Agnostic Human Seeks Conversation

[undercoverbrother]

I live in Michigan with my wife and two kids (6 mo. & 2 yrs.). I quit the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Jesus approximately seven months ago due to the Problem of Evil. I Vape e-liquid, and artificially subdue my hippocampus from time to time (If you know, you won't ask. If don't, don't ask). I like to draw, play music once in awhile, read (mostly nonfiction information books). Until I am convinced otherwise, I believe agnosticism is the most consistent position to have.

I decided to join this forum for interesting conversations.

[Munch]

Welcome.

Well you can expect interesting conversations here for sure.

[aitm]

Welcome to our little hole in the internet. Glad you joined up. we hand an agnostic penquin here a couple months ago,,couldn't find a translater....

[undercoverbrother]

Welcome to our little hole in the internet. Glad you joined up. we hand an agnostic penquin here a couple months ago,,couldn't find a translater....

Aitm is very similar to Atim search for "Atim" on Soundcloud.com. Look for the mushroom cloud clown picture.

[undercoverbrother]

Oh, and I dare you to listen to it.

[stromboli]

Welcome. The majority here identify as agnostic atheists. I call myself a secular humanist. The key word is "identify". What you identify as is your business.

[Mike Cl]

Welcome to this little slice of sanity.  Most of my life I labeled myself as agnostic.  But lately I have become convinced that the lack of evidence is evidence.  And the existence of any god lacks evidence of any kind.  Ergo, no god, gods or goddesses. 

[SGOS]

I quit the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Jesus approximately seven months ago due to the Problem of Evil.

I left Christianity for a host of reasons.  While I pondered the problem of evil as a child, I was willing to cut Christianity some slack by covering the problem of evil with the "God works in mysterious ways" clause.  Why, I was able to dismiss the problem of evil with such a wave of the hand, while I rejected creation instead of evolution, hearsay instead of evidence, and a host of logical paradoxes instead of reason, I don't know.  Maybe it was because it was the first question I seriously entertained about the religion I was indoctrinated with.  You can cut slack for a while, but as Christianity's conflicts with reality start to pop up like whack-a-moles, the mysterious ways clause just becomes a carpet to sweep dirt under.  I think the first conflict that turned me into a skeptic (actually a skeptical Christian) was evolution.  Eventually, I realized that the "mysterious ways" clause could be used to hand wave away virtually anything.  This is clearly intellectually dishonest, as it in the end nullifies reason altogether.  Hell, even Christians apply reason outside of their doctrine.  Most everyone relies on reason for some things.

But it seems to me that reason is an all or nothing concept.  As soon as you reject reason in favor of some warm fuzzy, you are left with flawed emotions, peer pressure, and authority to understand reality, and these fallacies do nothing to determine truth.  And the truth about some things is that we don't know the truth.  This is true for all of us.  You can't claim truth on the grounds that you "know it's true."  Sorry, that holds no water for me.  Sometimes we must accept our own ignorance, rather than pull answers out of the air.

I'm an agnostic atheist.

Welcome to the forum.

[Solitary]

Welcome aboard undercoverbrother!  Solitary

[stromboli]

And it begs the question as to what religion/belief are you agnostic of? Generic Christianity? Baptist? Free Will or Southern? Islam? Agnostic is a word used in the context of religion. A-theist means without religion.

Secular Humanism:
Humanism, with regard in particular to the belief that humanity is capable of morality and self-fulfillment without belief in God.

Believe in Jesus?
Jesus as philosopher/mystic?
Jesus as the son of god?
Buddha?
Mohammed?

See this is why I don't care for the term agnostic. It doesn't define anything in a specific way. It is like saying I sort of don't believe, but I'm too scared to claim nonbelief.

[Solomon Zorn]

Welcome to the forum!

What area of Michigan do you live in? I'm in northwest Indiana, about 15 miles from the tip of Lake Michigan. We just finished our snowiest February on record.

What does your wife think of your new perspective on God and stuff?

[Desdinova]

Welcome aboard!  I went from atheist at birth, to slowly brainwashed Baptist, to Presbyterian, to agnostic and finally back to atheist.  And if someone showed up who was hailed as a god, it would still take something (who knows what) to convince me of it.

[aitm]

Oh, and I dare you to listen to it.

I listened to several of the tracks, interesting. If that is your stuff it's pretty cool, if not...well, it ain't the Moody Blues.

[undercoverbrother]

I listened to several of the tracks, interesting. If that is your stuff it's pretty cool, if not...well, it ain't the Moody Blues.

Not my stuff. A novelty really.

[undercoverbrother]

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone.

I live in Midwest Michigan. And my wife is not happy about me giving up her faith, but she understands.

I'm glad the weather is getting warmer in Michigan. 30 degree weather feels like springtime after having been through subzero temperatures.