Posted by:
SusieQ#1
(
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Date: March 29, 2011 08:54PM
I call myself an Eccentric Eclectic - this is why. Maybe some of you are like me.
These are my views that make up my new World View - which I allow to evolve.
After living with the label of Mormon for most of my adult life and I determined that my beliefs would no longer fit that label, I needed a new one to describe my evolving thinking regarding my new world view.
I call myself an Eccentric Eclectic because I like a little bit of a lot of beliefs, notions, and ideas. Perhaps a lot of you are a lot like me.
I like the best notions/ideas from many old and new sources.
I pick and choose what makes sense to me, what can be validated, repeated, and rely on some simple dictionary definitions.
Everyone is technically -- agnostic according to this definition.
a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and prob. unknowable ;
In a broad sense I take this position also.
broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god
Emotional bonding to traditional beliefs, even if thy are weird superstitions overrides logic and reason if one is constantly immersed in talk that is "truth."
Ignorance (lack of knowledge) and superstition require one ignore the questions of an honest skeptic.
I am part Atheist
About atheism:
Explicit: there are no gods
Implicit a position of non belief in gods due to the lack of evidence.
The default position: non belief in the unsupported theist claim that god exists.
I am agnostic and take the default position.
Those underlying notions in no way deter me from a fulfilled life, filled with fun and laughter, and enjoyment. I am more apt to have a better understanding and able to handle the "bad" times and the ugly behavior of others because I am not relying on a deity to settle the score in some after life.
I am part: AGNOSTIC:
This is safe and the most accurate. To say you are atheist is so politically incorrect, and unacceptable in this day and age that it is suicide to try to run for office, for instance, also, so many people believe that atheism is of the devil that many relationships are cut off before they begin because of this prejudice.
I find that calling myself an agnostic is preferable and works best for my own survival on many levels. Because I live in a predominant Judeo-Christian society (like most of us posting here) to be too far out of it causes more problems that it solves.
I am part SKEPTIC
I want a lot of verifiable information from state of the art sources before I add my allegiance. I do not automatically believe someone because of who they are, what they believe or just because they said so.
I am part HUMANIST
American Humanist - "Humanism is a progressive life stance, free of supernaturalism, which affirms our ability and responsibility to lead meaningful, ethical lives that add to the greater good of humanity."
Again, I am not sure about the "supernaturalism" part, because I allow for all possibilities. Again, I want verifiable evidences.
I like a some Buddhist notions also - not specified here.
If I must have a deity, I choose Deism: might be a God/higher power, creator power, but that power does not intervene specifically in the lives of human beings.
Generally, I use the word: God as a metaphor for what is currently unexplainable, or what cannot be explained.
I like the universal teachings wherever I find them: Love One Another is one from Christianity.
I am convinced there was a man named Yeshua Ben Joseph who lived at one time, but have no belief in the notion that he was the only begotten son of God and a savior for mankind. The claim is impossible.
I put the whole religious belief issue, throughout the history of humanity, in one big category of God Myths, which are predominately cultural; most (not all) of them have at least one deity, some have hundreds, some have a savior.
In category of God Myths, in short-- Joseph Smith Jr created the only American God Myth out of the same general patterns as other religions: claims of a deity/s making contact, visions, metaphysical claims, supernatural claims, instructions for living to attain a specific after life, writing a sacred religious book, claimed inspired translations etc.
My belief system is always subject to change as I evolve and learn more and more.