The agnostic and/or atheist always comes off in these discussions as some arrogant know-it-all with no sense of reverence or wonder, but in my opinion, often just the opposite is true. Even the most materialist among us must confess to a profound complexity and mystery to the universe which is simply beyond rational explanation--for whatever reason.
It is the theist that I perceive as the arrogant; they lack the sense of mystery and wonder. They already have the answer in complete detail, specified in doctrine and dogma, and they not only reject the childlike wonder of the materialist (how could all this come from such simple origins?) with a hidebound certainty that wraps up all the loose ends with no room for surprise (God did it. Here is how we worship him. Full stop).
It's far easier to look at raging sea or a starry sky and imagine that it is just another manifestation of an omnipotent God and we are, after all, his #2 partner. It is real humility for the agnostic to be confronted with the magnificence of nature, knowing deep inside that all this astonishing creation has arisen without the aid of any intelligence at all. It puts you precisely in your place in the scheme of things.
Off Topic » in reply to It's possible to be "touched" and still be agnostic.
Beyond belief lies understanding, and beyond that enlightenment.
The whole thread (40 posts)
- Question of the day for US HZers
- This report smacks of Mormon bashing....
- I wonder what would happen...
- " Is this what's been going on in backwater regions ?"
- re: Question of the day for US HZers
- re: Question of the day for US HZers
- "Release time" religious instruction.
- There is no such thing as "religious instruction".
- I'm a little skeptical