For the agnostics, what keeps you to believe that there could be some sort of higher power you just don’t know. And for atheists what makes you absolute certain.
Ah. We are back to this old chestnut.
The terms address different prongs of the same question.
A theist claims that a god/s exists. I do not believe the claims they make - so I am an atheist.
I do not claim a god/s cannot exist.
Do I know that a god/s cannot exist - No, so therefore I am an agnostic atheist.
Theism relates to belief, gnosticism to knowledge and so not mutually exclusive.
I just can't imagine that someone/something could see all of the pain and suffering in this world and have the ability to intervene and doesn't.
I am currently doing personal research (not high powered) into Christian answers to this, with regard to animals. The answers I get are mostly false, fanciful or feeble.
I am currently doing personal research (not high powered) into Christian answers to this, with regard to animals. The answers I get are mostly false, fanciful or feeble.
I cannot say with certainty something that I just don't know. I'm alive so That excludes knowing what happens after I'm dead. Personally I think being an Atheist is very similar to having a religious faith. You believe very strongly in an opinion that you cannot prove. Please don't take that the wrong way, my mother and brother are both atheist and I'm agnostic. Much love for everyone.
That's not what Atheist means to me. I don't worship or even believe in any god. That makes me an Atheist. I don't know for certain there isn't a God. That makes me Agnostic. My understanding is that the two terms need not be mutually exclusive.
Yeah, I think they're mutually exclusive. Atheists firmly do not believe in the existence of God. And to Agnostics, that's not even part of the discussion.
ag·nos·tic
a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.
Definition of atheist
: a person who does not believe in the existence of a god or any gods
@crazycurlz well I'm not the only person who identifies as both agnostic and atheist. Are we all wrong or is it possible that the word atheist encompasses more than that narrow meaning you ascribe? [en.wikipedia.org]
@MattHardy apparently there's more to Atheism than I knew. Thanks!
Agnostic because I don't spend my time thinking about whether or not God exists. Proving it or disproving it is not central to my life or the meaning of my existence.
You nailed it... That's exactly why I don't call myself atheist. Not only I cannot be certain about a high power or what not..... Its just as simple as I DON'T CARE.
At age 13, I realized the Bible was just a bunch of stories written by men. I became an atheist. "I don't believe in an invisible being that resides somewhere beyond the clouds," I tell Jehovah Witnesses.
Religion is a set of beliefs taught by churches. It's blind faith. I don't believe in an invisible deity, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy or Easter Bunny.
I recently said those exact words to my mother. She over heard me telling a family member that he and I were both free thinkers. She was so upset. She replied that i was free of God's love....etc. I said yeah, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus....etc...lol.
The concept of God came from old religions, that there is God lives outside the universe created everything.
Most of the atheist start from this idea when they say that there is no God.
I am absolutely certain that there are no gods, and never have been.
There isn't a shred of credible, verifiable evidence to prove the existence of any gods, at any time.
Unless and until there is, I will continue to assert there is no god.
I am quite comfortable and secure in doing so.
I don't exactly remember the Kipling quote about God being a "good sahib". His thought was that if there actually were a god, how could He hold my denial against me, having given me a mind sufficiently astute to refuse to swallow such crap.