeys know quite a bit.

Do you realize that physicists can extrapolate the time line of creation back to 10 to the minus 35 seconds (that's a point .0000 with another 31 zeroes to the right of the decimal point) ATB (After The Bang)? This is hubris of the first water. High energy physicists can describe the PHYSICS of the universe to that far back, to a trillionth of a trillionth of a billionth of a second after it all came into existence.

Please don't take my word for it but read something. Lest you think there is some big ulterior motive by the scientific community in telling you lies, take my word that it is simply a quest for the truth. What could be more noble? And most people in existence, dammit, want some nobility in their lifetimes.
What we gather and glean from these amazing explorations into the intimate mechanics of our universe is that there is much divinity in nature: Symmetry, logic, and mystery.

Do you know how silly deistic stories appear next to something so much more interesting, for lack of a better word, than who the f uck begat whom?

I do not begrudge the comfort people seek in believing in a beautiful explanation for existence. Even if that explanation exacts conditions of obeisance for the promise of joy. Simply though, from my point of view, it is humanity living in mind (where we all do live). The thing is, the universe is much bigger than the organic constraints of the mind and of the physics of 3-dimensional space that encompasses not only our planet, but the realms of the starry sky which is our galaxy. But it doesn't stop there.

You can't even see extragalactic stars, much less galaxies outside of our own. (Well, I for one can see the Andromeda Galaxy, but I happen to know exactly where to look and I am armed with a pair of 10x25 binoculars.)

There are billiions of galaxies (visible with telescopes like the orbiting Hubble telescope). Maybe there are trillions of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of suns. The mind boggles, but not before pointing out that our imagination of what is, is just so much dust in the wind. The universe is so much bigger than what our limited imagination can come up with . And I don't even include religious ideas in that limited imagination. Those ideas are not even worthy of inclusion in the imaginations of the people of this world gifted at least with a modicum of intellect.

Thanks for the question.

Answer 2

No, actually Fundamentalists say Atheists say we came from monkeys. We didn't, so let's clear that now. And, yeah, there will always be an unknown factor, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hold firm beliefs. I’m sure not to many Christians are keen on the idea that they may be wrong about God. Some Atheists are firm in their belief that there is no God almost as much as a Christian has in the belief there is a God. It is unknown! And it always be so.

Answer 3

Do we live in a logical universe or a mystical, unknowable one?

The fact that our knowledge is limited does not give us reason to invent the existence of magical or mystical things such as God.

Science and reason have given us SOME knowledge. Faith gives NONE. Thanks to logical reasoning, we got out of the caves -- had it been for faith alone, we would still be dancing around the fire hoping for rain.

True, there is much of nature and the universe to still be discovered. Nothing that we know so far is contradicting the laws of nature. The more knowledge we acquire, the more we can improve our life. Faith in the supernatural contradicts ALL natural laws. If God existed, omniscient, omnipotent, intelligent, consciousness without a physical brain, pure spirit, etc. it would not be just another natural event to study, it would be a denial of all nature and its laws, a violation of reason, an Alice in Wonderland, where we couldn't tell right from wrong, real from unreal. That's more like the universe of a psychopath!

Answer 4

For a point of clarification, many non-Atheists also believe in evolution and for Atheist and non-Atheist supporters of evolution, none of us believe we were once monkeys. The theory states that humans and monkeys have a common ancestor -- an ancestor that is neither ape nor human/proto-human.

As for the issue of being better off being Agnostic, following your logic, you would be "better off" as well. My semantic view of Atheism vs. Agnosticism is that an Agnostic believes there is not enough prove the existence of non-existence of god. An Atheist believes there is not enough evidence to worry about it one way or another and therefore live life with the assumption that this is our only chance (no afterlife, no reincarnation) so make the most of it. The best way to gain "immortality" is to leave a legacy for future generations.

Answer 5

"former monkeys (according to Atheists)"
- Atheists don't say that.
- NO ONE says that.

"We still don't know much about the Universe."
- True.

"how can one be sure that there really is no God?"
- There aren't too many gnostic atheists out there, to tell you the truth.

"Would it not be better if you are an Agnostic?"
- Most atheists ARE agnostic atheists. I am 99.99% agnostic atheist - the 0.01% being the high improbability of god existing... but, that means, there IS a chance. It's just vanishingly small.

Answer 6

I agree in the unknown factor, and I accept that there is the possibility of a god, I always say agnostic/atheist however because I'm 100% positive that no god we know of is real. It just makes no sense for a loving god to torture people with finding the right religion in a crazy game of chance.

However, I just decide that with that figured out, there is no use pondering it further, I will live my life to its fullest and when the time comes I will discover the truth.

Answer 7

I use to think like that, too. Faith was a daily struggle and I argued with people over really trivial things. I finally came to the conclusion that believing is a good thing, isn't hurting anything in my life and will probably be a really good thing when I die and it does turn out that the masses of people around the world were correct to believe in something bigger than ourselves. I don't think of God in a biblical sense, I think of God in a scientific way and as a universal entity. There are things here on Earth that we cannot explain. We can speculate with scientific theories, but isn't faith just a personal theory? The only evidence that I can give in order to persuade atheists to have faith is that I don't think billions of people around the world would waste their time and form their lives around faith in their God if it wasn't true and real. Just remember that it will not be a good thing to be a non believer upon your death and your God is there to decide your eternal fate. Peace.

Answer 8

I'm not an Aethist (I'm not Christian either), but it upsets me to see how people question each other's beliefs. How can you be so sure there is a God? You have no real proof, do you? I think the unknown factor is there for you as well.
You can not ask for someone else to prove their beliefs to you. It is unfair and only sets you up for a long, stupid fight. Believe what you believe and let others do the same.

Answer 9

Who is confused here?
I am a long-standing atheist and I have long since realised that, once one junks the god concept, all confusion disappears - totally disappears.
Thus, your assumption is very confused.
Then, you bring evolution into the equation. Then you bring physics in with you. Then, simply because there is so much unknown out there, you automatically assume that there must be a higher power. Now THAT is confusion - or, better still, delusion.
Reality beckons. Grasp it?

Answer 10

A nice mix of pascals wager, arguement from incredulity and a trot out of the "we came from monkeys". I lose track in the drinking game. Is this 3 shots total?

Ok honey, to your first paragraph, to say "there is a lot we don't know so maybe it's god" is just a poor arguement. It's the "god of the gaps" (wiki that). Whatever we don't know, we fill in with god. Crops died? We displeased gods. Hurricane? We displeased gods. As we understand more about "how things came to be this way" we have scientific explanations and there is less room for god to fit.

So because we don't know every single thing about dark matter, is not therefore "proof of god." It's just "something we don't know yet."

And the second bit is Pascal's Wager, which was pretty soundly beaten down a couple of hundred years ago. I give you the Atheist rebuttal here:

You should live your life and try to make the world a better place for your being in it, whether or not you believe in God. If there is no God, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind. If there is a benevolent God, he will judge you on your merits and not just on whether or not you believed in him.