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A question to ex-believers

Hello, I'm a Muslim/agnostic who have daily doubts, there are couple of things that stopping me from being an Atheist and one of these things is a question I couldn't figure out an answer for it.

I think ex-theists here probably had the same question and I hope you guys tell me how did you get over it.

ok here it goes, The universe is 4-5 billion years old but the thing that makes me doubt Atheism; from where did the materials of the universe come from? if there is no God then the universe must had no beginning and the materials must been there since forever.

note: I'm not trolling or trying to convert someone.

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Permalink Reply by Kalypso on February 19, 2010 at 11:06am

Hello and welcome!
The universe is approximately 13.7 billion years old, the earth around 4.54 billion. Check out this website for many of your questions.

http://www.talkorigins.org/

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Permalink Reply by Prefer Not to Say on February 19, 2010 at 11:40am

Thanks, 20 billion years ago were there any materials?

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on February 19, 2010 at 11:27am

The idea of God doesn't really provide any answers to this. It only leads to the question of how did God get here? Instead I wonder how the universe got here. I've really been thinking about this a lot actually--why do we exist? It's sort of jumping to conclusions to presume that there's a God. Even so, thinking about the universe is very different from everyday religious dogma.

I don't know where the materials that make the universe come from, but apparently (I may be explaining this wrong) and when the stars die, the elements from them eventually come together to become planets and therefore everything on the planets. That's pretty fascinating, and one of the things that made me realize that reality is much crazier and more amazing than things that religions come up with.

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Permalink Reply by O'Tater on February 19, 2010 at 11:40am

It's interesting that you ask this question because it's an issue that a lot of believers use to support the fact that there must be a god (I'm not accusing you of doing this, I'm just pointing out that it's an issue frequently brought up).

I find it fascinating though that someone can understand that science does not yet necessarily have all the answers, but can't understand that the theory of a god provides no more answers for how things got here in the first place. All a belief in a god does is raise the question of, "How did God get here?", or, "What created God?".

Basically all religions end up with the same questions that an atheist contemplating the beginning of everything would have. Your question is how did all the materials get here and have they been here forever? I don't have the answer to that, but how does a belief in a god answer the question any more clearly? All believing in god does is ask the question of how did god get here or has he been here forever? Same question.

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Permalink Reply by Prefer Not to Say on February 19, 2010 at 11:46am

Well for me its kinda does, I lived most of my life a strong believer who was 100% sure his religion was right, but now when I question my beliefs I think like "God created the universe from nothing that's a possibility but if there is no God how the universe existed"

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Permalink Reply by O'Tater on February 19, 2010 at 12:01pm

Sure, but who created God? How did he get here? How does he exist from nothing? Yes, if you believe in God, it makes perfect sense (I guess) to say he created everything, but it still does not answer the question of who created him.

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Permalink Reply by Paul on February 19, 2010 at 11:41am

Hi,

A comprehensive answer to your question requires an in-depth knowledge of physics and cosmology (that I don't have), but I think what you're really asking is why is there something rather than nothing.

This might be a question for which there will never be a satisfying answer.

However, It's important to be honest about our lack of knowledge.

To say "we don't know" is honest.

To say "we don't know so it must be God" is silly.

I don't know who ate my donut yesterday but I'm not going to assume divine intervention with no evidential basis for doing so.

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Permalink Reply by O'Tater on February 19, 2010 at 12:04pm

I love the donut analogy! I think human nature seeks solid answers. It's clear from history that most societies have used God as the answer to any question they could not solve. I feel like that is what is being done with the whole, "Beginning of everything" debate. Since science has yet to provide a firm answer, the answer must be God. I belief that's too far a leap in logic and has no rational relation to the issue. The fact that we do not know an answer yet does not mean the answer must be God.

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on February 19, 2010 at 1:19pm

Sorry to hear about that donut, Paul.

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Permalink Reply by Colin on February 19, 2010 at 3:55pm

I LOL'd.

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Permalink Reply by Jude Johnson on February 2, 2012 at 11:55am

I'm sorry Paul - I ate your donut. It was my birthday yesterday - please forgive me...

I think your two "To say..." statements say it all -- very well put!

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Permalink Reply by Howard S. Dunn on February 19, 2010 at 12:09pm

Here's the deal for me - have you ever seen those Russian (originally Japanese) dolls that nest one inside the other - you open one to find another inside? They are call matrioshka.

Every human being is faced with that problem, philosophically, when looking at 'The Beginning.' Both the religious and scientists have toyed with the idea that everything is 'eternal.' Nevertheless, that still does not really address the 'where did it come from problem.' Any 'god' would have to be included in that problem - what is the 'top' (or largest) doll in the cosmic matrioshka? Religion claims to know and dismisses the problem of 'where did god come from' as if this 'god' were the top doll - but the question remains unaddressed at the end of the day. Beyond that, each religion claims that it is right about this and everyone else is wrong. Yet - there is no evidence for these claims - and they are so terribly inaccurate and unreliable about the world we know.

Science, on the other hand says:

1. We may never know - probably will never be sure.
2. We will keep looking to find out.
3. There is so much left to discover.
4. Mystery is more inspiring than faith - because the drive to discover is so much more interesting than adhering to any locked in, unquestioned belief system.

I think that it takes more courage than faith to be atheist. But the rewards are greater. Instead of wasting the only life you can be certain you will ever get worrying about an eternal life that may never happen, you can focus on this one knowing that it is rare and precious and filled with mysteries to explore and puzzles to solve.

Meanwhile, as a Jesuit once told my father as a boy, by the time that a fly could tear down a mountain a grain at a time, eternity would have just begun. Wouldn't a life as long as that - with no chance of coming to an end - be cheap, unexciting, frankly, the virgins would stop being virgins in about a couple of days (if it were me) and sex would stop being fun after a couple centuries as well. At least it would be better than worshipping a jealous, insecure god on your knees forever.