# For those that do not believe in God **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668 "2015-08-12T16:44:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/21 "2015-08-12T18:06:53Z")
> [@Phu\_Cat](#): > > Is there anything you have found to be more pleasurable than the sensation experienced during sexual intercourse? (I’ve never done drugs.) Ever wonder how it became that way? Please don’t expect me to accept evolution as the reason. If that was the case, this particular sensation could have ranged anywhere from barely OK to being so enjoyable men and women seek it on a regular basis as we do today. > > Being that this sensation is the latter and that I am a theist, I find it very easy to accept that God wanted to insure His children kept His earth adequately populated. Could there be other possible explanations? > > Phu Cat How does this point to your particular deity, and not any other? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/22 "2015-08-12T18:09:09Z")
> [@Phu\_Cat](#): > > Is there anything you have found to be more pleasurable than the sensation experienced during sexual intercourse? (I’ve never done drugs.) Ever wonder how it became that way? Please don’t expect me to accept evolution as the reason. > > \ > > Could there be other possible explanations? > > Phu Cat Did you mean to ask, could there be any other possible explanation _besides evolution_? Sure. Aliens did it. Or, we’re just part of a simulation and the simulator is an adolescent who thinks sex is really cool. But if you’re going to rule out evolution, then you’re basically asking a question that you don’t really want answered. You just want people to confirm the answer you already decided on. Not gonna do it. Wouldn’t be prudent. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/23 "2015-08-12T18:10:59Z")
> [@Phu\_Cat](#): > > Being that this sensation is the latter and that I am a theist, I find it very easy to accept that God wanted to insure His children kept His earth adequately populated. [And what did your god hope to achieve by making some people find extreme pleasure in having sex with little babies?](http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Stamford-man-sentenced-in-baby-rape-death-case-6422125.php) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/24 "2015-08-12T18:11:38Z")
Perhaps the OP could consider this. If you accept the idea that the existence of orgasms make it very easy to accept that God wanted to insure His children kept His earth adequately populated, do you also find it very easy to accept the idea that Zeus wanted to insure His children kept His earth adequately populated? And if you don’t accept your argument as proof that Zeus exists, why do you accept it as proof that the Christian God exists? Why is one god more plausible than another? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/25 "2015-08-12T18:13:30Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Do Christians _really_ think that people are going to read things like the OP and be like “OOooooh you got me! Guess you are right, God did it!” > > I mean, _really_? Yup. Just as non-God people expect religious ones to be persuaded by reason. Different ways to approach what’s meaningful to you in this universe. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/26 "2015-08-12T18:14:30Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > [And what did your god hope to achieve by making some people find extreme pleasure in having sex with little babies?](http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Stamford-man-sentenced-in-baby-rape-death-case-6422125.php) Did evolution make that happen? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/27 "2015-08-12T18:23:31Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Did evolution make that happen? > > Regards, > Shodan Maybe indirectly, yes. As the central nervous system complexity evolved, the likelihood of bugs in the system increased. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/28 "2015-08-12T18:27:26Z")
> [@Phu\_Cat](#): > > . . . God wanted to insure His children kept His earth adequately populated. Now that the earth is more than “adequately” populated, why doesn’t your god make sex painful, in order to cut the population down to a manageable size? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/29 "2015-08-12T18:29:12Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Maybe indirectly, yes. As the central nervous system complexity evolved, the likelihood of bugs in the system increased. There is a way to turn this into a “not a bug, it’s a feature” joke. But I ain’t gonna be the one to do it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/30 "2015-08-12T18:30:10Z")
There are a number of characteristics that are hard (but not of course impossible) to explain by evolution, such as altruism, eusocial insects, etc. Pleasure in sex is one of the easiest, perhaps THE easiest to explain by evolution. It’s rather bizarre that the OP picked this one. –Mark ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/31 "2015-08-12T18:30:31Z")
If God hates masturbation so much, why did he make it so pleasurable? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/32 "2015-08-12T18:31:03Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Now that the earth is more than “adequately” populated, why doesn’t your god make sex painful, in order to cut the population down to a manageable size? Because: He’s an absentee landlord. Worship that? NEVER! ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/33 "2015-08-12T18:33:42Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > Yup. Just as non-God people expect religious ones to be persuaded by reason. Different ways to approach what’s meaningful to you in this universe. Actually this isn’t true. I know many people (me being one of them) who were brought up super, ultra religious and as they got older and more informed, abandoned their earlier beliefs of “god did it” to “facts and science actually make a lot more sense”. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/34 "2015-08-12T18:36:28Z")
> [@Phu\_Cat](#): > > Being that this sensation is the latter and that I am a theist, I find it very easy to accept that God wanted to insure His children kept His earth adequately populated. Could there be other possible explanations? Leaving out evolution, maybe God is a voyeur. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/35 "2015-08-12T18:38:00Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You may not accept it as the reason, but there it is. Evolution makes a lot more sense as an explanation than “God did it”. You kidding? “God did it” works perfectly fine. It even explains away inconsistencies and awkward facts and contrary answers. So long as you believe “God did it,” you’re good. ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/36 "2015-08-12T18:40:02Z")
“I used to be an atheist, until I realized I had nothing to shout during blowjobs. “Oh Random Chance! Oh Random Chance!” just doesn’t cut it….” (Robert Anton Wilson) ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/37 "2015-08-12T18:42:03Z")
Aw Phu Cat, he ain’t coming back. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Angry\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@The\_Angry\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Angry_Badger)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/38 "2015-08-12T18:42:09Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Ya know, the Praying Mantis has managed to survive and the male gets his head eaten off after copulating. > Just say’n… Actually, [no](http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/mantis1.asp). > [@](#): > > Although female mantises sometimes ate their mates, the deadly act by no means occurred in every case. The behavior appeared to be influenced by captivity: Female mantises were either jarred into unusually aggressive behavior by the unusual laboratory conditions, or they were simply not fed enough by their keepers. Just say’n… 🙂 As to the OP, it’s just logical, as has been mentioned upthread. Organisms that enjoy sex will do it more and have more babies. Organisms that don’t enjoy it won’t do it so much (if at all) and eventually their lineage will die out, leaving just the ones that enjoy it. You don’t have to call it evolution if that word offends you, but that’s the mechanism. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/39 "2015-08-12T18:43:55Z")
> [@Uniqueorn](#): > > “I used to be an atheist, until I realized I had nothing to shout during blowjobs. “Oh Random Chance! Oh Random Chance!” just doesn’t cut it….” > (Robert Anton Wilson) I’m no expert, but it seems awfully difficult to shout while giving a blowjob. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668/40 "2015-08-12T18:52:48Z")
Though I know this is directed at atheists, I think a theist perspective is helpful too in understanding this. > [@Phu\_Cat](#): > > Is there anything you have found to be more pleasurable than the sensation experienced during sexual intercourse? (I’ve never done drugs.) I’ve never done drugs, but I will say sex is one of, if not THE, most physically pleasurable thing there is. That said, as much as I do enjoy it, it’s not the most pleasurable thing to me. Gun to my head, if I were faced with a choice of never having sex again or never hearing music again, I would give up sex. > [@](#): > > Ever wonder how it became that way? Please don’t expect me to accept evolution as the reason. Frankly, this is an odd limitation. In general, unless one rejects evolution, then evolution is the answer. And while I’ve known some theists who reject evolution, I’ve never met an atheist who did. It’s exactly the same sentiment, in reverse, as an atheist asking you why you don’t believe in evolution, but don’t don’t expect them to take any explanation appealing to God. If you believe God did it in some other manner, how would you approach that question? > [@](#): > > If that was the case, this particular sensation could have ranged anywhere from barely OK to being so enjoyable men and women seek it on a regular basis as we do today. I think you’re misunderstanding how evolution works. It’s through selective pressures, and it makes sense that sex is going to be highly pleasurable in that sense. Looking at reproduction from a purely logical sense, if we didn’t have an instinct to have children and find them cute and lovable, all we’d see children as is a massive drain on our resources. And that’s where the pleasure comes in. The pleasure IS the instinct, and it’s particularly pleasurable, because it’s particularly important from an evolutionary perspective; if you don’t reproduce, you’re not part of the equation. From that, it naturally follows that those who only have a mild instinct might still overcome it for the sake of other resources. Thus, those who have a stronger instinct are more likely to have more children, and thus their genes will grow to dominate the gene pool. But obviously, there’s a maximum too, because if it’s too high, people spend all their time having sex or have too many children for the resources to support. At least up until relatively recently, it seems to me like it was a good balance though, as we’ve been remarkably successful. > [@](#): > > Being that this sensation is the latter and that I am a theist, I find it very easy to accept that God wanted to insure His children kept His earth adequately populated. Could there be other possible explanations? And I’m not sure how any of this in any way contracts this implied will of God. If God wants us to be fruitful and multiply, and we do, does it matter if the mechanism is by evolution or by some other means? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-that-do-not-believe-in-god/727668.md?page=3)