Why are you Agnostic?

[Enginuity]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

Hmm, what are you if you do not have any religion? Agnostic?

Put it this way. If god exists, and never does anything to intervene in our world, then what does it really matter? If god doesn't exist, then it will never do anything to intervene in our world anyway.
Now, if god exists and did something to intervene in our world, how would we really know?
Therefore theres no purpose to believe either in god, or not to believe in god, because neither is more beneficial than the other, so it doesn't really matter.
At least, that is my opinion.

[ledwix]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

Hmm, what are you if you do not have any religion? Agnostic?

Put it this way. If god exists, and never does anything to intervene in our world, then what does it really matter? If god doesn't exist, then it will never do anything to intervene in our world anyway.
Now, if god exists and did something to intervene in our world, how would we really know?
Therefore theres no purpose to believe either in god, or not to believe in god, because neither is more beneficial than the other, so it doesn't really matter.
At least, that is my opinion.

If god exists, then what we do in this life could determine how we spend eternity. It sounds like there's a lot at stake, to me.

[fido123]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

Hmm, what are you if you do not have any religion? Agnostic?

Put it this way. If god exists, and never does anything to intervene in our world, then what does it really matter? If god doesn't exist, then it will never do anything to intervene in our world anyway.
Now, if god exists and did something to intervene in our world, how would we really know?
Therefore theres no purpose to believe either in god, or not to believe in god, because neither is more beneficial than the other, so it doesn't really matter.
At least, that is my opinion.

The whole eternity thing doesn't make me want to know it's just something I feel I should know. How was this universe created? What is the essence of life?

[Reach]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

I am shocked to actually agree with a Tokzic post ...

Atheism is faith. Extreme faith actually. As extreme as any bible thumping zealot on TV shouting about their flavor of the day.

Agnosticism admits one is open minded and undecided... if somewhat apathetic even to the actual answer.

I would say you're wrong. You're missing the burden of proof. Here's a good example...

I'm going to make a claim. I claim that there is a magic monkey in the corner of my room that dances at night. Only I can see him, and only I can confirm that the magic monkey exists. He is not testable so the monkey cannot be proven or disproven.

So, are you agnostic towards the dancing monkey? What about the giant harry version of jewpin that lives at the bottom of the ocean? Are you going to remain undecided about that as well?

That's where the problem arises. Can you really be undecided about everything that isn't testable? The answer is no, and you rightfully shouldn't be, because of the burden of proof.

If you make a claim, you have to back it up with evidence. If you can't there's no reason to believe you. In the case of God, it isn't a testable entity...so, case in point*** >__>. God could definitely exist...but Santa Claus could also be coming to town...


Essentially it's pretty binary. You simply can't be agnostic about everything. You have to decide yes or no, or you'd never be able to have even a single perception that you can decide is real or not. This argument fails on this premise...you are applying the very logic I talked about when you look at your monitor and read what I've typed. Apply it to God as well and you'll see why it's possible to be Atheistic without faith. Atheism isn't faith because I don't have to have any faith to not acknowledge something you havn't given me a reason to believe in.

Alternatively, you can phrase it the other way around. You can only have faith in something when you generate a belief that you can't substantiate.

[banditcom]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

I would say you're wrong. You're missing the burden of proof. Here's a good example...

I'm going to make a claim. I claim that there is a magic monkey in the corner of my room that dances at night. Only I can see him, and only I can confirm that the magic monkey exists. He is not testable so the monkey cannot be proven or disproven.

So, are you agnostic towards the dancing monkey? What about the giant harry version of jewpin that lives at the bottom of the ocean? Are you going to remain undecided about that as well?

That's where the problem arises. Can you really be undecided about everything that isn't testable? The answer is no, and you rightfully shouldn't be, because of the burden of proof.

If you make a claim, you have to back it up with evidence. If you can't there's no reason to believe you. In the case of God, it isn't a testable entity...so, case and point >__>. God could definitely exist...but Santa Claus could also be coming to town...

Yep, completely true.

That wherein lies the difference between faith and non-faith. Faith is where you don't need that proof. It's simply faith. Logic and reasoning does not work with that. Agnosticism is failing or choosing not to see both logic/reasoning and faith. Or are just unsure.




I used to be agnostic. It didn't affect me one way or the other. I didn't care to try to have faith nor try to use logic and reasoning. None of faith made sense, and I didn't bother finding the facts. I eventually did, through my own thought-process, and realized I'm atheist. Been that way since and I feel stronger every day towards atheism, especially the more information I find out about science and life.

[tsugomaru]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

There's a difference between science and atheism. An atheist simply doesn't believe in god, no where does it state they are hard-core scientist, evolutionist, or strong believers in scientific theory. It would make sense because they have nowhere to go, but it isn't always the case.

I for on, am atheist, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the bible. I also believe in the scientific method and its laws.

EDIT: Being atheist doesn't mean you can't have faith in science, you just don't have faith in a supreme power.

~Tsugomaru

[Relambrien]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

...so, case and point >__>.

In before grammar police.

(It's supposed to be "case in point")

Also everyone, remember, there are two distinct versions of atheism: strong atheism, which asserts the statement "There is no God" to be true, and weak atheism, which is a superset of agnosticism, because it is, according to Wikipedia, "any sort of non-theism which falls short of this standard." Basically, saying "I don't believe in a god because I just haven't seen any evidence towards one" is weak atheism, saying "I know there is no such thing as a god" is strong atheism.

And then you have weak and strong agnosticism, etc. It gets kind of confusing, so just Wiki it. Just know that agnostics are atheists by definition.

[banditcom]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

I went from about mid-range agnosticism to strong atheism.

[Enginuity]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

If god exists, then what we do in this life could determine how we spend eternity. It sounds like there's a lot at stake, to me.

Yeah, but it begs the question of whether or not eternal life (due to some higher being, and where your choices in life determine your eternal life) exists.
If it does not, then theres no mistake in assuming eternity does not exist. On the other hand, if you assumed/thought that eternal life exists, would you have spent life differently? (eg. praying, church, etc.)
If it does, and you assume that it does not exist, then there is a chance that your eternal life would be bad. If you assumed it did exist, and behaved properly, then it's good for you.
Then because we cannot know for sure whether it exists, it basically comes down to risking a life without worrying about eternal life, at the stake of having a bad eternal life.

In addition, what the heck are you going to do with an eternal life?!? I mean, won't there be a point where you get bored with living?

[ledwix]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

In addition, what the heck are you going to do with an eternal life?!? I mean, won't there be a point where you get bored with living?

No.

[Tails99]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

No. Not me, at least.

I'm agnostic because I find it downright idiotic to believe or not believe in something that we have absolutely no proof supporting either way.

Mmmhmm. Sounds like my answer. People believe in what makes them feel better though no proof is ever given.

[Conorn]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

i used to just believe in god, and i used to try and "trick" him by praying for something and seeing if it happens. nope.. now im athiest because i said to.

[Tokzic]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

Essentially it's pretty binary. You simply can't be agnostic about everything. You have to decide yes or no, or you'd never be able to have even a single perception that you can decide is real or not. This argument fails on this premise...you are applying the very logic I talked about when you look at your monitor and read what I've typed. Apply it to God as well and you'll see why it's possible to be Atheistic without faith.

Being agnostic isn't making a claim, unless you consider "both sides of the argument are plausible" as such. You can't make an argument against it with solid fact because there is no solid fact. The very nature of the argument targets the unknown. Saying "there is definitely no god" is the exact same blind grope at nonsense as "there is definitely a god".

You can't say "burden of proof lol" when I observe that an absolute answer cannot be grasped while living. If you disagree with me, you're going to be wrong, or you're going to have some very revolutionary evidence on your side.

Atheism isn't faith because I don't have to have any faith to not acknowledge something you havn't given me a reason to believe in.

You believe the opposite is true. Note that you don't know the opposite is true.

That's faith, genius.

[OrganisM]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

This thread is getting more and more intelligent as we go.

[Tokzic]

Re: Why are you Agnostic?

ya were prety smart