[beavus]

I'm confused. Since you are an atheist, why can't you answer this yourself?

Regardless, your logic is sophomoric. I hope you meant:

Something can't come from nothing, yet things exist, so something must always have existed.

There's a bit of a logical leap from "something must always have existed" to "a supernatural creator must exist". You either have a some unstated premises, or you are seriously logically challenged.

[Yardstick]

I'm not an atheist by any stretch. I'm a deist, a Christian in fact. I'm trying to figure out how atheists deal with the fact that things exist with no rational way to explain the possibility of their existance. Short of some sort of supernatural creator, the universe must have (1) brought itself into existance, or (2) the universe has always existed (which you mentioned). Neither of these seems like a rational option.

I skipped a step -- ignoring the possibility that things have always existed -- because it seems like a logical impossibility. Once you've discarded the possibility that the universe has always existed, then you are left with a supernatural creator of some sort.

Do you believe that the universe has always existed? This idea seems to me just as impossible as the universe having spontaneously come into existance, uncaused. Uncaused-ness is a supernatural characteristic. If you ascribe this characteristic to the universe, then you are giving assent to the idea that a supernatural element must be included in any explanation of the existance of the universe. In essence you have given the universe the God-like quality of eternal existance.

If my logic is sophomoric (which is entirely possible), then you have the option of bearing with me or ending this exchange. This thread is dead anyway, so if you choose not to respond, I won't be surprised or upset.