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I'm a Pastafarian mixed with a bit of Pandeist - I believe the almighty Flying Spaghetti Monster created the mountain, tree, and midgit, but I also follow the teachings of the great Panda God.
Really, I'm... something. I don't think there's any way to prove the existence or nonexistence of a god, but I'm leaning more towards nonexistence. I still have an appreciation of religion, just like I have an appreciation of fine literature, music, and art.
Seriously, I call myself agnostic, although I just tend to leave any request for religious affiliation blank on a form (come to think of it, maybe I'll just start leaving it blank in my head too. )
I had a religious experience in college. Moktananoum spoke to me. I was trying to log into a computer and got
Moktananoum ckjnh9568%^@$Rt908536kds@#54
tried again and got
Moktananoum $%^$^URN )(I%^NMdgbhuio547087etgh b,64
tried again and got
Moktananoum fglj^%#o0irw,mn5368054y8925fe0954@^y24564@^
So I knew it was the great god Moktananoum speaking to me in mysterious ways. How do I know? Gods choose ordinary things to speak to their prophets (computer, bushes, etc) and do weird things with them. Gods always speak in hard to decipher ways so there will always be confusion over the real message, hence the gobbledlygook. And finally, gods are vain, hence the repetition and clear name shown to me. Plus it was the mystical 3 times.
But then again, he couldn't have been all that great to have chosen ME as his one and only true prophet.
I don't tell too many people about this particular religious revelation tho....
I guess if you held my feet to the fire, I'd say I'm agnostic. I absolutely don't believe in any old man in the sky sitting in judgment over us, but I'm willing to hold open the possibility that there's some mysterious creative force out there that we have yet to encounter or comprehend.
The only reason I hold out the possibility is because of the question of origins. I have no problem with the Big Bang Theory, but the part I can't wrap my head around is, Where did the singularity come from? Did someone put it there? How could it have gotten there by itself? If it came from another universe, where did that universe come from? If it was eternal, how is that possible, based on our current understanding that nothing seems permanent? You see my dilemma.
Now, if you had to pin me down to a religion, that would be harder. Buddhist, I guess, but still agnostic on the concepts of karma and literal rebirth. But then I also dig Taoism, and I respect the teachings of Jesus and Confucius. It's just a big mess, really.
Yes, I have given much thought in regard to how I define myself as you question it.
I ACCEPT THAT: In light of present scientific methodology the question of a "God Concept" is not likely to be resolved. However, "Agnostic" is not a lable that I choose to use.
Religion, as most people aparently think of it, involves a holding of FAITH.
For most this seems to be a Faith in some supernatural entity, be it, for example, the supreme being of a God Concept,or Satan, or Spirits of one sort or another, IMO. [ Since I interpret that Scientists must grant the aspect of truthiness to any theory they accept as a Faith in that theory as being true 'within a degree of certainty' ,I find that I will not dispute it very hard if a Religionist claims that "Scientism" ( ie. belief in science )is my religion however I do not personally claim it as such.
"Atheist" has so many descriptors, "Hard"; "Soft" & what else have you, that I can not find it within myself to use that term.
I am a "Secular Humanist" and choose to reinforce that deffinition by preceeding it with the term 'Non Theistic'( NT ).
NT means for me that a God Concept simply plays no part in my daily existance or my future death other than being a topic of my idle interest, one amongst but a myriad of other such interests.
Hence, when necessary I call myself a Non Theistic Secular Humanist.
P.S.: Are there other Secular Humanists in Charlotte, NC? As you may see posted elsewhere in this Forum I would like to establish "Charlotte,NC Humanists" as a sub forum within the Forum "Religion & Philosophy" and would like to hear from others in that regard.
As a Non Religious person I was asked this week what I considered myself by my Deist wife. This is a trick question. If you are right you are wrong, and if you are wrong you are still wrong.
The better question would be this.. If you do not believe in God, do you believe in a universal being that is more powerful than yourself?
I went to an AA meeting one morning with a friend who was nagging me to go hold his hand. The discussion happened to be about God or a Hight Power. and spritually. A fellow said very quietly, "I'm Jim, I;m an alcholic. I am a Jesuit priest who is paid by the Church to teach man's religion. Religion us taught. Spirituality is nol it's caught." Later that week I had an occassion to leaf through an AA *Big Book*. In the back is a discussion about Sprituality by Herbert Spenser.
According to the writer, Spiritiuality was not religion, or a particualrr belief in any specific deity, or even an epiphany, but rather is was a gradual awakening that comes very slowly. He alluded to the idea that one day you realize you are doing for others without any expectation of fees or dues or rewards and that you realize you are doing for yourself what you expected others to do for you. In fact you are not thinking about yourself at all.
I think I'm somewhere in the middle between this and that but not necessariy one or the other.
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"problem finding the slot we fall into"
