For Gnostic Atheists and Apatheists

[Dystopia]

Gnostic Atheists - Were you always gnostic atheists from the beginning? If not, what caused your transition from agnosticism to gnosticism? Why do you think gnosticism is a better preposition than agnosticism?

Apatheists - Why don't you care about answering the question 'does god exist or not?'. Aren't you guys pretty much atheists?

[ignoramus]

I'm not very comfortable in either gnostic atheists or gnostic theists.
To us the difference between a theist and a gnostic theist is their level of arrogance!
For we believe that "they" cannot know what they think they know.

Same reasoning goes for gnostic athiests.
For all we know, all the gods live in another universe not bound to our laws.
We can never really know, can we?

[Chad32]

People have been debating whether gods existed or not, or what gods even are, for thousands of years without getting a definitive answer. We know more about dogs than gods.

Sometimes I feel like an apatheist, and sometimes I feel like an antitheist.

I have too many things to do in this life to worry about whether or not there's a next life, or some deity that want something from me. If there is one, and he/she/they want to have some sort of relationship with me, they've had 33 years to call me up and talk. if he/she/they haven't figured out how to communicate with me properly yet, then not enough effort has been put into it. It's really not that difficult. My parents do it all the time.

[MindForgedManacle]

I'm not very comfortable in either gnostic atheists or gnostic theists.
To us the difference between a theist and a gnostic theist is their level of arrogance!
For we believe that "they" cannot know what they think they know.

Same reasoning goes for gnostic athiests.
For all we know, all the gods live in another universe not bound to our laws.
We can never really know, can we?

I don't really see a problem with either, though I would use the term strong. But my thoughts are this: I see knowledge as a belief that is true and is justified, i.e the classical definition of knowledge. So long as your belief is sufficiently justified, it seems reasonable to call that knowledge. However, you seem to be confusing knowledge with certainty. There are things I know, yet am not certain about (say, complex mathematical equations or something), because certainty is just a feeling and doesn't really seem to have anything directly to do with knowledge.

The whole gods in other universes thing doesn't make much sense to me. Sure, you can postulate that but seeing as we don't seem to have any good reason to a) think other universes exist and b) that they are so different as to allow for supernatural entities to exist, we have no good reason to think gods do or can exist. And not having a good reason to think something is true is a good reason to be at least inclined that it is false.

[Welsh cake]

Apatheists - Why don't you care about answering the question 'does god exist or not?'. Aren't you guys pretty much atheists?

In answer to your second question, yes.

And addressing your first question, well, that is rather a loaded one unfortunately. "Why don't I care if god exists or not?" is assuming way too much about the concept. The label "god" by itself is meaningless and an 'orphaned' term, so to speak. You may or may not have a working definition of "god" that I'm utterly oblivious to. Likewise when you invoke the term 'god' someone else will immediately employ a definition of "god" that is completely alien to yours.

The word "god" is a useless word. It is subjective. It implies everything and nothing.

This then boils down to Ignosticism. What one means by "god" and/or other theological concepts. If you do not provide a clear positive ontology for what you wish to discuss from the get-go, then it cannot be sensibly debated. Irrespective or whether I have any interest or not in said topic.

And here is where my apatheism then kicks in.

The definition of god posited by theists has no bearing on my life. Whatsoever. No different from people arguing what defines a vampire or a unicorn, or what their significance is on our daily commune. Its not just trivial or mundane. It honestly doesn't matter whether you confirm, or refute, the existence of god or gods. In the grand scheme of things, its all meaningless and irrelevant to my life.

[The Grand Nudger]

Gnostic Atheists - Were you always gnostic atheists from the beginning? If not, what caused your transition from agnosticism to gnosticism? Why do you think gnosticism is a better preposition than agnosticism?

Apatheists - Why don't you care about answering the question 'does god exist or not?'. Aren't you guys pretty much atheists?

The first opinion I ever remember having formed on the subject of god was one of gnossis. In my opinion, on this issue, to deny the possibility of knowledge is to invoke utter and complete solipsism. We must twist words - and mince adjectives to the point of being unrecognizable - to even begin to argue for ignorance in this matter. If we can know anything else....we can know this. That's why.

(I'm recently feeling some of that apatheistic fatigue. I'm tired of explaining how horrid their little gods are - and I don;t really care whether or not they exist. I'm just ready to crack heads if people don't get their shit together regardless.)

[Wyrd of Gawd]

I'm not very comfortable in either gnostic atheists or gnostic theists.
To us the difference between a theist and a gnostic theist is their level of arrogance!
For we believe that "they" cannot know what they think they know.

Same reasoning goes for gnostic athiests.
For all we know, all the gods live in another universe not bound to our laws.
We can never really know, can we?

If you can never be sure gods exist how did you even come up with the concept of gods in the first place? Do vampire unicorn zombie ghouls exist? How can you be sure that they don't? Better start a religion based on them or else they will drink your blood and eat your flesh. And be sure to offer them 40 percent of your earnings every month.

[ignoramus]

I have never subscribed to the religious version of a god.
Is a "creator" different to a god whom we need to worship and pray to for it to be a god?
It's all a big play on words because no 2 people in the world have an identical definition of a god if you are to dissect it to the nth degree.
Does "atheist" mean not subscribing to the common religious view of what a god should be?
We all "know" there is a creator, we just don't know who to give credit to.
Mother nature, deities, faeries, Allah, god, gandalf, etc.
My money's on mother nature because I don't have any Intel on the rest of the field.