Agnosticism

Agnosticism [+ favourites]

So, I am agnostic. One thing that bothers me is when agnostics are lumped in with atheists. Atheists are just as far on one end of the spectrum as believers in god and christians. Agnostics choose not to go either way because ultimately, we feel it is not possible to know and believe in a certain deity or afterlife. Atheists do not believe, and christians, etc do. Who's hearing me on this?

"How am I not myself?"

i totally agree with you. as far as im concerned, religious people are on the same wavelength as atheists in how sure they are about everything. and there's bias on both sides.

"You are reading this."

"Who's hearing me on this?"

Only those who are truly honest with themselves, oh, and not afraid of talking back to God, given the possibility.

"The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge is Not Ignorance, It is the ILLUSION of Knowledge. Stephen Hawking"

Eh, Jonas & the leviathon (whale)? In a discussion with a friend I made the statement GOD never forced anything upon any one, he pointed this scripture to me. Jonas took drastic measure not to do what GOD had given him to do.
Because of his dislike of those he was sent to, he tried to drown himself, ending up in a whale & being regurgitated on the shores of those people to whom he had been sent.

"Terrorist or tyrant, few may come to the Truth that both are poor choice."
[  Edited by cturtle at   ]

all areas, religious, agnostic and atheist have varying types of believers. what it comes down to is how set a person is in their ways. many have chosen what to think and are no longer open to any other possability. agnostic seems like the most open, but there are those who will fight continueously so sure that there is no way of knowing one way or another. just as there are those so sure there is a god and those who are so sure there isnt.

seriously, how much does it all really matter?

"UNIX is an operating system, OS/2 is half an operating system, Windows is a shell, and DOS is a boot partition virus. ~Peter H. Coffin"

"seriously, how much does it all really matter?"

I can tell you that it matters both politically and socially for one very underrated reason.

What people believe is the basis for what actions they take, and should their beliefs be wrong or misguided, then so might their actions.

"The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge is Not Ignorance, It is the ILLUSION of Knowledge. Stephen Hawking"

Yeah, ignorant, closed-minded beliefs lead to ignorant, closed-minded decisions and actions.

"How am I not myself?"

if everyone is wrong, everyones actions are wrong.

"UNIX is an operating system, OS/2 is half an operating system, Windows is a shell, and DOS is a boot partition virus. ~Peter H. Coffin"

I'm still not sure what Agnosticism is, someone explained it to me once, but I forgot already. I'm not very good at that technical stuff. I only understand english.

I have decided that I am an Agwhatisit - and Agwhatisit is someone who just doesn't know what it is, that's me.

This really confuses me - Why do Athiests go to church?

"A fool says I know and a wise man says I wonder."

Dictionary: one who neither believes nor disbelieves in GOD but rather accept that they can not know.
Which in a thread, a link was given to a web page of their Cannons?
Didn't know any atheist to go to church?

"Terrorist or tyrant, few may come to the Truth that both are poor choice."

i think im in the same boat as you okcitykid. i know there is something, but have no idea what it is.

"UNIX is an operating system, OS/2 is half an operating system, Windows is a shell, and DOS is a boot partition virus. ~Peter H. Coffin"

the kind of people who believe in the fantastical stories of the bible and such have often seemed to me as the the most closed-minded people i have ever met, interesting considering what they believe in, but i would love to learn more about agnostic thinking. i dont know much about it

"to understand life is to live outside it"

theres really not much too it i don't think--you just refuse to take sides in the senseless argument of whether there is or isn't a god and try to live your life without the heavy weight of belief or disbelief on your shoulders. you accept the fact that you just don't know, nor does anybody else.

"You are reading this."

thanx for clearing that up, in that sense then an agnostic would acknowledge that they don't know, but does that do anything for a belief debate anyway? beliefs are necessarily not fact and usually not supported by evidence or reasoning, so does an agnostic not have beliefs or just doesnt talk about them?

"to understand life is to live outside it"

A belief is something accepted as truth. And like you said, that can be done without reason or evidence, Agnostics seem to avoid "believing" in things without good reason or evidence, while still excepting the possibilities or even probabilities.

A belief debate is pointless unless you are going to explain why and how you believe, and it becomes a debate often only because those holding beliefs don't like to admit that they are choosing to accept a possibility as a reality rather than actually being able to prove it as such a reality.

And in terms of religious beliefs, some put so much time, effort, dependancy into what they have chosen to believe that they become defensive to protect it as a undeniable reality, debate ensues.

I have been taught that it is important to be able to distinguish reality from fantasy (as well as not to believe everything I hear, read, or even see), I have also heard mention of some thinking that believing certain things can affect your life, the life of others, and even your "afterlife". This makes these issues hold some importance.

And in the current world of lies, deciet, dependancy, and denial, finding such answers or clarifications takes an objective as possible critical mind, not one of just unwavering and even defensive faith.

Agnostics perhaps just try to make sure and clarify to themselves and others the definition of belief and faith in that argument. That it is a chosen possibility accepted as truth rather than necessarily a truth. Truly honest people of faith understand that, but those that can't live happily without their faith being a definitive fact call it blasphemy.

So I guess an argument of faith and belief isn't such an argument, but actually an argument of claimed facts.

Personally, I find it important to note the dependancy aspects of the "over" faithful. The displays of addiction like any other "user". Which I'll gladly expand on if desired, but this is too long at the moment already.

"The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge is Not Ignorance, It is the ILLUSION of Knowledge. Stephen Hawking"
[  Edited by Ironwood at   ]