What is your religion?

Daryn · June 10, 2009, 05:07:30 PM

bored...

Shadow · June 10, 2009, 06:09:26 PM

I would have to say atheist, although that can be misleading. I don't believe in any God you find in any religion's bible anyway.

Briar · June 10, 2009, 07:09:42 PM

Shadow, would you say you were more Agnostic?

Shadow · June 10, 2009, 07:11:46 PM

No

Agnostic is sort of hand-wringing, maybe-there-is-maybe-there-isn't. I know that the Christian God doesn't exist with the same certainty that Christians know he does exist. I am atheist.

I say misleading because I don't claim to know whether or not there is some power out there, I am just perfectly convinced that that power is not the God we read about in the bible.

Ungatt Trunn II · June 10, 2009, 10:45:36 PM

Ehhh, Scientology?

Briar · June 10, 2009, 10:46:29 PM

really? Do you really have that kind of money?

Ungatt Trunn II · June 10, 2009, 10:48:43 PM

No, not me! I'm Christian...

Gen. Volkov · June 11, 2009, 12:56:53 AM

QuoteAgnostic is sort of hand-wringing, maybe-there-is-maybe-there-isn't. I know that the Christian God doesn't exist with the same certainty that Christians know he does exist. I am atheist.

Not really Shadow. Agnosticism is the firm belief that it is impossible to know whether there is or is not a God. It's a question that cannot be answered and never can be answered. It's not a thing of maybe, it's that we simply do not know and never can know the answer to this question. I myself am Agnostic, though many Christians consider that equivalent to Athiest.

Quote
I say misleading because I don't claim to know whether or not there is some power out there, I am just perfectly convinced that that power is not the God we read about in the bible.

The God of the Bible is just a metaphor for the larger question of a divine presence. That God is just one of many creations the human mind has come up with to deal with that larger question. So the question of whether any specific religion's god exist is subsumed into the larger question of some sort of divine presence, and on that point you are agnostic, to some degree.

Briar · June 11, 2009, 01:12:31 AM

Agnosticism ,in my mind, is between Theism and Atheism

Ungatt Trunn II · June 11, 2009, 02:17:08 AM

That's the definition...

Briar · June 11, 2009, 02:20:50 AM

I know that...but Shadow and Volkov seemed to be having a disagreement about it

Ungatt Trunn II · June 11, 2009, 02:28:21 AM

How can someone disagree about a clearly defined concept?

Briar · June 11, 2009, 02:29:07 AM

I've no idea, but they are doing it

Gen. Volkov · June 11, 2009, 03:46:05 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism

Pretty concise overview. Yes, in many cases it's considered a middle ground between the two, but really it's a whole separate idea. What I was disagreeing with Shadow about is that he was saying to be Agnostic is to be wishy-washy or nocommital, which is not the case. Agnostics are committed to the idea that God is ultimately unknowable, in any way.

Shadow · June 11, 2009, 07:17:24 AM

I guess what we disagree on is our definition of God, then. The God of the Bible sounds absolutely absurd to me. I can go into details of why later if anyone cares to hear them. When i say "some higher power" I don't even necessarily mean some sentient thing, I just mean forces in the universe that we don't yet understand, and that could be anything from something sentient to an as yet undiscovered particle or force that was responsible for the big bang. But I definitely think that god is knowable, we just have't discoveredd "him" yet. So in that way, I am not agnostic. In a way, god is the sum total of everything that science has yet to explain.

So no, I am absolutely 100% convinced that the God who caused the flood doesn't exist, I am just unsure of what does. So I guess that could be called agnisticism, but to a Christian I am an atheist, since I don't believe in their god, or any god that has followers on this earth.