Yet ANOTHER question for the Atheists.....?

Question

Ok, I have been somehow lured into this topic of conversation on yahoo!answers. I started out coming on to learn more about God, and have been overwhelmed by rude remarks by atheists. I have thought alot about most of your positions on religion and I do understand. 1) I know SOME Christians can be pushy and 2) I know the how the bible can seem far-fetched. I'm not saying I agree with your view, but I do understand skepticism. But religion is also very strongly based on faith.

Ok, my question is: WHY have you chosen to NOT believe in God? And.....what is your explaination for how we all can to life? if evolution, etc.....there still has to be a starting point of the first "being". What is it you truly believe? And answer w/o all the ridiculous sarcasm and W/O reference to God. Because so far, everything I have read is jokes, jokes and more jokes.....it is VERY hard to take this whole thing serious.

Answer 1

Just stumbled on this question and wow. I know people like to generalize and lump everyone into the same group. Truth is, everyone is an individual and yes, they do tend to form into groups that give the illusion that the overall religion is like them.

I am agnostic. I used to be an atheist. I'm not quick to believe the bible and God. The reason I am not an atheist is because I do find it very weird that we are here. Of all the possible situations that could've happened, we are here.

Many have turned to God to explain their existance. They need to believe that they were created by someone who gave them a purpose. No one wants to believe we're an accident spinning on a dustball in space.

Truth is, we're never going to know how we became to be and that's always going to bother a lot of people to the point that they'll rely on science for facts or rely on faith to give themselves a sense of purpose.

Answer 2

I refuse to call myself an atheist, although I do not believe in God, many atheists really bother me, because they can be rude, or just as pushy as the religious people they complain about. Not cool. I myself, do not believe in God because it just doesn't make sense to me that there would be one. I have never seen any evidence that there is a God. Also, no offense, but many of the Christians that have tried to convert me don't make God sound very nice. I am a pretty moral person, I don't lie or steal etc, because those things would hurt others and it is wrong to hurt other people. However, Christians say despite the fact that I live a decent life, God would cast me into the pits of hell because I didn't think he was there. I believe in evolution, although the details are kind of sketchy, it makes a lot more sense to me that humans evolved very slowly from other life forms, than a supernatural being just decided to make people one day. Haven't you ever looked at a chimpanzee and noticed how strikingly similar it is to a little person? The argument that there had to be a first being does sort of perplex me, However, if I were to become a creationist, I would still be asking "where did God come from?"

Answer 3

First, you have to define the term "God." The problem with most theists is that this term is a moving target.

In addition, because there is no absolute proof of the existence or nonexistence of God, you cannot use deductive logic (a+b=c; therefore c-b=a). You can only reach a conclusion by inductive reasoning using the balance of evidence (90% of A is also B; C is B, so the chances are 90% that C is also A).

So to begin with, I will assert (and others may shoot this down) that the only RELEVANT definition of God states that he intervenes to circumvent natural laws.

If God circumvents natural laws, then it is impossible to understand natural laws. All scientific findings would have to include the stipulation, "it is also possible that these results are an act of God, a miracle, thereby making our research meaningless."

However, since we have been able to expand our knowledge of natural laws (evidenced by every appliance in your kitchen), the scientific method works in this discovery. And the likely conclusion is that God, at least the intervening kind, does not exist.

Additionally, if God is defined as all loving, all powerful, and all knowing, then it is impossible to explain suffering. Either God is not all loving (he acts sadistically), not all powerful (he cannot prevent suffering), or not all knowing (he created suffering by mistake because he didn't know the consequences of his actions).

If God is less than these and/or does not intervene in our existence, then he is either non-existent or irrelevant. The classic Bertrand Russell argument is that I cannot prove that a china teapot is orbiting the sun between the earth's orbit and Mars. But while I cannot prove this is not true, the evidence against it is compelling.

The evidence against God is equally compelling, and while it is not possible to prove beyond any doubt, it makes enormously more sense to live your life as if there were no God.

It is more compelling to me that humans have invented God (a) to help people deal with the pain and fear associated with death and loss, and (b) to reflect the thoughts of the ruling powers in a particular time. Because humans are always looking for reasons, when none were found, it was the natural inclination to declare the cause to be "God" (or gods). As the faith grew, miracles (coincidences) and laws were ascribed to this Divinity, and an orthodoxy grew up around it.

Now it seems unhelpful to believe in such superstition. The only matters that aid in our ongoing well-being are work, location, health, sustenance, and pure, blind luck.

So this is why I don't believe God exists.

As for where every thing comes from, we are comfortable saying "We don't know." But by doing so, we leave open the door for science to continue to discover how the universe came to be, functions, and how we ourselves came to be. This will be an emerging process with no ultimate answer, but that's OK. Knowledge that grows is better than ignorance that is stuck.

Answer 4

In the beginning....(oh right, you said no jokes, sorry)

My belief for the beginning of life consists of the following. Atoms randomly collide with each other and eventually two stick together due to their magnetic charge. As this molecule floats around, it eventually runs into another atom or simple molecule, and they join. After this randomly happens enough times, the molecule begins to take shape. This occurs because of the magnetic charges trying to find the most stable conformation. After enough reconfiguring, things such as mycelles begin forming (you can Google whatever vocab words you need to, it would take too long to explain them all).

These mycelles form because in some molecules, one end has charges that move towards water (hydrophilic), and others don't (hydrophobic), so they form a circle where all the hydrophobic ends are together and the hydrophilic ends stick out. Instead of a mycelle, some molecules form a Lipid bilayer instead. This is a circle that has water both inside and outside it. It is the most basic form of a cell. The water inside and outside this bilayer does not necessarily contain the same concentration of atoms/molecules. Through Osmosis, these atoms or molecules move through the bilayer so that the concentrations inside and out are the same. Sometimes these movements happen passively (no energy required), and other times they are active transport pathways (require energy). The energy can be obtained either through heat from the sun exciting the molecules, or by the cell taking in other molecules that can supply energy when the bonds between the atoms that make it up are broken or formed. As the interactions necessary for transport become more and more complicated, the cell also becomes more and more complicated. If another larger cell happens to float past and need some of the nutrients in the smaller cell, it may absorb it, thus creating a cell within a cell.

Without going to much further, one can guess that this is the basis of an organ system present in life.

The next question usually asked is, "Okay, so it is alive, but when does it become a conscious creature?"

This happens when the interactions become so complex that an organ starts to form that dictates when certain other activities in the cell take place. It starts as a few signalling pathways, and eventually becomes a neural network, and then a brain.

Consciousness, as we know it, is really no more than your brain dictating what actions need to take place. When you think, "I'm hungry", your stomach is sending a message through the neural network to your brain saying it needs a certain nutrient. Other feelings and emotions can be traced to other bodily needs. After a while, the brain can start predicting when certain actions need to take place even without stimulation, which is Thinking.

Ok, so thats enough typing for me. Even if you don't agree with me, congratulations on making it through my long explanation of my beliefs.

Answer 5

What proof is there for god? Why would we need a god? How do you know your god is god? If there is a god, I'm pretty sure it's like the tribal god of the sun or something, as I think people believed in that before they believed in Jesus. I could be wrong. Not sure.

Where did we come from? The water on earth churned because of the pull of the moon and such and incorporated oxygen into the air, which allowed very small organisms to survive. Over time these evolved. I don't know how.
They have found such organisms on mars in the ice. It does happen.

Answer 6

One does not choose belief. Could you choose to believe in Odin if I offered to give you a million dollars for it (not lie and say you did, TRULY believe)? No. I lack a belief in any deity because there is simply no evidence that one exists.

As for the beginnings of life: I accept that we as a species are not completely certain about this matter, but I also accept the current theory of the Big Bang for the universe and abiogenesis from existing matter as coherent and applicable. In other words, I don't know and I'm ok with that. Science is figuring it out. Even if there is a starting point and the universe isn't infinite, I see no reason to bring magic into the equation.

Answer 7

It is *very* difficult for me to answer without sarcasm, but I will try:

I do not believe in god because there is no evidence for the existence of a supreme being. NONE. Those who claim to follow one based on a faith that there must be one have the right to do so. I have no issue with that whatsoever, as long as they are not claiming that their beliefs are FACT.

As far as the beginning of the universe, I am not a scientist. I read enough to keep me satisfied that theories abound and that one day we will have explanations for nearly every natural phenomenon you can name. However, I absolutely will not accept the idea, "Well, we don't know how it was done, so it must have been god who did it." That's irrational and escapist.

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Answer 8

I chose not to believe in god after seeing the hypocrisy of so called religious people and a personal spiritual journey after having practiced Christianity for 20 years (years as a child in church and catechism don't count as it was fed to me and I practiced by habit).

I suffered a serous accident and was given a bible by a neighbor who prayed over me. I never got better and the neighbor, a bible thumping baptist was in an auto accident and died DUI) I read the bible from cover to cover to fulfill a promise to him and having the time I never had before due to school, work, and the demands of being a father, read the book thoroughly and was appalled at the way genocide, misogyny, prejudice, murder, homophobia, was all approved by the god of the bible. I noted the inconsistencies, the irreconcilable conflicts and determined that this flawed text could in no way be the word of a loving god or any omnipotent supreme being.

The book is flawed historically and factually. Looking to science for answers I found truth and determined I would seek the truth and follow it wherever it took me. Now as far as explaining life and how life came to be, evolution etc, just because we don't have the answers now does not mean we won't have these answers in time. Evolution and the big bang do however supply a very elegant explanation of how we came to be. The fossil record and genetics give no doubt as to where we came from and I find in unfathomable to believe that the entire universe (multiverse notwithstanding) with its 125 - 500 galaxies each with 100-500 billion stars plus planets has a god that just focuses on a middle aged planet in the middle of an average Galaxy. As far as new explanations of how amino acids combined to form cellular life I am willing to wait to hear what they find and in the interim find life to be a precious gift to be enjoyed for each day. I love my wife and kids and have no artificial entity to put before them. I am the steward of my part of the world and when I do good it is only because it is the right thing to do, not because of some angel keeping score for my celestial reward or punishment. I don't believe in a personal god and I have found more peace and happiness being away from the dysfunctional aspects of religion and its statements that I am not worthy of this and those psalms, they're so depressing........ I made my choice to not believe because religion has proven itself to be false. Science has proven itself to be truth and there is no fill in the blanks with "faith"

If one lives their life like it is all they get, they live it fuller than one who lives it like a dress rehearsal for their conceived and deluded paradise.
Peace

Answer 9

Logic... and I don't pick on Christians but I do hold people accountable for causing harm and suffering, especially when they use religion as an excuse to prop up their agenda.

Jokes keep the mood light and fun... no big deal. Relax... it's good for your nervous system. I'm also Buddhist btw, just so nobody else makes the mistake of thinking "all atheists have no morals".

_()_

Answer 10

I believe (or not believe...) the way I do because I was raised this way and religion and all the related stuff was never real to me and I just don't see it to be real.

None of us can really know those answers to "how," but I just don't fee that it is as magical as religion and it's related concepts suggest. We can never know for certain, though I just don't think any kind of being was involved.