To Jim

Jim commented on my earlier post "Ridicule is not a valid tool". I thought I'd take the time to reply as a post. This is that reply.

You couldn't find an answer to why there is something rather than nothing without a god? 

Right. I didn't find a good answer on atheism. Have you considered the same questions? What is your answer? What answer do you think was best?

I read many speculations about it. One claim in particular got me thinking - that whatever mathematically could exist actually does actually exist. If I were to accept that, it would mean believing in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy, believing in literally everything, rather than God. It was after reading that that I started to wonder if skepticism about God had gone way too far. God's existence seemed far simpler, and straightforward than explanations offered on atheism.

Doesn't this raise even more difficult questions?

Yes, it leads to many more questions. What a God who can create the universe is like, for one! Answering one question almost always leads to more questions.

What [God] it composed of?

When you ask, what is God made out of, you seem to be assuming God is some type of physical object - insisting that he only be part of creation, rather than the creator of it. That's obviously quite a big assumption, which I don't share. Is that what you're asking, and if so how could any creator of the universe be composed of things which are part of the universe?

How did [God] come to exist?

Similarly, I'm not even convinced it is even logically consistent to ask for a God who is the creator of time who is not eternal. I don't understand God could have a beginning in time, which he himself created. Why assume God isn't eternal?

For me, it seems only logical to say that God is eternal, and that he is not made of material objects inside the universe. I cannot see how claiming the opposite makes sense at all. Of course there are people who believe that. There's long lists of literally thousands of pagan gods who do apparently have those properties. In contrast, what Christians, Jews and Muslims believe about God makes good sense to me.

Why did [God] create cruelty, dishonesty, and suffering?

I would say neither cruelty or dishonest are created "things", and that they are actions - our actions. We live in a world in which there is cruelty, dishonesty, and there is suffering. So, why is that? I think a straightforward answer is because we can be cruel, we can be dishonest - and that these things have effects which do cause suffering.

I'm no theologian, but I hope that any atheists stumbling through here enjoy reading the questions and responses so far. Feel free to ask any questions, especially from your own blog. I'm just an ordinary guy, but I'll do my best to respond. Get a conversion going with a real theist and stop talking the void of the faceless internet!