Agnostic-Theist?
Posted on: September 17, 2007 - 12:38am
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Agnostic-Theist?
What exactly is an agnostic-theist? I find it baffling that some people use this label to describe themselves. Agnosticism refers to knowledge and either states that god is unknown or inherently unknowable. I do not know how someone can know that something is inherently unknowable.
I do not see how agnosticism and theism can be reconciled. It seems like a contradiction. How can someone have no knowledge of God, but believe in God? This seems to go against the grain of agnosticism.
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I would guess, it's someone who believes in God, but isn't sure.
Maybe it's someone that goes to the meetings, partakes in the mumbo jumbo, but doesn't believe it and is in it for the free wine.
Negative theology.
I find it evidence of delusional thinking for one to think that they can have knowledge of something beyond nature.
I do not see how knowledge and theism can possibly be reconciled. One cannot possess knowledge of an 'entity' without any ontological status. How can one 'know' something 'beyond nature"/
Theism requires faith, agnosticism is a profession of honesty.
"Hitler burned people like Anne Frank, for that we call him evil.
"God" burns Anne Frank eternally. For that, theists call him 'good.'
So I am not a theist seeing as I deny the supernatural? Pantheism does not require the supernatural.
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How do you define your pantheism?
I think you will find you have faith (or deluded yourself) in the definition that God iss the Universe.
We have a word for the "Universe" it's called "Universe." God is something altogether different, and saying God is the Universe is as coherent as proposing that my toaster is the Universe.
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Almost all words in philosophy have multiple meanings
atheist
theist
agnostic are all good examples of this.
You need to define the use before you can argue its validity
I cannot claim to be a strict pantheist. Especially since pantheism usually divests god of sentience, making it more like The Force of Star Wars.
The best description I can give for my concept of god is:
God is a sentient entity of sufficient scope that it can exert its will upon us without our consent and against which we have no recourse. In denying the supernatural, it follows that the nature of this entity is limited to the natural. The scope of this entity is an open question. My belief in the existence this entity is based on experiential evidence, not empirical science. Were it based on simply "what mama said" then delusional might be a fitting discription.
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An agnostic theist would be someone who believes in the existence of at least one god, but is not 100% certain; a 2 or 3 on Dawkins' 7-point scale.
Or, someone who would use Pascal's Wager as a means to convert fence-sitters.
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Your toaster is the Universe
quantum entanglement non-local realism, it would be incredibly difficult to quantify just how much or how little your toaster is an integral part of the universe 
treat it respectfully unless you dare evoke its wrath, thy toast may turn-if to the dark side young padawan