My aggregator threw yet another ignorant anti-atheist screed at me recently; all the same tired arguments that have been addressed many times before:
Some atheists will not even know they have to use a lot of faith just to believe that from nothing … came something.
Everyone knows that from nothing comes nothing. It would be as if people closed their eyes, concentrated really hard on a Ferrari and then opened their eyes and expected a Ferrari to be right there in front of them. That surely won’t happen. Same with the universe.
The other point of common sense is that chaos doesn’t result in order. If someone were to put all the parts of a Lamborghini in a garage and then threw a bomb into the garage, you wouldn’t expect to find a perfectly designed Lamborghini to drive away.
The first point that from nothing comes nothing proves the Big Bang Theory couldn’t have happened. See, if there was nothing before the Big Bang, what could have caused such a blast to occur? Just like the people closing their eyes and imagining a Ferrari and opening their eyes to see nothing.
The second point that chaos doesn’t result in order proves that even if I was wrong about the Big Bang Theory, there is no possible way an explosion (chaos) would ever be able to create a universe with such tremendous order. Just like the person who gathered all of the parts of a Lamborghini, put it in a garage and threw a bomb into it. When it comes time to look at the garage (universe), you will realize that, from that explosion (Big Bang), there could be nothing but chaos. The world in which we live is ordered.
But then I noticed something. The author is a high school student. And I realized that, if he is wrestling with these issues now, he’s going to bump into some uncomfortable and challenging answers in the next few, very transformative, years of his life. Maybe in a “know your enemy” vein he takes a college course on evolutionary biology, or (as I did) a course on world religions. Frankly, virtually any learning he does will collide with his current world view, and force a reassessment of what he now defends so vehemently.
I remember being his age–at that time, I was a born-again Christian. The years after that were life-changing. His current belief system is not one that can stand up to education (unless he manages to go to one of the handful of creationist colleges–even then, if he learns anything despite the curriculum, his shuttered world could still take a beating). Odds are, the next few years in this kid’s life are gonna be amazing.
Your world, in a couple of years, it appears,
Will experience change like you’ve never before!
Your eyes (this is what I am hopin’) will open;
Your view of this world will be rocked to its core.
I envy the journey you’re taking—no faking!—
I traveled it once, half a lifetime ago
A marvelous trip, full of wonder; you’ll blunder
Your way through reversal of all that you know!
You’ve started by asking some questions—suggestions
Will change the assumptions you’ve held for so long
You’ll move from “not one contradiction!” to “Fiction!”
From “God’s Holy Word” to “y’know… this is wrong!”
And then, when you start to replace it—let’s face it,
The world is your oyster—your options are vast!
You’ll let all the beauty around you astound you
A world full of wonder you’re seeing at last!
As usual, XKCD got there first.
Nicely put, Cuttlefish!
I try to explain to my theist friends how a lack of a god makes the universe even more wondrous than the small little world they believe their god created. That is the most notable thing about the creationist world. It is so small.
Something I work on from time to time with my casual understanding of physics, to the tune of “A Sound of Music”s “Something Good.”
Something Small
Perhaps we are a static universe
Perhaps everything’s all as it was
But when we test that question, the answer is
Evidently, there was a first cause
For here you are, a star plane there, glorious
Universe of yin and of yang
Where particle and anti-particle pop
There must have been a moment of bang
Something comes from nothing
Every instant of the year
Matter is both created and destroyed
It’s why there is a now and a here
For nature sees and abhors all vaccuums
Edge of black holes or deep space
So once upon a time, before there was time,
There was – there must have been a moment of bang.
Something comes from nothing
That’s how we began
Inside the forges
Of heavenly stardust
Our parts and minds came from a bang.
Well, that depends on what college he goes to. If it’s Liberty, I expect him to come out even more ignorant.
I continue to be amazed at creationists who look at the universe, or even just our planet, and see “order”. It’s utterly chaotic. Created things are indeed orderly. Look at a man-made object. Lots of lovely right angles and flat surfaces. Curves, when they occur, are almost always circular or spherical. Now look at a mountain range. Nothing orderly about it. Rocks, forests, and streams flung about willy-nilly. Nobody designed it, it just happened.
Hah. Just wait till his approximately vertical spinal column starts picking on him.
Or until he develops some empathy for his sick or disabled neighbors.