An Agnostic Christian Question

My girlfriend and I were talking the other day about how our views about the nature of reality are the same, and yet our religious preferences are different. Her views seem to be more mainline than mine, so I was curious if anyone shared my views. We are both agnostics, essentially "practicing atheists," in that we live our lives assuming there is no God until given evidence to the contrary. Yet I very much enjoy and get meaning from attending church weekly, while she does not. For me, I can be an agnostic and still enjoy studying and celebrating the life and teachings of Jesus, which to me is what being a Christian is all about, even though I don't believe Jesus was God (though I would argue that he was a "god-like" person). Anyone else share my views, or am I pretty much alone on this one?

 

if jesus did exist, i would agree he was a wise man, being an "agnostic atheist"
myself....and reguardless if he was god or not, his teachings (some of them) were and are worth following....

i dont think your alone though....

scince agnosticism can be applied to basically any religion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_christian

and if anyone is wondering what an agnostic atheist is

:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_atheist

 

Jimbo

Agree with heeh2
Jesus was a wise man. And it befits us as less wise to study his words.
Just as occam studies so many other wise wen.

Why you would need to go to a church to do so is a mystery to occam..
Organised Christianity has little to do with jesus.
maybe this is the source of the dispute with your partner.
Maybe she regards him as a person. Who's ideas need no 'church'
to be valid.

Occam

 

I study Jesus, and other teachers like Buddha, Lao Tzu, Mohammed, and the native American elder's words. It is good that other views be studied, whatever our personal ones are. I was Christian, from 8 to 11 years old, when I stopped believing in hell and the devil. It has been over 30 years, and I doubt I will ever be Christian again. But... I have three hard copy versions of the bible, which I have read in full, and 5 more on disc I have perused. I read the Koran, and lots more. It is just curiosity.

Is it good? dunno. just that I am so.
cheers

 

It is for this critical reason, only the church authorities are qualified to interpret these written works, and we lay folk are not capable of doing so ourselves. I know this from being told I cannot interpret the bible verses myself. It is clear I won't be approved for membership in their club anyway, as I fully intend to trust my own powers of reason and critical thinking skills over theirs. They might be wrong, or worse, trying to trick me. I can't risk that, when my mind is able to digest the texts words and phrases quite well, and extract probable, and possible meanings being conveyed. Often, my take on the meanings is quite different than the standard line generally believed and taught to be the right interpretation. Example, Rabbi's were said to be required to be married in Jesus' day, and he is called Rabbi numerous times in the bible. I say that supports the idea he was married, and nothing supports that he wasn't. Nowhere is it written he was not married, or that he was, so I am going on the evidence in the book itself. Another example, Jesus was taken off the cross, then the tomb was empty, so my thought is that its more likely he was alive when taken off the cross than that he died and was resurrected. Of course he might have been dead and his body just taken away... it is hard to say for sure 2000 years hence.
I see churches as bastions of fraternal networking and socializing, with a system of methods to address individual challenges such as death, poverty, illness, and misfortune. It is very reassuring to those who access their services, and not very costly, financially. In my view, it is too costly rationally, and emotionally, and spiritually, for me. That is just my personal view, unintended for anyone else.

 

Exactly

Exactly.

Occam

 

I always feel so very contented whenever I log in and see that you have supported one of my posts. In this case, what more could anyone say that is more complimentary than those two words. Often, your posts come from a similar perspective to mine, and I rarely read anything you write that I disagree with. Unsurprisingly, you have often replied to my posts with positive and supportive words. Though I have said it before, there are few people who lift my spirits with their agreeable reviews of my posts. Few people agree with me, but I have expected that for a long time, and fortunately, those who do agree almost always seem to be the ones who author the posts which I enjoy and in which I rarely find anything I disagree with. Not that it matters if anyone agrees with me, very much.
Thanks big guy...
To quote the bible, KJAV, II Samuel 12:7 "Thou art the man!"

 

Bg13

It suprises me that you say few people agree with you.
Your posts are always logical and well thought out to a plan to answer a
question. Easily understood...thus we are mind mates to an extent.
Often you speak of god. This is no problem to occam. for he believes in a
god. But not in any religion. Religion has little to do with god.
Jesus is not christianity..he was a man.
How then is occam an agnostic.??

Because occams belief is not a statement of fact.
He cannot say.. 'this exists'

One must meld belief and probability with truth and verification.
One must be flexible

This is the power of reason

Occam

 

mind mates, blackguard 13 concurs. My beliefs are also not facts, my facts are few, and truths are rare. Illusions, claims, and unknowns are plentiful. The posts I submit elicit far more replies which disagree than agree. I thought the same was the case for yours, but I don't know that. You are likely the one member who most often agrees with my posts. I like that.

 

the only value a church could possibly hold would be as a forum for the coming together of people to share their spiritual perspectives. just as a bar is for those who drink, a church might possibly be where people so inclined to pursue those matters might congregate. Unfortunately, most if not all have been taken over by occultists, supernaturalists, theists, profiteers etc... Religion is not, inherently a problem. Its' abuse can be. I am afraid that the only solution is to scrape them all and start over. Maybe brainwash all those that have become hopelessly indoctrinated so as to not see the forest for the trees. I thought at one point that by going to church I might meet people that were interested in some of the questions that I was interested in. We must recognize that churches, now as they were in the time of Jesus, have been totally corrupted. Better to meet with a few of your friends, talk about those things that really concern you.