Is someone else here like me?

Question

I've refered to myself as agnostic, due to lack of a better term. I do believe in Jesus. I think that organized religion is a bad practice however (not that I have a problem with others practicing it).
I don't believe in the validity of the bible due to the fact that it has been rewritten and revised many times by people I don't trust. I think that people in organized religion pull away from god by letting their own pride and bias influence their beliefs and interpretation of God. I also believe that each religion hold some truth and due to organized religions the facts have been scattered and discarded by groups. is there any one here like me?

(please don't try and convert me, that's not what this question is about)

Answer 1

Try the label "Deist" and see how that feels. Google for the writings and definitions. I will not bore you with the long quotes from Wikipedia.

Yes, I can call you "brother." Books are written by humans. They get rewritten by other humans. Rather like the Sufi story about the blind men and the elephant. We all glimpse a part of the larger whole. All of us then claim we know everything. "The elephant is like a hose" or "the elephant is like a wall."

You are not alone. I have had two direct experiences with what I truly believe is God. I did not and do not need a religion or a preacher to stand between me and that Source of Love.

Peace, Wisdom, Strength and Beauty,

A Fellow Being

Answer 2

Well, you can technically also be called an atheist.

"What? An agnostic and an athest? What nonsense!"
It's true. The two are not mutually exclusive. An atheist is simply someone without belief in a god. It doesn't have to be a denial that gods exist (though there is a term for that: strong atheist). People are atheists even if they lack a belief in a god (another term: weak atheist).

The agnostic comes in when you consider the root word. An a-gnostic is someone who doesn't know. An agnostic atheist doesn't really know there is a lack of a god, but he hasn't seen any, so he doesn't believe in a god. A gnostic atheist knows there are no gods. An agnostic theist believes there is a god(s) but doesn't know it; he relies on faith. A gnostic theist knows there is a god through observation (though they tend to be considered loonies).

And I am an agnostic atheist like you. I have always accepted the possibility of Jesus existing, though I see more and more evidence pointing to him not even existing. Pity, but the ideas attributed to him are nice.

If you have a stronger believe in a god than agnostic atheism, you may want to think about deism. It supposes that we were created by a god, but his role is done. He doesn't come down as a pillar of fire or a burning bush or a swan. He made us, and we're on our own. It's not too different from an atheist--mostly, both groups live life knowing that there is no intervention by a deity.

And this is not a way to convert you. Just a way to help you find a label. You're pretty happy with agnostic, though I'd have to argue that probably at least 90% of the population are technically agnostic. The theist/atheist argument is more defined.

Answer 3

I'm kind of like you, except I'm a mystic / "pantheist," not an agnostic. I especially agree with you about the Bible and I find it really disappointing that it will never be appreciated by its own believers for what it really is, since it contains the basic beauty of the teachings of Jesus, almost right from the source, preserved moderately well for so long.

I agree that all religions hold some truth. Maybe you'd agree, the main trouble is that they have used different metaphors to teach it, and the metaphors are almost entirely obsolete - they worked for teaching ancient or medieval flocks but today we can't relate to their values as well and the truth is disconnected from the stories. Yet organized religion, simply because it is ossified into a power structure, can never surrender these metaphors that obscure the religion's truth from the vast majority of its followers. So we end up with a lot of people who identify their true religious experience with literal belief in stories that are really subtle and symbolic, and who have their egos invested in the literal truth of the stories. Instead of people who are really religious, as they'd like to be.

Answer 4

Did I write that? Could have!
You have got it down exactly.
I'm sure that like me you have studied religions ,many of them! You have also read and reread the Bible.
You wonder do these people have another agenda?
We all realise the Church hierarchy do,religion is a business!
Or are they just to programmed, to intimidated to question?
How can you commit yourself to believing something that is in complete and utter denial of events that have absolute proven material,written,geological and cultural fact.
To say ,"Oh I believe it because the Bible said so, and I will not question the word of God?"
Of God?God didn't write down the Bible,it was written by various people, at various times in history ,with various personal and political agendas.
Then translated from Aramaic,Hebrew etc. etc.and after that
into Roman,Latin and early English.
Which itself is very very different to the English of today,example Chaucer and Canterbury Tales in their original state.
Ask a question you really want an opinion on,what do you get? Page after page of scripture quote word for word at you by what seems to be an mind under a brain washed effect, as if you had never heard of the Bible leave alone studied it,It makes me so angry and darn frustrated because its so very patronising. Plus I really wanted an answer that was formed from a persons own thoughts.But then that seems to be what its all about.
Fill them with patronising dogma to avoid free thought and opinion.
I can hear the click of thumbs down, all the way down here in Australia.Thats okay, as long as you read it!
Because that is the point,we are all entitled to our own interpretation of the Bible.
I am as,or more spiritual than a lot of blind faith believers ,who unquestioningly trot of to their Church each week to layby that pass to Heaven.

Answer 5

I am sure there are many who share your beliefs. Religion has been abused as an avenue for group and individual wealth since the beginning of time, not to mention corruption to include the very innocent. Religion has also been used and abused as means to repudiate others by creating Reigns of Terror between different cultures.

Answer 6

I understand the 'please,' but I wouldn't expect much in the way of people reading and respecting your wishes.

As for people like you, there are lots of people like you out there. You aren't as unique, in some areas, as you might believe. I myself am learning to reconcile my pagan beliefs with finding a place for the wisdom of Jesus. Even amidst the crows, some kernals of sustenence remain.

Wisdom is not person or place specific: Jesus does not own the copyright to kindness and America has no patent on freedom.

Answer 7

It sounds like you belive a god exists, that would make you a deist, not an agnostic. Deists believe some sort of god exists, but do not believe in any particular religion. Agnostics admint that there is not yet sufficient evidence to prove that god does or does not exist. I am not like you.

Answer 8

In todays time I can say you are defiantly not alone. The bible was written before the times when we thought of some women as witches and burned them alive. So I tend to think hundreds of years before that they could not have been smarter. I feel as you do and everyone I know the same.

Answer 9

I used to be like you, but after some research I'm not even sure Jesus existed. There is no way the Jesus of the bible existed as portrayed anyhow. I think he was just a story character now.

Answer 10

You're not an agnostic. You solidly believe in Jesus and God. That kinda excludes the agnosticism. You're a nonreligious theist. You'd prolly have the most in common with atheists who share a similar disdain for religion.

Actually, my ex's beliefs seem pretty similar to yours but she still considers herself Catholic. (I've asked her why but I don't really get why she ties herself down when she doesn't really believe it all.)