What does it Mean to be Agnostic ?

[Lynn]

What does it mean to be Agnostic ?


Is this a true religion ?

I would have to say honestly since it is a path I started down at the age of 13 when I first started to rebel from the family Anglican Church that it is . it’s a faith based on the existence and or knowledge of any God. The term “Agnostic” means no knowledge.


What I recall from me path there that went on for many year’s is that I had is that there was NO such thing as God and for that God did not have knowledge based in being known at all. Simply did not exist at all in any form or teachings.


I have over the year’s met one’s that feel God is known but they do not walk that path of God. That would be me. I though so do not go to be called Agnostic now I do not feel that the tern “NO Knowledge” would fit to me. I do not walk with God but I do not say he not be real I can prove or disprove in his existence is all.


We could say that anytime one that is of God falls from their faith in times of crisis ext that they have become Agnostic and that I do not feel would be the case one has simply lost one’s footing on the path of life for a time is all.

I quote here from The Profit by Kahlil Gibran


“ And an old Priest said, ‘Speak to us of Religion.’
And he said :
Have I spoken this day of aught else ? Is not religion all des and all reflection, and that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?
Who can separate his faith from his actions, or belief from his occupations?
Who can spread his hours before him, saying ‘ This for God and this for myself; this for my soul, and this other for my body?’

All your hours are wings that eat through space from self to self. He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked. The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin. And he who defines his conductor by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.

The feast of song comes not through the bars and wires. And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn.

Your daily life is your temple and your religion. Whenever you enter into it take with you your all. Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute, the things you have fashioned in necessity of for delight. For in revery you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures.


And take with you all men:

For in adoration you can not fly higher than their hopes nor humble yourself lower than their despair. And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles. Rather than look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children. And look into space, you shall see Him walking in the cloud , outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain. You shall see him smiling in flowers, then rising and waving his hands in trees.”



　
Now even if on does not hold God in one’s heart one can take from the words here the feeling of peace in knowing we can all stumble at times on that path of life and loose in us our faiths and beliefs for a time but I so feel we are all connected to each other as Man and to the Universe and beyond by the LIGHT that is around each and everyone of us. To some we are all God’s children to me we are all children of the LIGHT.


We are not Religious or Agnostic maybe we just are US.
　
Lynn

Hello Friend,
I enjoyed reading that passage from "The Prophet" once again. Since The subect matter was gnostic may I quote a passage from the Gnostic Bible - Apoocalypse of Peter.
"And there shall be others who are outside our number who name themselves Bishop and also Deacon, as if they have received their authority from God. These people are dry canals. They do business in my word. They praise the men who propagate falsehood."
Make of it what you will.
Peace.

Agnosticism is not a religion, and it should also not be confused with atheism.

An atheist denies that there is a god. An agnostic says that nothing whatsoever can be said about god, not even whether he/it exists or not.

The Romans had another term for agnostic,, the latin equivalent is ignoramus.

Generally, in theistic epistemology, an agnostic is a person who either does not presently know or does not believe it is possible (either incidentally or in principle) to have knowledge of god or gods.
Interestingly enough, agnosticism is not an alternative to theism and atheism. Agnosticism is a belief about knowledge, not existence. A person who does not believe knowledge of god or god's existence is possible still either believes or does not believe in a god, and thus is either theist or atheist.
Atheism is not denial of god. That's one form of atheism, but atheism is simply the lack of a belief in god. Whether you believe god does not exist or are just a little baby who has never been introduced to the concept, you are an atheist.

Originally Posted by sprinter

The Romans had another term for agnostic,, the latin equivalent is ignoramus.

Maybe you are an agnostic yourself?

Originally Posted by pre-dawn

Maybe you are an agnostic yourself?

Na, I'm not ignorant enough to say that 'nothing whatsoever can be said about God existence,,,,,,,' particularly while I'm offering the view on a religious forum where plenty is said both ways on the matter.

From the Greek , Agnostic A-Alpha meaning the negative, and ginosko- to know.
So a more accurate definition would be,,, one who doesn't know.

[psychoslice]

Originally Posted by pre-dawn

Agnosticism is not a religion, and it should also not be confused with atheism.

An atheist denies that there is a god. An agnostic says that nothing whatsoever can be said about god, not even whether he/it exists or not.

Yes and I believe that Agnostics are the most honest of all belief systems.

Originally Posted by sprinter

Na, I'm not ignorant enough to say that 'nothing whatsoever can be said about God existence,,,,,,,' particularly while I'm offering the view on a religious forum where plenty is said both ways on the matter.

Saying something and believing that that something is a provisional truth, or believing that that something is an absolute truth, are two different things.

Originally Posted by sprinter

The Romans had another term for agnostic,, the latin equivalent is ignoramus.

Of course they would. But then, in two thousand years attitudes haven't changed that drastically.