I’ve listened patiently for a few months trying to understand the dichotomy between Agnostics & Atheists on this website. What I’m about to write I mean no offense.
There is a huge difference on how we described ourselves. An Agnostic hedges their answer to a god’s existence, while an Atheist has flushed it from their belief system. Using MyersBriggs I would say Agnostics are Introverts & Atheists are extroverts.
I would be interested in any comments & thought.
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63 comments (51 - 63)
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I've recently come to reckoning with the idea, and likely fact, that god(s) is/are simultaneously existent and non-existent, as numerable as appropriated. It's up to the volition of an individual's psyche coupled with exterior forces enacting upon the body. Some people don't have a choice but to believe, while others could almost never be compelled to consider belief in a deity. One thing is absolutely certain: Literal nothingness CANNOT exist where logic does, accept as a concept in the human mind, a concept that will never be reasonably or fully descriptive due to obvious psychological anomalies.
FiliusInfernum
Level 5
Dec 20, 2019
0
My vision as agnostic is that the question is not important, because a god that is not falsifiable and thus cannot be disproved is for all purposes a useless entity and virtually the same as inexistent.
So I do not need to believe or disprove, or prove or do anything with in the inexistence because if the entity described is not falsifiable, its existence does not matter.
At this point agnostic and theist becomes the same except for a purist philosophical definition of gnosis.
Non falsifiable entities can exist, we are not all knowing beings. But for our state now, they don't matter.
Pedrohbds
Level 7
Dec 19, 2019
0
No matter what you believe being an introvert or extrovert is completely up to the individual. I am agnostic but I am a very social extrovert. It would be nice that after death you would be surrounded by rainbows and unicorns in a heavenly paradise. But if there's nothing after death I'm perfectly fine with that too.
PinkyandtheBrain
Level 7
Dec 19, 2019
0
As an agnostic I don't know if there's a god or not.
Atheists take a definite stand: no god!
That simple.
Storm1752
Level 8
Dec 19, 2019
0
I disagree.I am an atheist and I do not "KNOW" whether or not a god exists. I simply do not BELIEVE that any exist. Atheism is simply the lack of belief in any gods, it is not in any way a claim of knowledge.
@Joanne Same thing.
And I'm not saying you're WRONG.
It's that permanent uncertainty that drives believers--theist and atheist alike--up the wall. 'ChurchLess' mistakenly says, out of apparent exasperation, agnostics are "hedging our bets..."
Ha!
What 'bet' would THAT be, as if there are winners and losers!
Just saying that tells you everything you need to know about ChurchLess!
Depending on your point of view, my opinion is we ALL win and we ALL lose; it doesn't matter what anyone "thinks!"
@Storm1752 There are a few atheists I have come across who basically claim to know there is no god; but, the vast majority will say it is unknowable. I am certain of my non-belief. There is nothing that makes me think there is any kind of god being/self aware consciousness--anywhere, in any universe, in any dimension. I am simply not arrogant enough to say that I have can know this with 100% certainty; and I think the majority of atheists agree with me. That said, I think it can be shown that certain/specific gods cannot exist.
@Joanne There are plenty of things which give me pause. How about crop circles? How about psychics like Edgar Cayce? Look at the pyramids, which are almost impossible to explain away; clearly the work of an advanced civilization/extraterrestrials...maybe THEY were god. And reincarnation--many case histories clearly suggest past lives.
There are MANY unexplainable phenomena which expose the limits of our understanding. Someday we may explain them. Someday we may explain 'god' in terms our minds can comprehend.
It's plausible other worlds have produced civilizations hundreds of thousands or even millions of years old. Who knows how far their consciousnesses have evolved--maybe into immortal, godlike creatures. It's possible.
So I'm not willing to limit my imagination or my conception of what is possible to what we know here and now in 2019 on planet Earth.
If YOU want to, be my guest.
@Storm1752 Crop circles have been explained, and exposed for the hoaxes that they are. There has never been any verified psychic phenomena. I don't claim to know everything; but I see no evidence to cause me to think that there is anything to paranormal experiences beyond hoaxes and wishful, or even fearful, thinking.
I absolutely believe there is all kinds of life throughout the universe; and I hope we find verified proof before I die; but, I have no desire to call any other possible being a "god," no matter how evolved they might be. If there are beings that have evolved far beyond us, then they, like us, are products of the same eternal energy that gave birth to our universe and to us--they are not gods.
@Joanne Crop circles have NOT been exposed as hoaxes. You just read an article or two about men with boards and string and looked away. They are still forming all over the world and cannot be explained away.
Edgar Cayce was a verified, proven psychic.
The pyramids could not have been built by ancient men with their limited technology and knowledge of the world, the stars, construction, etc.
Telepathy is a real thing.
Reincarnation has been more or less "proven" circumstantially.
You want to reject everything beyond your comprehension.
Anyway, I'm not saying any of this makes a god or gods necessary. I've no idea about that and never will.
It DOES make an open mind necessary, though.
@Storm1752 Did Edgar Cayce collect his million dollar reward that was offered by James Randi to anyone who could prove they are truly psychic or telepathic? And, crop circles have been shown again and again to be hoaxes and completely human made.
I don't know what to say; but you choose to believe this stuff is real, and that is your right. As for me, I require testable, provable, verifiable, evidence and I have seen none.
@Joanne For one thing, Cayce has been dead since 1945 (?) and anyway the man you mentioned was a fraud himself. Many psychics came forward, but we're thwarted by ever-changing ground rules making collection of the "million dollar reward" impossible.
Have you actually READ anything about the Giza pyramids? I suggest you give it more than a superficial glance, THEN tell me what you think.
Anything on extraterrestrials? True, no specific proof, but if you can't follow logical threads to their logical conclusions and extrapolate certain things, you're just not thinking
Crop circles? Sure there have been hoaxsters, but that doesn't at all mean they account for ALL of them; in fact, it's been "proven" some cannot be explained away.
I'm not saying there is anything existent outside the normal physical laws which govern the universe. Far from it.
No magic tricks, miracles, fantastical creatures, etc.
I'm only saying a, say, million-year-old civilization, would know more about those physical laws than you and I.
There's no reason to absolutely reject the possibility these 'entities' have discovered things far beyond what we know at the present time on THIS planet.
And I'm saying there's no harm speculating, given the pace OUR knowledge is advancing at an ever accelerating rate, that knowledge would theoretically have no limit.
I know you want to keep everything "fact-based;" so do I.
That doesn't stop ME from being filled with wonder at our very existence, and having "spiritual" feelings as a result. That doesn't make me a starry-eyed dreamer, and there's nothing 'pie-in-the-sky' about speculating about the mysteries surrounding us.
Someday we'll know more. I wish I could put myself in the deep freeze and thaw myself out a thousand years from now and see where we're at then.
Okay so I dream a little bit.
Ah don no shit bro! None do! Howz dat?
PondartIncbendog
Level 8
Dec 18, 2019
0
I am agnostic as to Harry Potter style God, Willy Wonka style God, non-existent flying spaghetti monster sky God and many more too numerous to list.
I might would consider myself reasonably reserved but not specifically shy. A decent word that you did not list is more likely a better choice.
ambivert
/ˈambəˌvərt/
nounPSYCHOLOGY
a person whose personality has a balance of extrovert and introvert features.
I know, you listed only intro and extroverted
Word
Level 8
Dec 18, 2019
0
I would first say, be careful about over-generalizing, when it comes to who is introvert and who is extrovert. I would also say, that in my view, hard-line atheists are in a way, just like the christians who insist there IS a god, the hard-line atheists insist there is NOT a god. As for this agnostic, the way I see it, there is no way to prove either view, and, the idea of "god" does not have to be the fucked up one described in the bible, one could go as far as to say that maybe the universe is a conscious entity, if you have ever seen the large scale view of the universe, it has a very compelling structure . . . . but the one thing I definitely oppose is the stupid, egotistic christian concept of their god, who they claim takes a personal interest in their fucking ant-like existence on a speck of dust in a huge solar system surrounded by many more, in a huge galaxy, which is one of billions, and these idiots think that some god is watching everyone, and that god sanctions their idiotic behavior!
Archeus_Lore
Level 7
Dec 18, 2019
0
Both words are labels. I am happy to identify as both. Atheist is specific to the topic of religion but you can be Agnostic about any belief. I'm agnostic on ghosts and space ships and water divining. Agnostic to me, implies scientific thinking and requiring evidence to prove something whereas Atheist means you either don't think god exists or you require further proof that god exists depending on which dictionary you read.
afrogonalog
Level 5
Dec 18, 2019
0
if you did try to understand, you’d know that there are agnostic atheists and gnostic atheists. i’m an atheist because i don’t believe in any gods or deities. you could say i’m an a-fairyist because i don’t believe in fairies. that doesn’t mean i’ve decided they could never exist and would ignore any evidence to prove that they do. it means i’ve seen no compelling evidence.
basher
Level 5
Dec 18, 2019
0
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