What are atheist's definition of themselves if there's no God?

Question

I really want to know this becuase their explanation is even more far fetched than believing in a Divine Being. That somehow everything just created itself and mankind just materialized out of nowhere, and after that we came from the sea until we grew a bigger brain to go unto the shore, then with fins and a half developed lung we panted on land for another million years until somehow we morphed into Apes then into homosapiens. My question is Why do we still see Apes around and why haven't the ones we see changed into human beings yet?
Now, Devine Creation: A supreme being who actually uses his entire brain (even by scientists calculations we only use a 10th of our brain) created us for His Glory. Created the earth and the world because he could. Much like a painter creates a picture and then say: "And it is Good" (That's what God says in Genesis.)
I really want to know because there are so many people out there who don't know what they believe in, they're just floating through life.

Answer 1

If you really want to know, you can find out.

I can give a few brief comments, but it's more complicated than I can put on this site.

So, if you're sincere, honest, about wanting to know what we think, I'll give you some references you can read to understand it better.

First, we don't say that "everything just created itself" or that "mankind just materialized out of nowhere" or the rest of the story as you have it, including the idea that "we morphed into apes, then into homo sapiens."

BTW, that bit about our using only 10% of our brains is myth -- someone said it, people repeated it, it got printed, now almost everyone says it.

Not true. But I digress.

No living critter morphs into another species. Some critters give birth to young who have a genetic mutation that makes the young even better able to survive and reproduce than those without that mutation.

Most mutations have no effect on the resulting critter; of what's left, most are detrimental to being able to live long enough to reproduce.

But every once in a long while, a mutation will occur that benefits the critter. It has no effect on the critter's parents; they don't morph. Nor any effect on all the other critters of that species.

That's why there's still apes.

The off-spring who get that mutation too, also are more likely to reproduce, thereby continuing to pass it on.

That group spreads.

Later, another beneficial mutation occurs to some descendants, and so it goes.

There have been several times when catastrophic events have wiped out most species, leaving a lot of open niches for future species. (When dinosaurs died out, that left room for mammals to successfully reproduce in ways that they moved into more niches than they had had before.)

A big obstacle to understanding all this is grasping the immense amounts of time involved.

Millions of generations are just hard for us to wrap our minds around.

And this space is just insufficient to explain it all.

So, get your hands on such books as The Blind Watchmaker, the Reflections on Natural History series of Stephen Jay Gould (the first being Ever Since Darwin), or more recent works that actually explain what we think.

Or browse around on these websites:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/human-evolution

That is, IF you really meant it when you said that you really want to know.

BTW, a lot of people who believe in evolution (perhaps most) also believe in god, so there needn't be a conflict.

Answer 2

No, you don't want to know. You just want people to agree with you.
When you say that you don't believe that "mankind just materialised out of nowhere", you should understand the atheists' point of view that that is why they don't believe in Creation. You cannot take an atheist, and show him God and say "this is God, now - believe in Him"; anymore than an evolutionist, be they atheist, or more commonly, non-atheist, can take you and show you evolution and say "this is the mountain of evidence for evolution, now - understand it."
.
Just some corrections for you:
We did not come from Apes, we have a common ancestor, we both evolved from this ancestor, splitting about 7-10 million years ago. We did not morph. Apes will not change into human beings. that would take millions of years, and it is not likely that they will undergo the same changes that brought us to where we are.
We use all of our brain, just not all at once. Each section of the brain has its own function, speech centre, learning centre etc. Depending on what you're doing, that is the part of the brain you are using.

I would suggest you take a leaf out of the Pope's book, and embrace the notion that evolution and Creation are not mutually exclusive. Go to the Vatican web site and do a search for Vatican view of evolution, and see what comes up.

Answer 3

So many wrong assumptions and statements.

Not least the "Only 10% of the brain" thing.

The Universe is there. Why does it have to have been creeated by a thinking being or have a recognisable purpose?
Analogy from the human scale, from human experience and instinct, is highly inappropriate for the very large and the very small. Neither a universe or an animal is a watch, or antything like it.

If the comments about evolution and apes etc. are genuine you have a long way to go before you appreciate the history of evolution, and the evidence for it, so you are in no way placed to decide how odd it is.
The improbability is at least in part answered by the weak anthropic principle, which you should consider.

"And it is Good" the creator said?
Darwin felt that parasitic wasps that laid eggs in the bodies of paralysed caterpillars, so their grubs could eat them alive,
wasn't indicative of a good creation. And there are myriad other examples.

The atheist's definition.
"We are what we are, and we're busy finding out about that.

Answer 4

Evolution is a forced thing. We adapt to our surroundings. When man kind migrated from Africa north to Europe, it became more beneficial to become whiter to let more sun on our skin so our bodies could create vitamin D. Darker people come from sunnier areas because their bodies get more than enough sunlight to make vitamin D.

As for people from monkeys, same thing. Some monkeys lived in areas where they didn't have to evolve to stay alive. Those that had to change because of harsher conditions evolved new traits. The ability to walk upright, think, and well, become humans. We didn't just go from apes to people. there were numerous species in between.

I believe in evolution because I can't find any evidence to dispute it. However, I have no idea how the universe was made, where it came from, what started it all, where does it end... those are complelling questions. I got no answers for that, so God...maybe?

If anything, I say he just started it all, and we came about after 5 billion years of evolution. Is that so bad? Is it so terrible to admit you are an animal?

Answer 5

First of all, humans didnt' come from apes, the two distinct species evolved from a common ancestor. You don't think a divine being would purposefully create two creatures that are so much alike that they even have the same flaws (the blind spot in your vision, for example), do you? When a teacher sees two student papers with the same answers, he'll suspect cheating, when they have the same mistakes, it's pretty much guaranteed they copied off each other.

As for what happened to the common ancestor? That's like asking why books are written in french and english but not latin.

Answer 6

Its not up to us to define it. People have to define what god is then they have to prover it. SO far with all the definitions that have been presented to us, there has been no evidence presented so can not be accepted. I have no definition for any gods, because I do not think there are any. Any more than you have a definition for invisible transcendental garblofs. If someone wants to claim a god, you first need to define it then prove it. I can not define something that has never been defined or any good reason to believe in the first place. The only definition I have is a product of people brains

Answer 7

In this great universe, or in your own little world I ask you this; Why the need to explain your existence? Why are we so unhappy we search for explanation? The need to believe in a greater power outside of ourselves as humanity have caused billions if not trillions of human casualties. Are we not strong enough to live in appreciation such as life within ourselves? And while you're searching for answers or claim to have the answers, do you really give your all to the people around you that matters. Or do you choose who are deserving of your wealth, help and love. Then judge others that don't abide by the laws from books of your GOD? You quote the Bible(s) as if they were itself written by your GOD. I'll let you in a little secret, the word Bible itself means book and nothing else. Written by men, most of which dated only as far back as 4,000 years old. Devinne Creation organized early when, early 1940's? Do you really believe that this great universe just pop out of nowhere. One more question If we were created by your GOD then who created your GOD? I could go on but my words are wasted I'm sure. Questions of life existence are infinite. I have just but my life and I will live it. I define it by seeing world and making the lives around me as rich and free of simpleton questions. A second wasted on such question is second wasted, that would have better served on precious fragrance from roses.

Answer 8

I'm sure there are many atheists who believe that creationists are "just floating through life" dependent upon the idea of a higher power that provides easy answers to difficult questions. Evolution isn't quite as simple as you've made it out to be in your summary and some of us aren't satisfied with the "there's no evidence at all for this theory, just trust us there's a god" kind of logic provided by Christianity.
Religion, like sexuality or ethnicity, is just one of many factors by which people define themselves. Many people don't base their primary identities on religion at all, atheism is a box to check, not an alternative religion.
Therefore, atheists define themselves in various ways. As intellectuals, housewives, teachers, parents, activists, artists, patriots, radicals, white, black, brown, gay, straight, transgendered, etc etc etc. A person's definition of herself can be entirely independent of her belief (or lack thereof) in a specific god or her adherence to a specific set of mores. I hope that helps to answer your question.

Answer 9

You ask how an atheist defines themself, and them go rambling on, very badly spelled, about creationism.

I am an atheist. I am a human being. That is the answer to your question.

Now go read a real book, that does not include biblical references and you may actually appear to be a halfway intelligent person.

Answer 10

You don't fully understand the theory of evolution, which may be leading to your confusion about this matter. The beginning of the universe, abiogenesis, and evolution are all separate issues, by the way.

I agree that it is simpler to believe that magic made everything happen and that's all there is to it. Simpler does not necessarily equate truth, however.