Agnostics

1. AGNOSTICS – 22ndJuly 2016
“Sothey answeredJesus, “Wedon’tknow.” Jesussaid, “Neither will I tell youby
what authorityI am doingthese things.”(Mark11:33).
Thomas HenryHuxleywasanEnglishbiologistwhowasnicknamed“Darwin’sBulldog”forhisstaunch
supportof Darwin’stheoryof evolution.Huxleyisalsocreditedwithcoiningthe term“agnostic.”
Followinginhisfootsteps,hisgrandsonJulianHuxleywrote the followingaboutwhenapersonshould
assume a positionof agnosticism.He said“I believe thatone shouldbe agnosticwhenbelief one wayor
the otheris: A. Mere idle speculation,incapable of verification;B.Whenbelief isheldmerelytogratify
desires,howeverdeep-seated,andnotbecause itisforcedon us byevidence;C.Whenbelief maybe
takenby otherstobe more firmlygroundedthanitreallyis,andsocome toencourage false hopesor
wrongattitudesof mind.”
Huxleyfeltthat,“All lifelongwe are oscillatingbetweenconvictionandcaution,faithandagnosticism,
belief andsuspensionof belief.”A formal definitionof Huxley’s“agnostic”termtodayis:“a personwho
holdsthatthe existence of the ultimate cause,asGod,andthe essential nature of thingsare unknown
and unknowable,orthathumanknowledge islimitedtoexperience.”Fromthisdescription,itcanbe
saidthat an agnostic’spositionisone where he sayshe doesnotknow if Godexists.Speakingmore
broadly,some agnosticsstate thatitis difficulttoholdanytruthwith ‘certainty’…soas to getaway from
the issue.
The Englishterm"agnostic"isderivedfromthe Greek"agnostos,"whichmeans,"tonotknow."An
agnosticisone who admits,"Idon't know."The termisapplied specificallytothose whodon'tknowfor
certainwhetherornot God exists.Anagnosticisone whobelievesthatthe existence of Godisunknown
and mostlikelybeyondhumanabilitytodiscover.Bydefinition,anagnosticisnotcommittedto
believingin ordisbelievinginthe existenceof God.Nevertheless,whileagnosticismclaimsto "sitonthe
fence," manyagnosticsare "practical atheists,"inthattheyactivelypursue the atheisticlifestyle,Thatis,
theytendto subscribe tomoral relativismandlive outtheirliveswithoutanyconcernforultimate
accountability.
Can the agnosticknowwhetherornot God exists?Issuchknowledgeobtainablebymerelylistningor
readingof whatmen have stated…?Modernscientificendeavorseemstoindicate thatsuchknowledge
isobtainable tothe objective observer. Therefore letus examine the factsobjectively asbelow:
Agnosticismtypicallytakesone of twoforms--hardandsoft.The hardagnosticsays that a personcan’t
knowanythingforsure.However,thisisaself-defeatingpositionasthe hard agnosticsayshe knowsfor
sure that he can’t knowanythingforsure and therefore itbecomesanuntenable positiontoholdand
mustbe discarded.Whenwe hearpeople say“I know that these isnoGod” and that isa Hard Agnostic
statement.Incontrastto hard agnosticism, the softagnosticsayshe or she ‘doesn’tknow anythingfor
sure’.Atissue isnot the lackof humanabilityforknowingaparticulartruth,but ratherthe agnostic
struggleswithhowatruth claimcan be verifiedorshowntobe true. Itis the ancientpursuitof whatin
philosophyiscalledepistemology--howdowe know,andhow dowe know thatwe know?Whenthe
issue of determiningthe existence of the Christianbelief inGodisaddedtothe mix,thingsgeteven
stickier.

2. For the Christianitwouldbe goodto know how the claimsof the New TestamentandChristianityhold
up underHuxley’sfirstcriterion?Whenthe legal/historical methodsfordeterminingtruthare appliedto
the NewTestament,itstandsveryfirmunderHuxley’sstandard. Forthe Christianthe teachingsof the
NewTestamentcannotbe eitherHardor evenSoft Agnostics.We canlearnfrom the Gospel thatwhat is
statedthereinhasstoodthe testof time overmore than2000 years!
The writersof the NewTestamentneverstate thattheirbeliefswere basedonhearsayorwere events
that couldnot be authenticated.Quitethe opposite,asapostlessuchasPetersay, “Forwe did not
followcleverly devisedtales when we made knownto youthe power andcomingof our Lord Jesus
Christ,but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2 Peter 1:16). The disciplesrecordedoccurrences
that happenedinactual space/time,saw these eventswiththeirowneyes,andrecordedJesus’life,
death,andresurrectionsothat otherswouldknow the truthof what happened.
In termsof falsification,the apostlePaul gave the Agnostics - enemiesof Christianity - asingle truth
claimthat, if provenuntrue,wouldcrumbleanddestroyChristianityinaninstant: We can learnthis
from1 Corinthians15:13–14, “If there is no resurrection ofthe dead,then not even Christ hasbeen
raised.14
And ifChrist hasnot been raised, our preachingisuseless andso is your faith.”