My typical non-Agnostic question.

[Holy Babylon]

Agnostics, how many of you are sitting on the fence between Atheism and Religion only for the fear of a Hell of some sort? I'm not trying to offend anyone here, I would just like to know if the reason for any one of yours stances has anything to do with that fear.

[Zagreus]

I think that's a really interesting question actually, HB. Whilst I label myself an atheist, obviously we can't know for certain; and whilst I am sure the Abrahamic idea of God is not correct, I still get occasional pangs of "ok, what If I've got this wrong?"

Maybe that's inevitable depending upon how you were raised. I wasn't raised religiously, and was into palaeontology from a young age, but still the religious bits at school seem to have still left a lasting impression in the back of my mind.

Interestingly, a girl I work with is a devout Catholic, and it's been fascinating talking to her, especially in the pub after a drink; we had to just agree that we were both convinced the other was wrong. This makes me wonder a bit about each agnostic; who would they side with? If she's wrong it doesn't matter that much, but if I'm wrong I'm in quite a lot of trouble!!!

[kevlar]

(09-14-2010 05:33 PM)Holy Babylon Wrote:  Agnostics, how many of you are sitting on the fence between Atheism and Religion only for the fear of a Hell of some sort? I'm not trying to offend anyone here, I would just like to know if the reason for any one of yours stances has anything to do with that fear.

The corollary to that is how many christians, are christians just because they don't want to go to hell, or be destroyed in some cases. A good deal, it seems to me, of religion is built on FEAR.

[StarStuff]

At one point I did worry that I might be wrong, that there might actually be a god. For a long time, I called myself an agnost.

Nowadays, I call myself an atheist, and I don't worry about burning in hell any more than I worry about being attacked by dragons on my way to work.

[Geezer]

I pretended to believe in the tooth fairy even when I had doubts, as I knew it would be more profitable to do so, therefore I can relate to the premise of the question. Alas I am as certain as I can be that there will be no money under my pilllow in the future. The child in me would like to live in the world of tooth fairies, but I am a realist and I know that tooth fairies are man made so there is no point on sitting on the fence. This is my conclusion on religion.

[digipixel]

(09-14-2010 05:33 PM)Holy Babylon Wrote:  Agnostics, how many of you are sitting on the fence between Atheism and Religion only for the fear of a Hell of some sort? I'm not trying to offend anyone here, I would just like to know if the reason for any one of yours stances has anything to do with that fear.

Having been raised as a fundamentalist Christian, I was taught that being a fence-sitter (agnostic) is really no different than being an atheist. That is, the result is the same - you still go to hell if you don't accept Christ/God. As an agnostic, simply shrugging your shoulders and saying, "I don't know" doesn't cut it with the Big Guy - at least according to the Christian view.

As others have pointed out in this and other posts, fear (of hell and damnation) is a big motivator for many who adopt a particular faith or denomination. I was a victim of that fear for a number of years (until I was in my 20s). Then, I stopped going to church. I totally disconnected myself from all religion and went though a series of spiritual "conversions". I became an agnostic, then an atheist, and more recently returned to being a deist (panentheist), but not a Christian.

I found that the "cooling off" period from Christianity helped put a lot of that fear behind me and opened up a whole different perspective on spirituality. I no longer fear God. I now view God as a co-creator in my life, and not as a bearded, crusty old fart who sits in heaven and judges me, nor does He condemn me for my "sins". Sins are simply mistakes we make that inflict pain and suffering either on ourselves, or on others. We are punished by our sins, not for them.

An afterlife is irrelevant. When we die, we may or may not live on in another form. Either way, the present moment is all we can absolutely know or worry about.

Make the best of it.

[kevlar]

Huzzah, Huzzah..............well put my friend.

[digipixel]

(09-16-2010 12:35 PM)kevlar Wrote:  Huzzah, Huzzah..............well put my friend.

Thanks, kev...

[Markus427]

I am not an agnostic simply because I fear hell. I am an agnostic because there is not even a fraction that we know about the universe that there is to know. I can't make an assumption from what little we know.

[Sinlful Hypocrite]

I must say that fear of hell is not a big part of why I follow Christ .
I would say that people are Most likely to seek God when they are sick or in dire straits of some sort.
This is not the type of fear that you are describing of going to hell , but rather they seek help here on Earth with the hell they are dealing with in the here and now.

This is why I am a follower of the faith from a young age , I have had times when I was very in need of love and help from trials and sickness.This is why I have reached out to God . It was never worry of going to hell as much as hell on earth.