The Reason Project

A Christian recently asked me: "If you don't believe in god, then who created the universe you live in? Something can't come out of nothing." Let’s break down why this argument falls flat, and why holding one ancient book over everyone's head is the real problem here.

Your Bible isn't an exclusive truth. Holding it over our heads as some absolute, undeniable reality is exactly where the issue begins.

Think about it: If a Muslim can't hold the Quran over your "Jesus is god" head as the undeniable truth, then you can't do the exact same thing to them with the Bible.

They are both traditional perspectives of the world and human origin. Almost every other culture on Earth has stories to explain how the world and humans began. Some cultures kept these as oral traditions; some decided to go a step further by writing them in a book and calling them divine.

Humans came up with these contradictory myths attempting to explain the universe because, quite frankly, we have no clue how it began. And saying "I don't know" is not a sign of weakness. It is infinitely better to admit we don't know than to pretend to know and make up answers without proof.

Our lack of knowledge about our origin doesn't prove your Christian god did it, just as it doesn't prove the Muslim God did it. Believing is simply not the same as knowing.

The Big Difference...
The difference between me and you is that you follow a book that tells you unbelief is a sin: "But whoever has doubts is condemned... because their conduct is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin" Romans 14:23.

This means you literally cannot hold a different worldview about anything aside from what your book tells you. And if you dare to step outside of it? Hellfire awaits you, because the unbelieving go straight to hell: "But the cowardly, the unbelieving... they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur."Revelation 21:8.

Me? A book doesn't decide for me what is true and what is not.

The Logic Trap 🪤.
Now, you said "something can't come out of nothing." So basically, the universe must have come out of your god.
That makes sense... until you tell us what birthed your god.

You see, logic shouldn't be one-sided. If your holy response is "Well, God is eternal and has always existed," then guess what? The exact same argument can be made for the universe! You can't just invent a cosmic rule ("everything must have a creator") and then stop applying it to your own God when it gets inconvenient.

Which God Are We Talking About, Anyway? 🤷‍♂️
Even if we pretend a god did create the universe, that doesn’t automatically validate your specific god. Humanity has worshipped thousands of gods throughout history.

In fact, several ancient civilizations were thriving, writing, and worshipping their own gods long before the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) was ever written down (which scholars date to around the 10th to 8th centuries BCE):

The Sumerians (c. 4000 BCE): Living in modern-day Iraq, they established the world's first cities. They worshipped gods like Anu (the sky god) and Enki (god of water and wisdom) and wrote down the Epic of Gilgamesh—which contains a massive flood story thousands of years before Noah's was ever penned!

The Ancient Egyptians (c. 3100 BCE): They built the Great Pyramids, developed complex hieroglyphic writing, and worshipped Ra (the sun god) and Osiris centuries before the Israelites even became a distinct cultural group.

The Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300 BCE): Spanning parts of modern-day India and Pakistan, this massive, highly advanced society practiced early forms of animism and spiritual traditions completely independent of the Middle Eastern religions.

A Terrible Communication Strategy 📢
Here is the kicker: None of these thousands of gods has ever personally spoken to humanity to announce His ownership of the universe. Not one.

Think about the logic here. You believe your god is all-powerful, all-knowing, and capable of absolutely anything. If He is that powerful, and He wants everyone on Earth to know He owns the place... why on Earth are YOU the one who has to tell us?

Why does an infinite, universe-creating deity rely on finite, fallible humans to run around, distribute translated books, and argue on Facebook to convince people He exists?

If He owns the world and can do anything, He could easily write it in the stars, broadcast it to every human mind simultaneously, or show up and announce it Himself. Yet, the only time we ever hear about God "owning the world" is when other humans tell us so.

The Power of saying "I Don't Know" 🤷‍♂️
Saying "I don't know" how the universe started isn't a weakness. It is actually the most honest, scientific, and humble thing a human can say.

It is infinitely better to admit we don't know than to pretend to have all the answers, make up stories, and threaten people with eternal fire just because they ask questions.

Believing is not the same as knowing. Let's keep asking questions instead of settling for comfortable ancient myths! 👇