Response to Sean McDowell's 'BEST Qs to Ask an Atheist'

#atheists #atheism #skeptics #skepticism
It's been a while since I responded to a questions for atheists video! There is a backlog of them in a playlist I've been keeping. So I figured it was about time to start clearing that backlog. In this one, I'm responding to a CZcams short from Christian apologist Sean McDowell. In his short Sean presents what he thinks are the best questions to ask atheists, and I answer some of them.
Timestamps
===========
00:00 - Intro
01:03 - Question 1
01:20 - Question 2
01:51 - Question 3
03:02 - Question 4
03:38 - Question 5
06:06 - Question 6
08:57 - Question 7
09:45 - Question 8
10:15 - Question 9
10:52 - Question 10
11:53 - Question 11
12:00 - Conclusion
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[@arcanics1971]

1. When I use atheist (to describe myself) I mean that I do not believe a god or gods exist and atheism to be that belief;
2. I was never religious as such, but I stopped believing in God at around 9, but that I only really count from around 12 or so, when I was able to reason it out;
3. Sort of, in a very vague way. I was taught about God in school, but there was no worship involved and like my pre-teen atheism, I don't count it because it was before I understood enough to really say;
4 My experience with Christians is varied. Some I have found to be ignorant bigots, some I have found to be lovely and kind, some I have found to be intelligent, some I have found to be of amoebic intellect: just like any other demographic;
5. If I saw something that was testable and verifiable (and repeatable) evidence of God with no other possibility, I might believe. Though that doesn't mean I would worship. That's a whole different question. I find the concept of gods to be quite far-fetched so it would require some pretty incontrovertible evidence. I don't think an argument would do it on its own;
6. I don't know. But I won't fill that ignorance with a complex guess. Especially one that is really far-fetched and lacking in good evidence (in my opinion) and which for me doesn't answer the question anyway, just changes it to "Why is there God rather than nothing.";
7 Not sure what these questions actually have to do with atheism per se. But as far as I know life is a chemical process, therefore it came from the right combination of chemicals and the right set of conditions;
8. Consciousness, again, is- as far as I know- an electro-chemical process, so it came from the right chemicals and conditions (in this case a brain);
9. I believe most morals are subjective: which is way forcing a bride into sex was once considered moral for a husband, and now is not. We won't mention the slaves that most cultures accepted at one time. While many of us share certain moral values, this can be better explained by societal evolution: we live in groups as a species and the individuals need to behave in certain ways to make the group functional. Christians seem to think that these values came from the Bible but they are documented long before and across cultures.
10 Jesus, was, a figure or possibly an amalgam of figures who made enough waves to have stories written about him; at first he was just a prophet (I am told, I am not entirely sure on this) and later was said to be the Messiah that Judaism had foretold; he wasn't accepted as such by the followers of that faith (and it seems was largely unknown at the time of his existence beyond a small area of Judea) but a cult grew up around the tales, becoming a religion of many flavours over the years. To Christians he either the son of God or a part of God in some way. It's hard to know which tales of Jesus are true, but there's no doubt that he's become one of the most important figures in modern human society.

[@arcanics1971]

To be honest, if I am talking to somebody, I'd rather talk about things other than our respective beliefs about God.

[@Overonator]

Seems to me asking why is there something rather than nothing assumes that nothing is the default state and anything other than that state requires an explanation.

[@AB-xi9im]

the point is that because there is something there must always have been something because from nothing nothing comes and from something something comes. this is setting the stage for arguments for gods existence

[@dhwyll]

@@AB-xi9im And yet it is the theist position that god created something from nothing. Most theists don't claim that god created things out of its own material (though there are some theologies that do this). They say that god simply "created."
Since we have never seen a true "nothing," and the concept of a true "nothing" appears to be nonsensical, it would be up to those that claim that there could be a "nothing" to explain what it is they're talking about and how this "nothing" could possibly exist.

[@AB-xi9im]

@@dhwyll when theists say god created something from nothing then nothing should be understood as 'no material'. in this context something is still caused by God's will for example so it hasn't truly come from nothing. But something from nothing ie something arrised uncaused this is what theists say is impossible. And yes as far as i know people like aristotle and avicenna rejected creatio ex nihilo and held that the universe is eternal.

[@dhwyll]

@@AB-xi9im But that means they're not talking about true "nothing." This leads to an equivocation fallacy. They "nothing" they want their god to be creating something out of is actually "something" in the sense that there is time and space but no energy or matter within it. But that isn't a true "nothing" which doesn't even have time and space and that is what they want atheists to explain with "Why is there something rather than nothing?"
The fact that they'll then claim that their god is "outside of time and space" is irrelevant since the existence of a god object necessarily means there is a "something." And thus, we still have the problem of having never seen a "nothing." Thus, those who ask this question of why need to explain what it is they're talking about and how this "nothing" could possibly exist.
We know there is something.
We have never seen a nothing.
Why would it be possible for there to be a nothing in the first place?