Does God exist? (William Lane Craig vs Peter Atkins debate) (21 Viewers)

Well, did...

  • Man make God?

  • God make Man?


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Bianconero_Aus

Beppe Marotta Is My God
May 26, 2009
80,944
At what age did most become atheist/agnostic?

For me it was at about 8 or 9 years old. Just never *really* believed the stuff about heaven and hell, afterlife, Jesus etc. Just all sounded fanciful and "too good to be true" for me, even at a young age. And for the record I was baptised Catholic and went to Catholic schools from K-Year 12 (dont know what the equivalent is in America)
 

king Ale

Senior Member
Oct 28, 2004
21,689
What you seem to be missing is a dose of healthy skepticism. Whenever there is a situation in which someone has something to gain it's wise to think about their motives. Whether a god exists or not is a completely trivial question for all practical matters, precisely as trivial as the existence of Superman. But noone has these ferocious debates about Superman because noone is using Superman to piggyback their social agenda on top of.

So in the case of Superman I agree, we are both equally ignorant. But in the case of god there is an utterly obvious case to question where this came from and why.
Superman, Santa Claus, God or anything, I see no difference. Whether or not the universe was created by some sort of creator is what man naturally thinks about without having social agenda on top of. Where did the term "God" come from and why? As a way of responding to where we came from and why as we are naturally concerned with the notion "existence". God is simply a possible answer.

A certain dose of skepticism is fine, everything is to doubt but then we can all have our takes on what we observe. It doesn't have to be faith. And as long as we can't convince each other that what we "believe" is the truth we are equally ignorant
 

Salvo

J
Moderator
Dec 17, 2007
62,794
I didn't really ever focus on religion too much, I was never a full on believer or anything like that but once I hit like 13-14 maybe I just said that I dont believe in it.
 

X Æ A-12

Senior Member
Contributor
Sep 4, 2006
87,937
At what age did most become atheist/agnostic?

For me it was at about 8 or 9 years old. Just never *really* believed the stuff about heaven and hell, afterlife, Jesus etc. Just all sounded fanciful and "too good to be true" for me, even at a young age. And for the record I was baptised Catholic and went to Catholic schools from K-Year 12 (dont know what the equivalent is in America)
I wasn't raised religious but I think I kind of believed god was real until I was about 7 or 8 and actually started going to church.
 

Elvin

Senior Member
Nov 25, 2005
36,923
I still believe in some kinda superior being/entity whatever. But religion died for me when they told me I have to bow down 5 times a day to get that entity's approval.
 
Apr 15, 2006
56,640
I always had doubts about how god or religion works from a very young age. As I grew up, my doubts grew too, and weakened what little faith I had in my gods. i jumped the fence into the agnostic/atheist land about a year ago when I came across sound arguments that made lot more sense to me.
 

Martin

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
My understanding of God is not exactly the one described in Qoran or in my childhood stories, I'm not religious. It's a notion, my comprehension of the universe. I'm not saying my God is more believable than Santa Claus, it's nothing to do with the history behind this term. It's my way of reasoning, that there's a creator, who I call God. I can think and I can reason, it leads me to the conclusion of God's existence. Even if there was not a God, I'd still think there is one and it's exactly why man have thought of it throughout the whole history of universe. That's why I said it's all okay to me if it was man who created God as I do believe nothing is created unless its existence is necessary.
I follow you right until this one. What does this mean?
 
Apr 15, 2006
56,640
I follow you right until this one. What does this mean?
I probably know what she means, but it may not hold true for everthing that exists. People needed a better source of lighting, so Edison created a lightbulb from the materials available at that time. Not everything is pure chance. A lot of things are created with a certain intent or need.
 

Gabriel

Killed By Death
May 23, 2010
10,608
I follow you right until this one. What does this mean?
She means that even in the case of God not existing and man being the one creating it. It was created out of man's necessity to feel that life is not hollow and that we actually serve a purpose in the universe, therefore making his "existence" necessary for some people.

At least that's what I think she means.


Btw, I don't really believe in God. I'd consider myself as an agnostic.
 

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