I provide for you a definition:
atheism:
–noun
1. the doctrine or belief that there is no god.
2. disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.
I think I subscribe more to the second definition than the first one. But then there’s this:
agnosticism:
A denial of knowledge about whether there is or is not a God. An agnostic insists that it is impossible to prove that there is no God and impossible to prove that there is one.
That suits me better in some ways. Frankly, I’m not entirely sure why the term, “atheism,” implies an active disbelief in God or gods, but I suppose that’s the more commonly accepted understanding of it. But if you take the word apart based on its Greek roots, it means, “without god,” which is accurate. I live a life without God, gods, what have you, and I make few qualms about it.
Vehement atheism bothers me to some degree. I met some asshat atheists in my day. I’m talking about people that don’t believe in God (and yes, it’s GOD they are attacking) that they feel the need to impress such an idea upon every Christian (and yes, they are Christians) they can. I’m not going to pretend that Christians or members of any other religion don’t proselytize in many ways, but at the same time, if you don’t believe in any religious doctrine, why do you give a shit what people do believe in? Doesn’t vilifying a god imply that you believe it exists enough that you feel the need to attack it? I don’t get the concern. I don’t understand why someone inoffensively expressing his own religious ideas on the internet, either from a Bible quote or a simple thanking of God or Jesus for the day, must be met with such derision. I do not speak without reason, though. This article prompted this need to blog. Jump down to QuasimodoM’s comment, and you’ll read the spark. Go further, and you’ll read the fire…the idiotic fire. Initially, I missed QuasimodoM’s line of “Everyone is selfish and lives in sin,” but even with that line, I think the backlash was out of line.
Is there some rule stating that hefty video game play slowly nullifies the existence of God and reason? Of course, I’m assuming that any of the people who left these comments are over the age of 15 and don’t listen to Marilyn Manson as their pied piper of choice. It doesn’t matter, though. It is an adult article about an adult law which affects minors, black eyeliner and all. So when someone says he doesn’t support the law (good) because it is reliant on the family to choose (good) since everyone is selfish and lives in sin (bad), perhaps we can respond with a simple “Why?” or “I disagree entirely.” Comments stating, “This law proves there is no god,” followed by others stating, “There is only one God. The universe proves that there is God. The universe did not come from a ‘big bang,’” and summed up with “Just stop the religion talk. Take that somewhere else. We are here for games not religion.” all kinda lead down the dark path of irrelevance and quagmire, somewhere I don’t enjoy being when there is a greater topic at hand.
I don’t think there is a god of any sort. I don’t think Schwarzenegger has proven that. I don’t think anyone else has disproven it. I’m just saying that’s how I am. I guess, I’d more correctly label myself as an agnostic since I don’t think we have all the info, and I certainly don’t subscribe to a doctrine of godlessness. I don’t wake up everyday thankful there’s nothing out there. But you know what? I am happy in my beliefs, and living “without god” does not mean I don’t have any. It certainly does not mean I believe in the devil, which is also a god. One “doctrine” I do go for, though, is that if your beliefs make you happy and don’t hurt anyone, then there can’t be anything wrong with them. So shifting back to the discussion, I think everyone is at fault and nobody chose to appropriately bring the discussion back around without simply attacking one another. So maybe QuasimodoM is right in that regard, but he started it.
Moving on, though, I could elaborate more on what I do believe in and where it’s got me. I think we don’t know how the universe was created. I love science, and I do think science more successfully demonstrates truths in all aspects of life. It doesn’t mean we do have all the answers. As much as evidence as we have towards the Big Bang Theory, I’m not convinced that we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that that’s how things happened. Also, while it does serve to explain how the universe got the way it is now and how it will be, it doesn’t say where the matter came from. I believe in evolution and all its fun (and depression, but that shall be another blog), but I don’t know if we know exactly how different species developed, every factor and how to predict the next step for any of them. I know the religious counterargument is that both the matter had to come from somewhere and that life is simply too beautiful and too complicated to just be accidental. Insert God. That never made sense to me. Why aren’t we happy with just not knowing the answer? And yes, I am happy with the idea that we don’t know the answer. If we knew everything, what would be the point of discovery? What do we have to pursue if we can fill in some generalization to answer every question? It doesn’t make sense to me. A theory is just that. It stands until someone can outright disprove it, but that does not make it absolute. So let’s leave a question mark and move on to things we can prove or demonstrate.
I also think we have one life and it’s in our current corporeal form. I think when we die, it’s over, and that’s that. Again, I’m happy with this idea. We are given a finite time to get the most out of what we were given, and that’s so amazing. It’s unfortunate if I should die tomorrow, but I don’t think I’ll be spending a fucking eternity lamenting it. Do people understand how long an eternity is? Why do people want to spend an eternity doing anything? I mean, I understand how pleasant it is supposed to be in Heaven, but I really think that when others think of Heaven, they aren’t imagining forever. They say, “forever,” but the idea of the term ends when it does. In order to truly enjoy eternity, human nature would need go out the door when we die, because no human can truly just enjoy the continual nature of eternity. It’s really long. The great motivator to do anything is even the smallest conflict be it hunger or despair. We strive for betterment because of the negatives in place. What kind of life is it in a world with absolutely no strife? Why would we bother to move at all if we’ll never grow uncomfortable or hungry? I understand that I could just be demonstrating a complete misunderstanding of the concept of Heaven to those who love the idea, but that’s just how it comes across to me. Either way, I think there’s some beauty in being given a short time in the grand scheme of the universe to make our own mark in history and to affect others.
I don’t believe in a soul. It’s awesome that we all are so amazingly different and have individual personalities, but I don’t think that’s evidence of a soul. I don’t think science can determine everything that makes a person tick either. I think we just don’t really know why we tick the way we do, but I also think that’s amazing. Honestly, I think the discovery of whatever it is that we call “the soul” may be the final discovery for mankind and may just be the end of our species. (Yes, I think humans will die someday and that there’s nothing wrong with that.)
Maybe it seems dark or depressing, but I assure you, I’m anything but. I’m extremely cynical; I admit it. However, I am truly happy that there will always be the question of “Why?” I don’t even care if someone else I never met and never will know knows the answer to one of life’s great questions. I’m almost happy I don’t know that answer either. I’m happy I don’t think there’s a supreme being running the show. I’m happy that people are the causes of their own successes and their own demise. I’m happy that there are factors to the universe which affect us all, but we don’t know all of them, and we can’t explain them all. I’m happy I have one life. Damnit, I’m gonna make this life earn the name of Gil if it kills me.
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