Gabby1275 wrote:

....  I've heard different definations from different people, I guess what they feel it means,  so what is agnostic.  a girl I work with who  says that is what she is, says it means  she believes there is something out (some higher power)there but unknown as to what.

Hi Gabby, sorry for the delay. There are indeed different types of agnosticism. I'll start with the more common definition of agnosticism,  most closely associated with atheism. I tend to be one of those, or an agnostic atheist to be exact.  I don't believe god(s) exist (That's the atheist part) and that I don't KNOW whether or not god(s) exist, which is the AGNOSTIC portion. Agnosticism (without knowledge) is the opposite of Gnosticism (knowledge).  In the end, I must simply admit I don't know whether god exists, I don't believe h/she does, and based upon the holy books from the Abrahamic faiths passed down from the Desert, I don't want anything to DO with such a terrible, wrathful and jealous diety.... :D

Then there are Christian Agnostics, Jewish Agnostics, in other words THEIST Agnostics who believe in a diety (that's the Theist portion) but don't KNOW that a diety actually exists (The agnosticism portion).  Your coworker sounds like a theist agnostic, which is also a position shared by many in the UU and more liberal Christian churches. Or, she could also be a Deist as well. Deists believe in a supreme, hands off kind of deity that formed the universe but doesn't intervene in any way.

I hope this helps to clarify,

----agnosticspirit

[QUOTE=agnosticspirit;628716]Hi Gabby, sorry for the delay. There are indeed different types of agnosticism. I'll start with the more common definition of agnosticism,  most closely associated with atheism. I tend to be one of those, or an agnostic atheist to be exact.  I don't believe god(s) exist (That's the atheist part) and that I don't KNOW whether or not god(s) exist, which is the AGNOSTIC portion. Agnosticism (without knowledge) is the opposite of Gnosticism (knowledge).  In the end, I must simply admit I don't know whether god exists, I don't believe h/she does, and based upon the holy books from the Abrahamic faiths passed down from the Desert, I don't want anything to DO with such a terrible, wrathful and jealous diety.... :D

Then there are Christian Agnostics, Jewish Agnostics, in other words THEIST Agnostics who believe in a diety (that's the Theist portion) but don't KNOW that a diety actually exists (The agnosticism portion).  Your coworker sounds like a theist agnostic, which is also a position shared by many in the UU and more liberal Christian churches. Or, she could also be a Deist as well. Deists believe in a supreme, hands off kind of deity that formed the universe but doesn't intervene in any way.

I hope this helps to clarify,

----agnosticspirit[/QUOTE]

Yes thank you for answering,  and hey  there are days i can get online several times a day, and  other times not for a few days, so I understand completely.
And that does help me to understand that better. I forget how we even started talking about it,  it was a few years ago and she said something about being agnostic,  honestly  it was the first time I had ever heard the word. And she asked if i knew what it ment. I told her no, and she went on to explain what it ment to her.  Perveiously I had only met  people of different faiths, Jewish, Christian,  Wiccan,  Athiest etc.  Funny enough I have no idea what so ever  what faith my grandfather was, and I lived with my grandparents the first 19 years of my life.

I can tell you he believed in a god, and he certainly was not catholic, my grandmother was catholic and  when they married they were not allowed to marry in the church, but they had to promise to raise their children catholic.  I never got the full story,  but she lost faith in the catholic religion and broke away from it. But I do know my mother was a  child old enough to remember  having gone to the catholic church at the time.

There are many things I guess I will never know,  my grandfather had dementia pretty badly the last few years of his life. And took his secretes with him to the grave.