Welcome to the world of agnostics
Here is an interesting article from Newsweek from an agnostic mother. It expresses well the perils of the postmodern journey to nowhere. Speaking about her journey down the path of agnosticism and recounts a conversation she had with her seven year old son.
We were on the beach in Costa Rica a few years ago (my son was seven) when he turned to me and asked, “Where did all this stuff come from?†“Some people think it came from god,†was how I started my answer. He interrupted me to say, “Well, even if god did make all this, he is dead now.†I marveled at his confidence, at his unwavering curiosity in why and how and his refusal to accept mythology for answers. But his question was left unanswered, and he still wonders where the beach and the sand and the sky came from. So do I, and hopefully we will never know all the answers.
“Hopefully we will never know the answers”? Why would someone hope for ignorance? I am not saying that someday we will have all the answers, but to hope for agnosticism is rather odd. What is even more curious is the last paragraph:
What I do know is that I won’t take shortcuts to life’s difficult questions, and explain away life’s mysteries by saying they came from god. God can only close the discussion and end the questioning, while nothing invites the next question. Let the dialogue continue. (emphasis mine)
Yet, “hopefully we will never know all the answers.” I think the dialogue is tainted from the beginning. The only answer that she will find is that which she is prejudiced to find at the outset of this journey.
Yet, this is postmodernism. Welcome to the world where agnostics can express the need for ignorance on a journey to understand, dialoguing for answers to difficult questions (hurts the brain to think about). And this is intellectual?
It would seem as well that taking God out of the equation does not dispel mystery, but it legitimizes it, giving it a true mysterious source.
Thoughts?
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stevemoore on 27 May 2007 at 5:44 am #
I think we have a clear picture of why this lady has expressed her desire never to know the answers. This clearly, I feel, is a direct expression of the willful ignorance and describes perfectly what Paul discusses in Romans 1. In fact, it is exactly what he’s talking about.
Though the creation of the world clearly reveals God’s presence, attributes, and handiwork to the world, she is willfully suppressing the truth.
It is intellectual in the same way that exchanging truth for a lie is intellectual (not very). Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.
Sadly, I think that she’s wanting to hide behind the mystery that they have created, as you have noted. It makes it a spiritual experience and expression for them to denounce God as the creator.
I think people want to be righteous, but the rebellion they harbor makes them want it on their own terms. So, they create a “reality” to live in, and then follow their own paradigm that they created in an attempt to gain their own righteousness. The agnostic has created a “reality” although a very inconsistent one, and the mystery that they embrace allows them to ignore God in spite of the evidence.
-steve
bnelson on 27 May 2007 at 6:02 am #
Early in this article she says…
“…when people ask me what I’m doing next weekend, I say “nothing†with a pleasant expression because it means I can do whatever comes my way.”
This comment puts here firmly in the grasp of postmodernism and goes hand-in-hand with relative truth; truth is not absolute but rather truth for me is what I think is true.
In this postmodern society it appears being “intellectual” infers either a atheist or agnostic position towards God as either allows one to proceed down a totally self-driven path.
Bill
sgmen31 on 30 May 2007 at 10:02 pm #
Without knowing more about the woman’s background it is hard for me to understand why she thinks that way in the first place. Romans 1 says it all as noted above but also I think when you start with the supposition that God either isn’t or doesn’t care it taints all of your thinking. If you don’t believe in the super-natural or think it a possiblity as an answer how can you believe in God?
ChadS on 24 Jul 2007 at 2:25 pm #
This woman’s attitude is very disheartening. While she may believe she is open in her attitudes and thought process it is actually the very opposite.
She doesn’t know where creation came from but from her very response we know that she believes it didn’t come from God. Then to make things worse she seems to accept as authoritative the proclamation of her seven year old. My experience with seven year olds is limited but I doubt they should be looked to on subjects as weighty as the origins of the cosmos. Who knows maybe she asks her child for financial advice too?
In my experience God doesn’t close off discussions. Only we close off the discussions. You can still believe in God and inquire into the natural order of things.
You’re right Michael, unfortunately this sort of drivel passes for intellectual curiosity.
ChadS