What is the point of your agnosticism?

Dades

square_igloo wrote: »

I know that I cannot prove that there is a God or an afterlife, yet I choose to believe in it.

Is there a label for someone like me? :pac:

If you choose to believe in it, it makes you intellectually dishonest, in my book. You either believe or your don't. Choosing to believe because it is more palatable is just the path of least resistance.

KnifeWRENCH

Zillah wrote: »

Deluded?

Gee thanks :rolleyes:

Dades wrote:

If you choose to believe in it, it makes you intellectually dishonest, in my book. You either believe or your don't. Choosing to believe because it is more palatable is just the path of least resistance.

OK perhaps I didn't phrase that correctly.
Forget the word "choose" - I do believe in a higher power and an afterlife.

So is "theist" the word I'm looking for?

Dades

square_igloo wrote: »

So is "theist" the word I'm looking for?

I guess. Or Unitarian Universalist maybe!

Though I don't understand how someone can believe in a higher power and an afterlife, without knowing which particular power or afterlife you are subscribing to. The evidence suggests we just cease to exist like all other living creatures, so, for me, you would need to be convinced by some religious code or other that this is not the case.

I hope there is an afterlife. I just can't believe there is.

KnifeWRENCH

Dades wrote: »

I guess. Or Unitarian Universalist maybe!

Though I don't understand how someone can believe in a higher power and an afterlife, without knowing which particular power or afterlife you are subscribing to. The evidence suggests we just cease to exist like all other living creatures, so, for me, you would need to be convinced by some religious code or other that this is not the case.

I hope there is an afterlife. I just can't believe there is.

"Unitarian Universalist" eh? Must look that up, sounds fancy :pac:

And I can see where you're coming from - I'm not sure what I subscribe to tbh.
All I can say is that I do not for one second believe that when we die we cease to exist.
If I'm wrong, well it won't trouble me because I'll no longer exist

Dades

square_igloo wrote: »

If I'm wrong, well it won't trouble me because I'll no longer exist

Can't argue with that!

Asiaprod

square_igloo wrote: »

Forget the word "choose" - I do believe in a higher power and an afterlife.

So is "theist" the word I'm looking for?

No, you could for example be a Buddhist and still meet those criteria, though you may faces problems defining that higher power. I do:)
A Theists believes in the existence of a god or gods, esp. belief in one god as creator of the universe, intervening in it and sustaining a personal relation to his creatures.

JC 2K3

I dunno.

Boskowski

brianthebard wrote: »

So firstly, what brought you to the conclusion that you are agnostic?

Logic.
Personally I believe that religion has it's origin in fear. Man sees something he cannot explain so he explains it with 'something supernatural'. But man also wants to put a 'face' on it, so he mystifies it, personifies it, calls it 'God'. Thousands of years he believed in the 'sun' and the 'moon' but things have become more complex - so have become his believes and so he construes entire story lines around 'God'.
Also Man is very much afraid of his mortality. He doesn't like the idea of simply ceasing to exist at all. So he construes more ideas about how he's really not going to die.
This then - of course - is hijacked for power games. Handy thing to have in place for gaining retaining power if you proclaimed yourself to be 'in charge' of who lives on and who doesn't. You know the whole thing that goes like 'you live according to my rules, you're a good boy, you're going to go to heaven'.

This of course is not entirely bad since without rules and ethics this wouldn't be much of a place but it is abused a lot, too.

Anyway, to any sane person these storylines that evolve around nowadays religions must appear outrageously far-fetched, at least highly improbable. You know yourself, the creation theory, the 'immaculate conception' thing, the parting of the seas all the miracle stuff.
So far fetched and impossible to prove - and even the people who 'believe' in this don't even attempt to - that you just cannot believe in this. Period. And even if these unbelievable storylines where just means to transport a message that is actually true, why would you do that? It's like treating us all like imbeciles.

But being - or trying to be - the deterministic sort of guy I cannot 100% for sure rule out all that either. Reason says its an unbelievably long shot that this may be true but we have no conclusive evidence against it yet.

It's the classic definition of agnosticism and it really explains itself I think.

Thx

Carsten

Delirium

Suppose it is just where I am at the moment. Was raised Catholic like most of Ireland, but it never felt like it fit. Agnostic was the only term I could put to where I stood in regards to religion.

However since I found this forum I've done more thinking about it. Before I found this forum, the image of the atheist was someone very strongly vocal in their opposition to religion. And they way they came across just put my back up. That would have also swayed me in not label myself as an atheist.

Since I started reading this forum I've come to realise that atheism is as diverse as any other group of people.

Suppose what I'm trying to figure out at the moment is, is there a point to my being agnostic?

JC 2K3

koth wrote: »

is there a point to my being agnostic?

Who knows?