Where did God come from?
Believe in me, because you know no other answers
This is in response to one of the repertoire of questions generally asked to atheists, which would be where did the Universe come from.
Now that I’ve said that, you have probably guessed I am an atheist. And you guess would be, correct! Sorry, you don’t win a prize though. Was I always this way? Well, no. But I did start this way. When I was born (and you too!) I was an atheist. Then God and Jesus and all of Christianity was introduced to me. Now, I did not live in an evangelical house hold. But Christianity was a part of my life, although all of the facts were not, since my parents were both more on the “Faith” side of Christianity, vs the religious side. I was baptised as a Catholic (sadly enough, that priest has been accused of molesting a couple of boys back in the day, one at the same church I was baptised, a few years before I was born, eeek!). Eventually I spent a year at Catholic school, was an altar boy (no, I was not molested, it was a different priest, and I still hold him in high regard, as he really is a genuinely nice man), and even contemplated being a priest.
I was brought up on creationism was a proven concept, with evolution being just a “theory.” Even as a drifted away from the Catholic church, I still was a by-faith Christian. Problem was, I never realized just how hypocritical I was. Why? Because beyond religion, I thoroughly enjoyed science. And science teaches you to question EVERYTHING. If we didn’t, well, we’d still be living in caves, chasing animals and foraging for food.
The older I got, the more I questioned. As I began to be more technical in my life, I questioned even further, and smarter. This more technical side? I began going to college finally, spending 3 years at night to get a general Associate of Science, spending a year on my Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Physics (which I am currently on break from due to financial hardships I had to address).
The more I questioned, the less I believed, until eventually I discovered that my faith was nothing more than a hollow shell, supported by 0 evidence. None. In fact, the only viable question that would have me to question is, where did the universe come from.
And there are theories out there regarding this, but in all reality, it is going to be extremely difficult to prove or disprove particular theories. And either way, it still leaves the question of what was around before the universe, etc., and since infinity is not a real number, the answer is difficult.
But you know, that particular question made me think onto a number of other things. First, let’s take a look at Christianity and its Jewish origins. Remember, back then scientific knowledge wasn’t like it was today. We now know about how hallucinations result from mental illness or drug use. We know the full motions of the moon (and it is a giant rock in the sky reflecting sunlight, not just a bright light). We know what causes earthquakes, whether patterns, disease, retardation, etc. There are reasons for these things, scientifically explainable, and without the need of theological thought.
Now read the Bible. It is a HUGE book, so I will not argue specific passages, because the passages alone already fill a book. Read about the signs that god presents. Nowadays, most people hear about an earthquake, they make think of a tectonic plate before they think “oh, this is a sign from God that ______.” Or the guys, walking around on the streets, screaming about whatever prophecy, we think mental illness, not that God has chosen to speak through him. Now, I say most, because some people still believe that God uses earthquakes and tsunamis to punish the wicked, etc. Except that these natural events have occurred much longer than people have been around.
The argument here is simple. If we could go back in time, and live in that lifetime, with the knowledge we have today, our beliefs would be shaken. Solar Eclipse would be cool, while people run frightened because it was an ominous sign from God.
Which is the same thing that all belief systems have done, probably even before recorded history. It is an attempt to explain the world around, because there were no better options around at the time. And if those answers become apparent, then the belief system either changes, disappears, or is ignorant of the knowledge. Christianity has been a prime example of the mixture of change and ignorance. As ancient knowledge was challenged and proven wrong, Christianity, and not just the Catholic church, has either been ignorant of it, contesting that these challenges are heresy. Or they have come to accept them, and change the belief to fit around it. Think about germ theory. Some faiths are ignorant of current knowledge, claiming them to be sinful, and instead rely on prayer to cure. The power of prayer is equal to the power of the placebo.
Other faiths have accepted germ theory and modern medicine, but they still believe that it is up to God if you live, or that the illness is still from God, even though we know that no divine hand is needed to spread bacteria and viruses.
Faith is a belief in something without evidence. Faith was needed in a time when there was no knowledge of why things happened the way they did. However, we now have knowledge, so that faith becomes ignorance.
While I may pity those who buy into religion or faith of a supreme being or beings, I generally don’t have a problem with those who hold those beliefs. Religion is more like a treatable mental health problem. However, I do I have problem with a person or persons who try to use their beliefs to be little and intimidate others, attempting to control them. Like the heated debates with gay marriage and abortion, the root of the underlying argument is a religious belief. Marriage is “sacred,” and must be between a man and a woman. Just because some man wrote that thousands of years ago, and it was put in a book that other men said was from the hand of god, doesn’t give someone the authority to force another human to submit to and live by their beliefs.
So to answer the question, where did the universe come from? I don’t know. But really, the only faith I need is that scientists are asking the same questions, trying to answer it too. It doesn’t prove the existence of a god or gods, only that we still have no unlocked all of the knowledge of physics in the universe. But science gives humanity a better outlook on how to deal with the future than a book of legends can ever provide.
