For the purpose of this post, I will define agnostic as the belief that the existance of a greater power cannot be proved or disproved. I personally do not doubt that there is a God/dess but I realize that others do and I respect that point of view. So I am not skeptical. I really don't appreciate how www.dictionary.com defined agnostic. One of the synonyms listed was pagan. Really?
Now the deist part - Wikipedia does a great job with the deist and theist articles. I never knew it was a difference. In a nutshell, theists believe that God created the universe and very much has a part in its day-to-day functions, including intervening in human lives. Deists believe that God created the universe and then went on vacation, so to speak. Humans are to do as they please, for better or for worse. If and when shit hits the fan, God says, don't look for my help. Again, both definitions are really broad and I like to think of deism and theism as being on opposite ends of a spectrum. One may fall anywhere in-between.
Me? I've discovered that I'm closer to the deism end. Another thing I've learned is that deism promotes using God-given logic and reason; theism is usually based on a holy book of some kind. As you know, I used to be Christian. The holy book is the Bible, both old and new testaments. I was brought up to believe that EVERYTHING in the Bible was true and that it was THE word of God. If you weren't Christian or more specifically a JW, then you weren't following "the truth" no matter how good of a person you were. The big 3 - Christianity, Judism, and Islam - are revealed religions, that is, someone was spoken to by God and wrote down what He said. Basically, the Bible, Torah, and Quran are hearsay. Theistic religions require one to suspend reason and logic. If this was court, hearsay would be disallowed. However, many people based their entire lives on these books of hearsay. Now, don't get me wrong, there are some great lessons in the Bible and perhaps some true stories (like the Flood, not sure that Noah built an ark though). But theists suspend reason and logic by believing that as great as God is, only one faith is the "right" one. Is it reasonable to think that God does not have enough love for the entire human race?
Deism reminds me of Buddhism in a way. The Buddha said to listen to his speeches and if someone didn't sound right to you, discard it. He also encouraged people to not take his word, to try out things for themselves. He realized that not everything would work for everybody. Deism is compatible with Paganism. There is no centralized organization. In fact, having a deist church would really defeat the purpose. The closest thing in my experience so far is the Universal Unitarians. Although UU started out as liberal Christian, Christianity is a minority among their members.
I've been liberated from following someone else's divine inspiration. I am now following my own as each of us should.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism
http://www.reasonandspirit.com/2011-04-23-21-39-20/member-perspectives/entry/our-spiritual-operating-system
This site blew my mind - World Union of Deists http://www.deism.com/
If you're spirtual but not religious, you just might be a deist.
PS. It's not about labelling myself but more of finding out what's out there and where I fit in.
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