what is an agnostic?

Basically an agnostic claims no-one will ever know if there is a god/God unlike true hard atheists who claim they know there is no god/God. Of course atheists argue over those definitions for as long as they can possibly can...

Agnostics kid themselves that they are being impartial but they are "trying to walk both sides of the barbed wire fence at the same time". In practice they are atheists because they live like there is no God. Matthew 12:30

joey_downunder said:

Basically an agnostic claims no-one will ever know if there is a god/God unlike true hard atheists who claim they know there is no god/God. Of course atheists argue over those definitions for as long as they can possibly can...

Agnostics kid themselves that they are being impartial but they are "trying to walk both sides of the barbed wire fence at the same time". In practice they are atheists because they live like there is no God. Matthew 12:30

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I have to disagree with that definition.

No one can prove or disprove the existence of god, therefore by that definition we are all agnostics.

A better definition is that an agnostic does not know whether there is a god but is willing to be convinced either way. I think this basically covers all people, but we have to remember there is a spectrum of belief. At the one end there are people who claim absolutely to know that there is a god and at the other there are those who claim absolutely that there is no god. Both are deluding themselves if they think those beliefs are rational. In between we have people who are very certain there is a god (or no god), those not so sure, but willing to accept existence/non existence as a working hypothesis and those who have no idea one way or another. This last group is probably the one best described as agnostics.

I call myself a strong atheist. By that I mean that I have no belief in any of the various gods that are proposed by the different religions around the world and a strong predilection to belief that there is no god of any kind. That being said, I remain open to the possibility that personal experience or the production of independently verifiable evidence might sway my opinion.

AL

sweetblessings said:

Hi there

I'm wondering what an agnostic believes in? my brother in law says he is one, though claims it is different to an atheist, I have only heard this term recently and have never heard it before.

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I agree more with Argy Lacedom that agnostic means undecided in their belief. These have not made up their mind either way about a belief or non belief in God.

Perhaps one may say some agnostics hope in God but are not as yet totally convinced there is one. These perhaps are still looking for a basis for faith or a basis to exclude the existence of God.

One of the important things to remember is that agnosticism is not just indecision concerning the existence of the christian God. It is being undecided about there being any god of any sort.

They are straddle the fence - one foot on one side and one foot on the other - they are neither hot nor cold.

Rev 3:16
King James Bible
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth

A dangerouse place to be in.

Yes, they do "straddle the fence". Anyone that claims to be an agnostic more than a year, is actually an atheist, but wants to avoid that title. He/she is usually willingly ignorant, as the Bible says.

- 1 Watchman

1watchman said:

Yes, they do "straddle the fence". Anyone that claims to be an agnostic more than a year, is actually an atheist, but wants to avoid that title. He/she is usually willingly ignorant, as the Bible says.

- 1 Watchman

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What rubbish. If an agnostic is looking for evidence either way why would you draw the line at 1 year? Is there some sort of magical change that happens after 365 days?

I think the statement "willingly ignorant" was made very clear.
or
Are you just suggesting agnostics are slow?

Born to Watch said:

I think the statement "willingly ignorant" was made very clear.
or
Are you just suggesting agnostics are slow?

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Can you explain how someone can be willingly ignorant? In my view one either has knowledge or not and there is no way of selecting what things you know and what things you do not know.

AL

Argy Lacedom said:

Can you explain how someone can be willingly ignorant? In my view one either has knowledge or not and there is no way of selecting what things you know and what things you do not know.

AL

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Yeah I can. Its a bit like you comparing weather forecasting with global warming theory.
To lazy to search out the truth. Happy to believe your chosen consensus and denying everything else.
In this case choosing agnosticism.

Born to Watch said:

Yeah I can. Its a bit like you comparing weather forecasting with global warming theory.
To lazy to search out the truth. Happy to believe your chosen consensus and denying everything else.
In this case choosing agnosticism.

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As usual you missed the point of the question.

AL

Argy Lacedom said:

Can you explain how someone can be willingly ignorant? In my view one either has knowledge or not and there is no way of selecting what things you know and what things you do not know.

AL

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I am not here to feed your ego Argy. Am I to respond in detail to you BB and Busker?

Read slowly.. To lazy to search out the truth. Happy to believe their chosen consensus and denying everything else

Tim the Plumber said:

Agnostic = "I do not know if there is a god or not"

Its easy to understand.

Personally I know there is no god just as surely as I know there is no Santa. There are some who consider this positin more agnostic than athiest. I consider it athiest.

If you say you cannot understand this idea you are being ignorant. Change this by thinking about it for 5 minutes.

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Santa always has someone standing in for him and you still get your gifts - Jesus does not have a stand in - you either believe or not and either way you have a place waiting for you - it's up to you which one you spend eternity in.

SharonL said:

Santa always has someone standing in for him and you still get your gifts - Jesus does not have a stand in - you either believe or not and either way you have a place waiting for you - it's up to you which one you spend eternity in.

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I don't agree. I am an atheist but I feel I have no choice or control over that fact. I have tried to believe (in fact I once did) but I find I cannot now bring myself to be a believer. I suppose I could pretend to believe, but however hard I might try to disguise my feelings to myself and my fellow church goers I would be living a deceit. I have no control over the fact that I need concrete, testable evidence before I can believe.

AL

SharonL said:

Santa always has someone standing in for him and you still get your gifts - Jesus does not have a stand in - you either believe or not and either way you have a place waiting for you - it's up to you which one you spend eternity in.

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Jesus has far more stand-ins than Santa. Any christian who proselytizes plays that role. The Santa stand-ins tend to be jovial, bring joy and expect nothing in return from their audience. Can you say the same of the Jesus stand-ins?

I watched 'Miracle on 34th street'... that first Santa stand-in was a drunk and quite surly.

Droobie said:

I watched 'Miracle on 34th street'... that first Santa stand-in was a drunk and quite surly.

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lol

The viable proof is everywhere - how does your heart beat - how can your eyes see - how does nature keep producing for thousands and thousands of years - with all the proof it would take more faith to not believe than to believe.

There is no answer to this question - a believer cannot understand how a person could not believe with all the evidence around us - where did it come from? A non believer will believe there is no proof. This is something they have to decide for themselves - whatever the belief does not change eternity - it will still be there one place or another.