By the time you get to be 13 or so, you have a pretty good idea about what's
what. The schools try to teach you more stuff, your parents think they can
still influence your thinking and you yourself are not always so sure;
you're just cocky. At this point in your life, you may have already acquired
the one ingredient that I personally never managed to; I mean faith.
What I did manage to acquire at some point, is a belief that things can be
analyzed logically and a feeling that there is no rush; everything will be
resolved in its own time. Which is probably the main ingredient that goes
into the creation of an agnostic.
So, here's my main point: I definitely have the tools to make a decision
about most institutions and/or philosophies without the need to analyze them
too much. For instance at some point in my past I have decided to be on the
side of God, even though I am an Agnostic. What I mean by that, is that at
any point that I do not understand God's actions as described in the Bible,
let's say, I assign Her (there no known reason why God should be referred to
in the masculine,) benevolent intentions. To give you an example: When God
asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, I can easily assume that she has a great
sense of humor and she is trying to get Abraham to loosen up a little. (I
will, in the future put on paper my thoughts about God's sense of humor.)
Other interpretations could easily ascribe an
allegorical basis to biblical stories with the intention (a la Aesopus) to
educate.
Yes, you have to take it all with a grain of salt, and you have the right to
change your mind at any given time. To give you another for instance, I gave
up on organized religion a long time ago. I do not think that humans have
the right to burn, torture, kill, etc., other human beings in the name of
any dogma (theological or otherwise.) I think that they misunderstood God's
intentions.
And so, you know who you are, we come to me and my site; what exactly do you
think my intentions are? I would appreciate it if you would ascribe me
benevolent or at least benign motivations (It also philosophically sounder
to find the simplest motivational explanation for things - like a straight
line being the shortest distance between two points.) In any case:
WHOSE SIDE ARE ON ANYWAY?
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