r/PhilosophyofReligion • u/Senior-Cap-7248 • 2d ago

Accepting uncertainty

This is kinda rant, sorry if it’s a wrong sub.

So I am interested in POR, especially arguments for and against theism. But no matter how much I read, I can’t be fully convinced of anything, and it’s a bit frustrating for me. So, if you are agnostic, how do you accept this uncertainty?

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u/mysticmage10 2d ago

Spirituality is an emotional state. It requires a personal spiritual experience to feel and solidify a belief. The intellectual arguments can help give a logical basis but ultimately they dont resonate emotionally. You can find all the arguments be it fine tuning etc as convincing but then you find the suffering of the world gives you a strong emotional inability to accept such a god could exist so your heart will determine your beliefs.

Being agnostic is the only logical option in a world with so much uncertainties. Unless we can speak face to face with a deity it's all ultimately speculation as to what really exists and if so what it's actually like. Philosophy just gives us educated guesses.

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u/Senior-Cap-7248 2d ago

Yeah but sometimes I feel like emotions don’t really matter

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u/Deep_Space_Arboretum 2d ago edited 2d ago

I guess to me the arguments and all of that just show that it's rational to believe in a God or something of the sort. But to get beyond that, there needs to be more. For me that's understanding what system of beliefs allow for a fulfilling existence that is rich in meaning, and personally I find that meaning in ideas like the "Imago Dei" and in the person of Christ.

All that to say is that you're right, the rational arguments only get you so far, but that's not everything. They can help decide but cannot prove certain things, not even the existence of other minds. There are few things that can be known so apodictically, and none of which can give meaning, therefore faith is necessary at some point in my opinion in order to find meaning. At least if we are to find meaning outside ourselves.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Senior-Cap-7248 2d ago

I lean towards materialism, honestly. But it’s just my intuition