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Hello, my name is Jacob, and I'm only fifteen years old. I'm an Atheist, which means I don't believe in a Supreme Being (but you probably knew that). My reasons? The evidence for a Supreme Being is flimsy.
1. Problem of Evil (why is there suffering, death, etc.)
2. Conservation of mass-energy (energy can neither be created nor destroyed, thus no need for a Creator)
3. The Evidence of Evolution (vestigial structures, abiogenesis experiments, the Fossil Record, continental drift)
4. Age of The Earth and the Universe (radiometric dating, speed of light [186,000 miles per second, studies have shown this to be a constant speed, see http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CE/CE411.html])
5. No good answer to the Purpose of Life (the "best" one I've heard is that God made us because He was lonely )
A while back, I was a New-Ager. I accepted everything without evidence. I believed in Ghosts, Demons, UFO's, you name it. Though I'm not sure if I ever really believed in a Guy-In-The-Sky. I always thought of Him as an "Inner Power" in our hearts, a way to find strength.
One night, I was watching T.V., and a comedian was talking about a "theory" called Intelligent Design. He was a critic of it. So, I went to see what all the fuss was about. I searched the internet. I found these videos http://video.google.com/videosearch?...Exist%3F&hl=en (the ones by John Clayton), then quickly found the concept of Creationism on one of the videos. So, I searched for Creationism, and found a man named Kent Hovind. His arguments were convincing, since I had no way to counter them. So, I searched for Kent Hovind, and found this site http://kent-hovind.com/ . It provided a point-by-point refutation and analysis of everything Kent Hovind said. It astonished me. How could a person take the time and do all of this? I wanted to do that. I wanted to be like that. I wanted to question everything. My teen spirit was kicking in. I quickly adopted the viewpoint.
So, why am I an Atheist? I have no reason to believe that a Supreme Being is so anal that he will send me to a fiery Hell just because I have different brain activity than all of His minions. I have no reason to believe in Demons, Ghosts, or UFO's anymore, other than the comforting feeling that there's supernatural stuff "out there", just as you have no reason to believe in gods such as Zeus or Poseidon. I've tossed all of that away, and now I have more than I could ever have asked for than I could've had from God. But hey, this is just my opinion.
_GN_
Last edited by GenesisNemesis; 05-14-2007 at 05:31 PM..
Hi, Jacob. Thanks for your honesty and for sharing your toughts. A few responses...
Quote:
Originally Posted by GenesisNemesis
1. Problem of Evil (why is there suffering, death, etc.)
2. Conservation of mass-energy (energy can neither be created nor destroyed, thus no need for a Creator)
3. The Evidence of Evolution (vestigial structures, abiogenesis experiments, the Fossil Record, continental drift)
4. Age of The Earth and the Universe (radiometric dating, speed of light [186,000 miles per second, studies have shown this to be a constant speed, see http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CE/CE411.html])
5. No good answer to the Purpose of Life (the "best" one I've heard is that God made us because He was lonely )
Your first reason is one that philosophers from the Prophets of the Old Testament to St. Thomas Aquinas to Buddha to Rousseau have struggled with. It's a GREAT question, and all of those guys have come up with some pretty good answers. You ought to check out St. Thomas Aquinas at the least before thinking that #1 negates the reality of a Supreme Being.
Reasons 2-4 may well contradict a literal interpreation of Genesis 1-3, and you certainly part company with many evangelical fundamentalist Christians, but reasons 2-4 in now way make an argument aginst a Supreme Being.
#5. Wow. Who told you that God was lonely? That's just silly. If God was lonely, then God was imperfect and incomplete, which hardly makes him much of a supreme being. It's a great question you ask, and lots of saints and philosophers have come up with some great answers.
I recommend you check out G.K. Chesterton's works. He'll give you something to think about, if nothing else.
Keep asking questions and seeking answer, and don't make the fatal mistake that so many (forgive me for saying so, but especially young people) seem to make: Don't think you know it all. Keep doubting, keep asking, and keep looking for answers.
Hello, my name is Jacob, and I'm only fifteen years old. I'm an Atheist, which means I don't believe in a Supreme Being (but you probably knew that). My reasons? The evidence for a Supreme Being is flimsy.
1. Problem of Evil (why is there suffering, death, etc.)
2. Conservation of mass-energy (energy can neither be created nor destroyed, thus no need for a Creator)
3. The Evidence of Evolution (vestigial structures, abiogenesis experiments, the Fossil Record, continental drift)
4. Age of The Earth and the Universe (radiometric dating, speed of light [186,000 miles per second, studies have shown this to be a constant speed, see http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CE/CE411.html])
5. No good answer to the Purpose of Life (the "best" one I've heard is that God made us because He was lonely )
A while back, I was a New-Ager. I accepted everything without evidence. I believed in Ghosts, Demons, UFO's, you name it. Though I'm not sure if I ever really believed in a Guy-In-The-Sky. I always thought of Him as an "Inner Power" in our hearts, a way to find strength.
One night, I was watching T.V., and a comedian was talking about a "theory" called Intelligent Design. He was a critic of it. So, I went to see what all the fuss was about. I searched the internet. I found these videos http://video.google.com/videosearch?...Exist%3F&hl=en (the ones by John Clayton), then quickly found the concept of Creationism on one of the videos. So, I searched for Creationism, and found a man named Kent Hovind. His arguments were convincing, since I had no way to counter them. So, I searched for Kent Hovind, and found this site http://kent-hovind.com/ . It provided a point-by-point refutation and analysis of everything Kent Hovind said. It astonished me. How could a person take the time and do all of this? I wanted to do that. I wanted to be like that. I wanted to question everything. My teen spirit was kicking in. I quickly adopted the viewpoint.
So, why am I an Atheist? I have no reason to believe that a Supreme Being is so anal that he will send me to a fiery Hell just because I have different brain activity than all of His minions. I have no reason to believe in Demons, Ghosts, or UFO's anymore, other than the comforting feeling that there's supernatural stuff "out there". I've tossed all of that away, and now I have more than I could ever have asked for than I could've had from God. But hey, this is just my opinion.
_GN_
Well, hello Jacob. Aren't you a brave soul at 15? You are about to be bombarded with every opinion imaginable. If I didn't have a headache from debating on the other thread I'd have a lot to say right now. But you are very impressionable and you need guidance. You seem very intelligent so I'm sure you have not completely lost your faith in God, as you stated. Anyone who questions His existance has not completely ruled Him out. We'll chat more later...old lady has to go take some aspirin.
Reasons 2-4 may well contradict a literal interpreation of Genesis 1-3, and you certainly part company with many evangelical fundamentalist Christians, but reasons 2-4 in now way make an argument aginst a Supreme Being.
2-4 allow me to think "hey, there's a natural cause to everything that goes on!" instead of saying "God did it". I also think of the magic-trick question that I thought of "If magic tricks have natural causes and seem utterly miraculous, why can't nature as well?"
Well, hello Jacob. Aren't you a brave soul at 15? You are about to be bombarded with every opinion imaginable. If I didn't have a headache from debating on the other thread I'd have a lot to say right now. But you are very impressionable and you need guidance. You seem very intelligent so I'm sure you have not completely lost your faith in God, as you stated. Anyone who questions His existance has not completely ruled Him out. We'll chat more later...old lady has to go take some aspirin.
I may not be able to answer immediately, since I have to go to a school presentation at 6 p.m. I might catch up with it later.
2-4 allow me to think "hey, there's a natural cause to everything that goes on!" instead of saying "God did it". I also think of the magic-trick question that I thought of "If magic tricks have natural causes and seem utterly miraculous, why can't nature as well?"
Oh, there's lots of things that science can't explain. Just off the top of my head:
Laughter
Beethoven
Jimi Hendrix
The way the smell of summer rain makes you feel
Love
The First Cause
Consider this:
"To accept everything is an exercise, to understand everything a strain. The poet only desires exaltation and expansion, a world to stretch himself in. The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits." --G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Oh, there's lots of things that science can't explain. Just off the top of my head:
Laughter
Beethoven
Jimi Hendrix
The way the smell of summer rain makes you feel
Love
The First Cause
Consider this:
"To accept everything is an exercise, to understand everything a strain. The poet only desires exaltation and expansion, a world to stretch himself in. The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits." --G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Hello Jacob. I am also 15. I have struggled with similar questions for a long time. I can see you are striving for an intillectual existance. I am as well, and it is very difficult to be intillectual and religious at the same time. I often wonder myself if I would have ever joined this church, or any for that matter, had I not been born into it. I find that the hardest part of religion for many people to understand is the Bible, and I am definitely not an expert myself. But I would sugest that you study up a little bit on middle English if you want a bit of a better understanding, and then I would suggest you read religious documents. Not Just the Bible, but from many religions such as Judism, Islam, and I really like Budhism as well. Although I have my foundation in Christianity, I see many good things in other religions as well.
But as for your questions, here's what I have found in the way of answers:
1.) Why we have suffering. It is a simple answer, we need it. If we did not have trials we would not enjoy the time without trials as much. They also show God that we are still faithful to him.
2.) This is a belief from my religion alone, but we believe that God started out as a mortal like us and because he lived a good life he was made a God later, but there was a God who governed over him as a mortal, and that God followed a similar path, and so on. The system never ends. It is very confusing to a mortal with a liniar understandind, but you get the basic idea.
3.) If you look carefully, you will notice that the order of creation in Genesis matches very closely with the theory of evolution, I'm not saying it means anything, but that is pretty cool if you ask me.
4.) I don't know if the age of the Earth as calculated by religious or scientific people is correct. The systems used to record the year, or even measure it varied greatly in Biblical times and have changed several times since then, so it makes me wonder. And I am no expert, but I have my doubts on radiometric dating. I just don't think we have been using it to work out the flaws, I am not saying it is bogus, I am just saying it may be too early to set our minds completely on science.
5.) The purpose of life is a tough one. As I stated earlier, we believe that God was once mortal, this means that we believe the main reason for life is to try and become like him. But this still leaves the question of why Gods exist, and this I cannot answer you. The fact that we exist truely brings more sadness and confusion than we would have if we didn't exist. But it also brings us more joy. "Men are that they might have joy"
By no means do I expect you to beleive anything that I just said, you have the right to make your own decisions on what you believe and you are as old as I am so I am in no position to tell you what to believe, I just decided I would do my best to share my understanding of your questions.
I hope I don't sound like an idiot to you, whether you decide you want to be religious or not, I hope we can be friends.
Well both of you guys who are just fifteen express yourselves pretty well, I'll give you credit for that.
lol, thanks. But I know people my own age who speak English as a second language who are just as articulate, if not more than I am. And I cannot say much for my Spanish and especially not for my Norwegian skills!
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We'll chat more later...old lady has to go take some aspirin.
