One's beliefs and the title that describes them

[Gringo]

"You said a lot that I would love to converse about further, but for now I am stuck in my apparently faulty memory and must ask just one (twofold) question. Are you saying you’re a theist, and that was your position when you first appeared on the original FFF ( in 2006)?"

Alayman asked me the above question in another thread having nothing to do with that thread. And because I think it's an important subject and that some of you may have opinions about one's beliefs or lack thereof and the titles associated with them, I started this new thread. I'm not the only one who grew up in church whose opinions changed and I'm not the only one on this board either. So I thought it would be a good thread.

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Alayman, for the first 20 or so years of my life, I pretty much believed everything that you do. But in my early 20's, I began to question to myself things that I had always accepted. And by my middle 20's, I realized that I just didn't believe what I thought I did and at that point, I exited the church.

I've always considered myself an agnostic because this is its definition and is exactly what I believe:

"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."

A theist, on the other hand is described as:

"a person who believes in the existence of a god or gods, specifically of a creator who intervenes in the universe."

And I don't know if that's true or not.

So, when I came to the FFF in 2006, I identified as an agnostic. I never said I was an atheist. Even Route 70 and the others down there, knew that. I didn't mean to mislead you. As I said on the other thread, I strongly suspect that Someone designed everything but the reason I consider myself an agnostic is because I don't believe we can know those things for sure. I consider that to be agnosticism, not theism. Whatever the proper term is, I've always believed that (since the losing of my faith).

 

[ALAYMAN]

Thanks for taking time to clarify your position Gringo. I think most of my misunderstanding relates to technical philosophical jargon (and simple misreading of some of the phraseology used) that I won’t quibble about. Have a great 4th of July!

 

[Gringo]

Thanks for taking time to clarify your position Gringo. I think most of my misunderstanding relates to technical philosophical jargon (and simple misreading of some of the phraseology used) that I won’t quibble about. Have a great 4th of July!

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Happy Anniversary to you and Alaywife, as well as Happy Independence Day.
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[FSSL]

I "liked" your OP.... not because I like the fact that you have abandoned the faith. It is a great topic.

I think labels are helpful. They give a starting point for understanding. Not perfectly, but a place to work from.

I have a friend, on Facebook, who hides his political beliefs. After a couple of years of going back and forth, he is found to be a Communist. So, that label gelped clarify why he didnt like Democrats (and especially Republicans).

 

[Baptist Renegade]

The big umbrella term everyone likes to throw around these days is "Spiritual" meaning that there is something beyond and greater than ourselves although you either do not know or refuse to acknowledge exactly what this may be. Even atheists claim to be spiritual at times. The following is an excerpt from one of my seminary papers:

It would be incorrect to assume that modern scientists and philosophers do not believe humanity to be part of something that is far greater than themselves. Men like Jason Silva and Carl Sagan acknowledge a “Spirituality” of the Cosmos, where the universe is somehow organizing in some fashion to discover itself and through its highest lifeforms, is achieving a state of self-awareness.[1] It is a central theme in science fiction works with notable examples being the Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey[2] and a “highly evolved” Voyager spacecraft seeking to reunite with its creator in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.[3] Such is pure new age mysticism which is common to all other world religions aside from biblical Christianity. One could easily write a doctoral dissertation on the subject, but further discussion is outside the scope of this paper. What becomes clear is that the natural man (being unregenerate: 1 Cor 2:14) is incurably spiritual and searching for purpose and meaning anywhere and everywhere besides biblical Christianity.

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[1] Dorrier, Jason, Humans aren’t the pinnacle of Evolution and Consciousness – We’re Only a Rung on the Ladder, Singularity Hub, Retrieved 10/31/2022 at https://singularityhub.com/2014/07/...on-and-consciousness-were-only-the-beginning/.
[2] Kubrick 2001, The Space Odyssey Explained, Retrieved 11/7/2022 at https://www.kubrick2001.com/index.html.
[3] Star Trek: The Motion Picture, retrieved 11/7/2022 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Motion_Picture.

 

[Bob Jones V]

"You said a lot that I would love to converse about further, but for now I am stuck in my apparently faulty memory and must ask just one (twofold) question. Are you saying you’re a theist, and that was your position when you first appeared on the original FFF ( in 2006)?"

Alayman asked me the above question in another thread having nothing to do with that thread. And because I think it's an important subject and that some of you may have opinions about one's beliefs or lack thereof and the titles associated with them, I started this new thread. I'm not the only one who grew up in church whose opinions changed and I'm not the only one on this board either. So I thought it would be a good thread.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alayman, for the first 20 or so years of my life, I pretty much believed everything that you do. But in my early 20's, I began to question to myself things that I had always accepted. And by my middle 20's, I realized that I just didn't believe what I thought I did and at that point, I exited the church.

I've always considered myself an agnostic because this is its definition and is exactly what I believe:

"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."

A theist, on the other hand is described as:

"a person who believes in the existence of a god or gods, specifically of a creator who intervenes in the universe."

And I don't know if that's true or not.

So, when I came to the FFF in 2006, I identified as an agnostic. I never said I was an atheist. Even Route 70 and the others down there, knew that. I didn't mean to mislead you. As I said on the other thread, I strongly suspect that Someone designed everything but the reason I consider myself an agnostic is because I don't believe we can know those things for sure. I consider that to be agnosticism, not theism. Whatever the proper term is, I've always believed that (since the losing of my faith).

An honest, probably more honest than most people I read in Fundamentalism, delineation of your beliefs.