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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 Howard S. Dunn on February 19, 2010 at 12:59pm

... we each are an insignificant speck on an insignificant speck sailing in an endless sea along with other insignificant specks within other bubbles containing seas of floating specks with their own insignificant passengers.

Wait - are you the Mayor of Whoville?

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Permalink Reply by Stef on February 19, 2010 at 2:37pm

O, how I love Dr. Suess!

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Permalink Reply by Howard S. Dunn on February 19, 2010 at 3:38pm

It's funny how many Christians have told me that Horton is an anti-abortion allegory while I always thought it was about cosmology, or quantum mechanics.

Certainly, it may well be about protecting the powerless and disenfranchised. But the Whos were alive, not in a womb. And Horton was an empiricist - he HEARD the Whos - he didn't read about them in an ancient book.

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Permalink Reply by Rob van Senten on February 19, 2010 at 1:12pm

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

I still have the same question that you have now. We do not have the answer, and it might be that we never find out. When I accepted that, it was a small step to declare myself atheist.

I hoped that if I could answer the question to how it all started I might find the truth that I was so desperately searching for. I did got over it, because I realized that I'd rather know the truth, then believe in a lie.

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Permalink Reply by Steph S. on February 2, 2012 at 10:16pm

Cool links Nerd -- thanks.

Maybe when our knowledge of science is more advanced than it is now -- we will have a scientific explanation.

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Permalink Reply by Michael P Galante on February 19, 2010 at 2:09pm

A lot of great points being made here. I think one thing people need to get over is needing an answer to everything. It's ok to simply not know, as we probably never will really know. Why is that such a problem to live with? Most of us here have accepted that there is nothing after death, and we're fine with that. We know we can still live happy and amazing lives without needing to believe there is anything more to the here and now. We can do the same not knowing how or why we came to be in the first place.

Bottom line, none of us can say with 100% proven fact what came before or what comes after. All we can do is live while we do.

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Permalink Reply by Pirate Bard on February 19, 2010 at 2:47pm

As someone already stated, what you're really asking is "why is there something rather than nothing?"

I find this an interesting question since there is nothing in our scientific experience, nor indeed even our human experience, that suggests "nothingness" should be the default.

How I get/got past that question was simply to look at a few things:

1. there are several scientific theories which hold that all matter "before" (I put that in quotes because when you break down space you also break down time and therefore concepts like "before" become somewhat meaningless as I understand it) the Universe began still existed, we just don't know what form it had.

2. saying "Goddidit" doesn't actually solve the question at all, but in fact adds another unnecessary element to the problem.

3. If god created the Universe, what created god?

4. If god always existed, why not the Universe (just in a different form than we now know)? Why does god get a special pass, but not the matter/energy that makes up the Universe?

There are many other logical reasons not to believe in god/s, but since this is the only one you asked about I'll leave it at that for now. Hope that helps.

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Permalink Reply by Cecilia on February 19, 2010 at 2:52pm

I agree with those who say that this question you ask isn't answered any better by the "God hypothesis." I remember being taught as a kid in Catholic school that "God is, was and always will be" and having a very difficult time getting my head around this notion. So, I had the same question but from the religious side: how can there be something, that is, God, that had no beginning and no end???? (Yea, I was pretty much always an atheist.) That is no easier to answer than the question of how the universe or the materials that the universe was created from, and the materials those materials were created from, etc, always existed (and, in some form, always will????). You don't further understanding of the existence of the universe by claiming as fact that: "God is, was and always will be," because this statement is 100% unverifiable, it can't be tested. Unfortunately, for me, my head can't get around the scientific explanations that are and will lead to deeper understanding of this...but that doesn't mean I am going to say, oh, I don't understand, therefore, God.

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on February 19, 2010 at 3:14pm

I think Carl Sagan said something similar about the universe: "The universe is all that was and ever will be" or something like that.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Thompson on February 19, 2010 at 3:50pm

Most the the answers to your question sound most unhelpful. Let me try another approach.

Science allows us to solve mysteries. The orbits of the planets around the sun were once a mystery that has now been solved. Using what we know, we are able to solve more mysteries like how the stars and planets formed. There are lots of interesting videos and books which explain this (search youtube and you will find many, I recommend this video series by potholer which explains cosmology in layman's terms).

We think we can eventually understand how the universe became as we observe it today. This will require a deeper knowledge of physics than we currently possess though. Experiments like those being conducted with the Large Hadron Collider at Cern will help get us there.

In short, no one knows everything. That goes for believers in a god as well. Educating yourself about what we do know will help significantly though in resolving your doubts.

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Permalink Reply by Gila Guerilla on February 19, 2010 at 8:13pm

If you want to understand an atheistic view of cosmology, watch 'A Universe From Nothing' by Lawrence Krauss, AAI 2009 :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo

It is suited to the intelligent lay person, yet highly enlightening, entertaining and up-to-date.