(May 4, 2012 at 3:43 pm)Jodin Wrote: I have never really grasped what an agnostic is, but i know that i want to be on one side. I don't want to stand in the middle undecided.
Reading this thread through, and I hope you do not think me rude, but you simply wish for something to "belong" to, a label which you feel comfortable with.
You don't want this, you don't want that, and in truth, it has little to do with what you want.
Quite a few atheists would say the don't WANT to be atheist, the concept of happy fluffy eternal heaven might be preferable to the fear of death, but it really comes down to a matter of the importance of truth to your worldview.
Myself, and I suspect many others, value truth above all things, and what may be preferable, has to be discarded merely because it lacks truth value. I am atheist (agnostic atheist) merely because I feel that empiricism is the only meaningful method of discerning truth from fiction, in a world that bombards you with grey areas of truth constantly, that requires a rational person to defend themselves with a solid methodology of discerning truth.
To me, its not a question of whether God exists or not, but rather what I choose to discern fact. This lies entirely within empiricism, logic and reason, and those when applied, do not allow for supernatural entities.
If you want a reason to feel better about being an atheist, I can only recommend that it is comforting to have a confident resort in evaluating truth. This does not mean what I know is true, but it is true in the only way that can ever be meaningfully asserted.
Welcome to the forums, the most important thing is not whether you believe, or whether you don't believe, or whether you aren't sure WHAT you want.. the only important thing, is are you thinking, avoiding cultural bias and coming to your own opinions.
Self-authenticating private evidence is useless, because it is indistinguishable from the illusion of it. ― Kel, Kelosophy Blog
If you’re going to watch tele, you should watch Scooby Doo. That show was so cool because every time there’s a church with a ghoul, or a ghost in a school. They looked beneath the mask and what was inside?
The f**king janitor or the dude who runs the waterslide. Throughout history every mystery. Ever solved has turned out to be. Not Magic. ― Tim Minchin, Storm
If you’re going to watch tele, you should watch Scooby Doo. That show was so cool because every time there’s a church with a ghoul, or a ghost in a school. They looked beneath the mask and what was inside?
The f**king janitor or the dude who runs the waterslide. Throughout history every mystery. Ever solved has turned out to be. Not Magic. ― Tim Minchin, Storm
