How to Strike Back as an Agnostic
I am sure that at sometime in the past and at sometime in the future, someone will ask you the question “do you believe in God?” The religious have the easy answer, but what about the rest of us? Can you say “no”? Well, many like to criticize the atheist as being hypocritical. How can one be sure of there being nothing? Isn’t that just as arrogant as being sure there is a higher power? Okay, valid point. “No” is not an option. What about “I don’t know”? Well, many, including me, choose the title agnostic. The agnostic though is bombarded with jokes about being indecisive and weak-minded. The religious assume that we haven’t thought about the issue enough while the atheist thinks we are thinking about too much. So, for all you agnostics out there, I have a decisive response you can give that will shut the religious up and make them seem simple.
Q. Do you believe in God?
A. I believe that question is a false binary.
They will likely crinkle their brow and look confused. “Huh?” Now, you have them on the defensive. A false binary, you can continue, you are presupposing that God either exists or does not exist. There may be more options out there than that. In fact, “existence” and “non-existence” are a characteristic of this world and since we are talking about things that are not of this world, “existence” may or may not apply or may apply in a partial way.
Still, confused, they will probably say something like “things exist or they don’t”
Ahh, but that is not necessarily true. There are many things that exist in a partial way that still affect this world. For instance, time, light or the square root of –1 all don’t “exist” in a traditional or absolute sense but have a massive impact on this world. And these are things that are part of our reality. A higher power would supposedly be outside of our reality. Applying the rules of this reality on it might be like applying the rules of soccer to the stock market or trying to teach a ficus plant to fuck missionary style.
Will you convince anyone of your position? Probably not, but that was never the point of the conversation in the first place. Two people chatting are unlikely to find the true answer to a 20,000 year-old unanswerable question. The point was to see how one thinks. This answer will tell people that you’re different, thoughtful and not going to take crap from anyone. Onward, Agnostic Soldier!
Q. Do you believe in God?
A. I believe that question is a false binary.
They will likely crinkle their brow and look confused. “Huh?” Now, you have them on the defensive. A false binary, you can continue, you are presupposing that God either exists or does not exist. There may be more options out there than that. In fact, “existence” and “non-existence” are a characteristic of this world and since we are talking about things that are not of this world, “existence” may or may not apply or may apply in a partial way.
Still, confused, they will probably say something like “things exist or they don’t”
Ahh, but that is not necessarily true. There are many things that exist in a partial way that still affect this world. For instance, time, light or the square root of –1 all don’t “exist” in a traditional or absolute sense but have a massive impact on this world. And these are things that are part of our reality. A higher power would supposedly be outside of our reality. Applying the rules of this reality on it might be like applying the rules of soccer to the stock market or trying to teach a ficus plant to fuck missionary style.
Will you convince anyone of your position? Probably not, but that was never the point of the conversation in the first place. Two people chatting are unlikely to find the true answer to a 20,000 year-old unanswerable question. The point was to see how one thinks. This answer will tell people that you’re different, thoughtful and not going to take crap from anyone. Onward, Agnostic Soldier!
posted by American Dilettante at
2:12 PM
1 Comments:
The problem I have with the 'no God' view is that it basically sounds pretty hopeless in that there's nothing beyond this life in an eternal sense (once we die that's it), and that within this life, there really isn't anything beyond the material interests of the seen world. Now, neither of these two concerns is demonstration that God exists. But the belief in God view seems more optimistic.
Of course the acceptance of a God or the God of the Bible brings with it some offsetting concerns. Notions of sin, punishment, etc, which may also have implications beyond mere mortal death (i.e. the belief by some that Hell is an everlasting fire that burns and tortures forever and ever). Now, my own view based on my upbringing is that Hell is not eternal in the sense that it keeps going on forever and ever. There are Christians who believe that. I do not for a multitude of reasons, but in any event, while the view of God existing gives us more of a purpose or reason to be, it also opens up the potential for judgment, which isn't an easy concept to accept.
And the Bible itself, as the God-source for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike (although only the middle group would accept the New Testament and Christ as authoritative), presents a number of problems if one assumes that its purpose is to be a)a science book; b)a political constitution; or c)a blueprint or guidebook for personal conduct. I don't think it should be interpeted as either a or b, and c has a lot of problems too. My current and emerging view is that the Bible is a book about God, not primarily about us in the sense that the specifics of it apply in every circumstance or can be interpreted as having a specific meaning.
Anyway...
By
Bulworth, at 2:40 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home