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Let me lay the groundword before I ask my question(s)....
Yesterday I lost a dear friend. Before this incident I had been back and forth about creation, religion, heaven, etc. I am the type of person who searches for answers. I am not satisfied with assumptions. For me to believe, it takes more than just opening a book and believing what is written. I am educated on many different religions. This is not a sector where I lack knowledge. I am, however, still searching obviously, and not at a satisfied level.
Atheism is something that I consider to be closer to my heart than an actual religion. Because I just suffured such a loss, I feel the need to draw a conclusion to what suits me best. I know ultimately I will have to decide on my own. But gaining knowledge from other sources helps me to come to an end. This is what brings me here. I think my main question is do you have an understanding (what are your beliefs) as to what created the Universe?How do you, or how do Atheists normally answer a question like this? All thoughts are appreciated, and I thank you in advance!
I'd like to start by saying that I'm very sorry for the loss of your friend.
As to your question about what created the universe, I believe this to be an inadequately phrased question as it almost automatically implies an outside source - and a creator. It is akin to asking "What created the automobile?" or "What created the birds and the bees?" Rather, I think the question should be approached from the stance of "How did the universe come into existence?" This seems to be a much more open-minded approach to a question that has a very complex set of answers (and further questions).
Admittedly, not every detail of the origin of the universe is known but I think there is more than enough evidence to suggest the Big Bang as the answer to your question. Might I suggest Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos to get a delightful romp through the some of the science behind why scientists feel this to be true, some of the questions we don't have answers to yet, and why certain things in our universe/world behave the way they do.
It is not a book about atheism, just a book about science and why modern-day science has the opinions, ideas (and supporting evidence) it does about a wide-variety of topics in the physics, astrophysics realm.
You don't have to lable yourself and the truth is you will never "know" anything for sure. But people like to pick a door and cling to it with their life. I don't know why. It's far easier to say you don't know...and even easier to say you don't care.
Let me lay the groundword before I ask my question(s)....
Yesterday I lost a dear friend. Before this incident I had been back and forth about creation, religion, heaven, etc. I am the type of person who searches for answers. I am not satisfied with assumptions. For me to believe, it takes more than just opening a book and believing what is written. I am educated on many different religions. This is not a sector where I lack knowledge. I am, however, still searching obviously, and not at a satisfied level.
Atheism is something that I consider to be closer to my heart than an actual religion. Because I just suffured such a loss, I feel the need to draw a conclusion to what suits me best. I know ultimately I will have to decide on my own. But gaining knowledge from other sources helps me to come to an end. This is what brings me here. I think my main question is do you have an understanding (what are your beliefs) as to what created the Universe?How do you, or how do Atheists normally answer a question like this? All thoughts are appreciated, and I thank you in advance!
What does it matter? Why do so many people (esp. theists) put their life on hold until/unless they somehow come up with an answer to this question? To the point that theists go with "godidit" just so they can have an answer. Why does anyone NEED an answer to this question? None of us were there, so why does anyone think we ever could really have an answer anyway. It doesn't affect my life in any way, not knowing. Do I know for sure what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs? No. Sure, there are many theories, but do I need to pick some kind of "answer" just to be able to get on with my life? No! Sure, it would be interesting to find out what happened, but is it something that I just HAVE to know? No. The same goes for the "creation" of the universe. Don't know, don't really care....
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