(May 31, 2013 at 11:05 am)Tonus Wrote:(May 26, 2013 at 3:37 pm)Drew_2013 Wrote: The problem is I can't be an intellectually satisfied athesit. Its not hard to have a mere 'lack of belief' in God the problem comes in attempting to explain the existence of the universe, life and sentient life if in fact God (an intelligent Creator) really doesn't exist.
I understand what you're saying. But throughout human history there have been many things that we could not explain because we did not have sufficient knowledge and understanding. Often, they were ascribed supernatural causes or origins. But as science progressed and we increased our knowledge and understanding, we invariably replace the supernatural explanation with a natural one. This has happened many, many times. As far as I am aware, there have been no cases where additional knowledge and understanding confirmed a supernatural cause to something we did not previously understand.
Thus, if we ever do gain sufficient knowledge and understanding to figure out things like the origins of life and the universe, the odds strongly favor that the explanation will be natural, not supernatural. This is why I am comfortable with not knowing. It's not that I'm satisfied with not knowing. It's just that I have no concerns that we'll suddenly unveil GOD and trigger some kind of paradigm shift or epiphany or whatever. There isn't a murderous demon with large fangs hiding in my closet. There might be a moth in there, nibbling on a shirt, but I'm confident that I can handle that.
Well stated. I agree that it's not satisfying not to know, but admitting ignorance is a sign of intelligence, at least to me. So long as it's learned from. While I'm not satisfied by not knowing, I try not to allow myself to presume to know, that which I cannot at this time know. I can only take what I do know, and build from that. The knowledge gained from this process is satisfying.