Believer, Agnostic or Atheist?

by lfcviking 75 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  avidbiblereader

  BELIEVER IN GOD AND CHRIST

  abr
• 

  BlackSwan of Memphis

  I have considered myself pagan for awhile now, while not giving up completely on Christianity.

  Lately though I'm questioning even that and am leaning stronger towards some sort of panthiestic viewpoint, however that is simplifying matters a bit and must say that Tetrapod and a few others have beautifully illustrated what I am pondering.
• 

  lfcviking

  Well thankyou all for your answers, it appears we have quite a mixture of philosophies here. I'd say though that the inclination is more leaning towards the agnostic/atheistic choice. This is interesting because assuming all of us here were once active believing JW's, now that we have left a lot of us have rejected God altogether.

  Respect

  LFCV
• 

  Dagney

  Has anybody listened to this?

  http://www.juliasweeney.com/letting_go_mini/index.html

  Much food for thought. I think many here will relate to much of what she says.

  I am still on my "journey." After being a diehard believer in Jehovah for 99% of my life, I am questioning much of that belief. I am in awe of the universe, life, love...you name it. That part of "God" is hard to let go of.

  But...there are the parts I cannot reconcile as of yet. The whole Adam & Eve thing and it being the cause of all the bad things in life today makes no sense to me.

  I have been studying the works of Joseph Murphy and his focus on the subconsious mind, I am seeing personal results that I used to attribute to "Jehovah answered my prayer" type thing. So...I'm still figuring it out.

  So...I guess I am like many here, part of all three.
• 

  done4good

  Atheist - as in the actual definition of the word, not what most people think it means. A - theist as oppossed to theist. In other words, opposite of theist. I don't have a belief in a specific god, therefore I am an atheist by definition. That does not mean I don't believe that a god can exist.

  What LDB said. (In spite of Mr. Dawkins).

  btw: I do like Dawkins work.

  j
• 

  Caedes

  I don't believe in any god/s in the same way I don't believe in ghosts, spirits, unicorns or goblins or any other fantasy/supernatural entities.

  As far as I can see you either believe that the entire universe is natural or supernatural. If there is a god in there at any point you believe in a supernatural universe. I believe the universe is an amazingly fantastic, beautiful, natural phenomenon that never ceases to amaze me.

  As an engineer I find there is an inherent beauty to the natural universe and all it's symmetry from the most basic building blocks of matter all the way up to the most complex structures we see around us. That is what atheism is about for me, recognising the beauty in nature and realising how lucky we are.
• 

  JamesThomas

  Ifcviking:

  This is interesting because assuming all of us here were once active believing JW's, now that we have left a lot of us have rejected God altogether.

  Some of what may be happening here is that there can arise an innate wisdom that can no-longer attribute an infinite universe to some tiny fragment: a thing, a deity, a god. There is an abandoning of all concepts of god-characters, images, idols and personal deities. This is not necessarily a bad thing; and very well may be a prerequisite to honoring what has no beginning and no end. No longer reducing what is ultimately significant down to some shard of existence or god, the way is open for a much wider and far more beautiful view.

  So, in other words, it may not be a rejection of what the word G-O-D points to, but rather a dismissal of limited and minimalistic ideas, beliefs and concepts.

  j
• 

  Terry

  So, in other words, it may not be a rejection of what the word G-O-D points to, but rather a dismissal of limited and minimalistic ideas, beliefs and concepts.

  Right. Further, only by making man a victim of his own identity can the limited concept of "God" remain viable.

  As political infighters say, you must define your opponent before he defines himself. We wake up in our mother's arms and the breastmilke we drink from birth is that we are sinful, imperfect and helpless creatures without value unless we totally surrender our will to a superhero who may reward us later when we are dead.

  We are not intellectually equipped to defend our true selves from this accusation and we wear it as a birth defect until the day we die making propitiations to this self-image.

  If we dismiss this identification we open up the possibility of being able to self-create by discovering our true identity. It is self-discovery and not an apology of misery.
• 

  Xena

  I was going to say spiritual agnostic but I liked this better:

  God-Believing, Christ-Respecting Agnostic...but I could be wrong.
• 

  NanaR

  For several years, I called myself an "ethical pagan".

  I am now a believer -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

  NanaR