Whether you’re a seasoned commenter, a lurker or a first time visitor, I’d love to hear a little bit about you and I’m sure that others would love an idea about who else visits The Aspirational Agnostic. You can either just say ‘Hi’, or go a bit further and tell us a bit about your own spiritual ‘journey’. Feel free to add a link to your blog too (What do you mean you don’t have a blog. Of course you have a blog. Everyone has a blog!)
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Pingback: ‘Introduce Yourself’ Page | The Aspirational Agnostic
Hey! My name is Chelsea Dent and I have been blogging for a little while now (this sounds like an AA intro and for that I am sorry). I grew up in a Christian home and in church and came to know the Lord at a very young age, but am still a wretched sinner who wanders back and forth to and fro, and only by the grace of God does He pull me back in the fold every time. No matter how far or long I stray He is always there waiting for me and loves me in spite of myself. I am in constant need of reminder that I have, and actually NEED, a Savior and that He has already come, died and risen again for me. Its so amazing because all I must do is receive His Word as true, and strive to turn from sin and live a life in accordance to His Word. My God is gracious, loving, merciful, kind and so much more! I would love for you and anyone who reads this to check out my blog and on my blog I have a page that speaks more to what and how salvation works… The page is called Know Jesus Personally Today.
https://gettingpersonalwithmommadent.wordpress.com/know-jesus-personally-today/
Hi Chelsea you brave thing, going first 🙂 Welcome and thanks for sharing. I’ll check your blog out (looks like I’m still on the computer this morning 😉 )
Hi Eva,
Kim from Victoria Australia, thanks for visiting my blog.
I am new to this whole walk with the Lord thing. i never grew up with any religion and somehow along the way (similar to you with the great Wicca books, add in Native American Spirituality and Faery Magick) Ive found myself here and wanting to know “What am I missing?”
Stay at home Wife, Mother and full-time Grandma! Looking forward to following you.
Hi Kim, I think that we all find ourselves searching for ‘what works’, don’t we? I’ll be enjoying your blog too 🙂
Hello! I’m Arielle from Tasmania. I grew up in a very anti religion household. Every Tuesday when the scripture lady came to do her session at school I had to sit outside and feel annoyed because she gave the kids jellybeans. I thought it was unfair that you had to believe in God to get a jellybean. I also thought it was strange that she never offered me one (she offered me disapproving looks). I would have offered the kid sitting alone a jellybean even if she was a heathen. I’m sure God would have wanted me to have one.
I became really interested in faith and belief at college and uni. I went to lots of different churches and mixed with lots of different people, and questioned a lot. I read lots, talked to people,…. I particularly liked the idea of active faith, where people really live their beliefs.
I think now I am comfortable with being an atheist. I think and feel that there is more to life than just plodding along, and I am still drawn to discussions about faith and belief and religion.
This is a really great blog.
Oh, REL, you’ve cut to the heart of the matter in a single post: give the kid a jellybean, you miserable creature!!!
I hope that she doesnt mind me outing her, but Arielle and I grew up as Best Friends in the Whole Wide World and our backgrounds are very similar. We have taken different belief paths at the moment but who knows what will happen 😉
Also, I stopped scripture because she did. I could be an evangelist now if things had been different!
I hope Eva doesn’t mind me outing her, but we get our coffee from the same shop. (At least, we used to; I haven’t seen her there in ages.)
I’ve been going to the new place. Because cake.
This is my favorite thing ever today.”I thought it was unfair that you had to believe in God to get a jellybean.”
She is the funniest person ever, Andrea. She should have a blog too. 🙂
I do remember Eva and I sitting together outside the class…plotting…..
Thanks kingstonjack – I agree – JELLYBEANS FOR EVERYONE!
Oh, and meant to say – nice to meet you Chelsea and Kim. I liked reading your introductions.
(o:
Hi Rel, nice to meet you too.
Hi I’m Eric, and I waited so I wouldn’t be the first. I live in Sydney Australia, have been a christian for more than 50 years, but my beliefs have changed and grown quite a lot in that time. Neither my wife nor I grew up in christian homes, but we started following Jesus in our mid to late teens, met each other when we were both about 20 and married a year or two later. I enjoy Eva’s blog because it is honest and doesn’t follow a formula. I’ve enjoyed reading everyone else’s comments. Hi everyone! 🙂
And I highly recommend Eric’s blogs for their considered and well researched perspectives.
Hello. I’m Mike O’Brien. I never really used to believe in anything spiritual or supernatural at all. But then a year or so back, I had an encounter with a relative of mine who died in 1995. Since then she has taught me that the world in which we live is not the place I thought it was. She keeps a blog on here at http://auntdoris.wordpress.com/
I also have a blog. http://spaceballed.wordpress.com But I don’t use it much at the moment. Perhaps when my Aunt is not keeping me so busy, I shall return to it.
I enjoy reading the Aspirational Agnostic, because I have developed in interest in the spiritual side of life, and whilst I am not particularly drawn to christianinty in particular, I am a lot more open to all kinds of spiritual or religious thought.
And the Aspirational Agnostic is often very thought provoking stuff.
And it was a great relief for me to see that the dead retain their sense of humour. Aunt Doris is absolutely my favourite funny dead person
Hello! Glad I’m not first too 🙂 I’m Anne from Surrey in the UK. I’ve been a Christian for over 30 years now, but I left the Church of England earlier this year because I disliked their stance on GLBTQ people and same-sex marriage so much. I’m now going to a small URC church (United Reformed) but I’m not getting too involved just now, as I’m not very good in teams!
Great idea for a page by the way – I love it!
Anne B
When I was looking for a church to attend the stance on GLBTQ and women in general was a deal breaker for me too. But also, not very involved because I’m kind of emotionally lazy and the team thing 🙂
Hey Everyone! I write a blog called Journal by Jane (sjkennedy618.wordpress.com) It’s not necessarily a spiritual blog, but I write poetry and I find that my questions about faith often show up in my poems.
I was raised by divorced parents that were on opposite ends of the religious spectrum. My mother is a devout Christian and my father is an atheist. When I was with my mother she involved me in the Episcopal Church but when I was with my father, he belittled my mother’s faith. He made me feel that if I were to believe in something, he would view me as naive and idiotic.
I don’t know if I’ve ever truly and wholly believed in something. I’ve had many bad things happen to me in my life that have made me question the Christian faith. There is just so much out there that is unknown amd sometimes it seems like faith is a crutch. But I’m still open to the possibility of finding something to believe in, especially now that I have children of my own. I don’t want to raise them the way my parents raised me. I don’t want to force them to believe in something or belittle them for what they do believe. I just hope to find some answers for myself and to be someone my children can feel comfortable talking to about their own doubts and questions.
Hi there Jane, lovely to meet you. I’m sure that you won’t raise your children in the way that you were raised, purely because you are conscious of it and know that the damage it did to you. That particular concern is one that I also grapple with and I am constantly wondering if I am giving my children the right messages. From a spiritual, yet non didactic viewpoint, I love ‘Buddha at Bedtime’ and ‘On my way to a Happy Life’. I like the ‘Jesus Story book Bible’ although they do give that one a bit of the side eye at times!
Thanks! I will definitely look into the books you recommended, especially “Buddha at Bedtime”. I took a religion class in college that covered Buddhism and I was fascinated. It’s been a while though so I think I might start studying it again.
Well in that case,
http://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-Mothers-Sarah-Napthali-ebook/dp/B004Q7D37K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412215923&sr=8-1&keywords=Buddhism+for+mothers
Sorry, I can’t not recommend books 🙂
Thanks 🙂
Hi – I’m Andrea. I’m a produced TV, magazine and website writer who found Jesus about 5 years ago. I was raised Catholic, but never felt I knew God in a personal way. When my son was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, I found myself really searching for meaning and found it in the Christian church. It was very peaceful to me to think that despite the ever changing tics, my God was the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. I don’t have all the answers to back me up in a theological debate (hence this blog being so interesting and helpful) but I DO see a major change in my life happening because of my relationship with the Lord. I now am a community manager for a big faith website, Believe.com (a sister site to ChristianMingle… same company as JDate). It’s a very conservative site, which is fine (it’s my job and that’s my audience) but I’m really interested in all points of view. While on one hand I so desperately want to believe that my way is “right” I do not find 100% peace in that. Many of my family members are Jewish. I have gay and lesbian friends. What about them? I struggle between wanting to have “answers” for peace and yet feeling that maybe the mystery is where God truly is? I don’t know. I admit it. It’s why I’m here. But… there is no peace in constant waffling. And so, I’m committed to Christ anyway and if He is the real deal, He will show me the way. That’s where I stand!
You have such an interesting background and you’re clearly on a journey too. I’m looking forwards to your contributions 🙂
Sam’s the name. Stumbled upon this great host’s blog while looking up anything with an agnostic appendix. It makes discussions a tad more interesting than with those on either sides of the fence.
Having followed you for some time I would not stop reading even if you decide to hop off the fence 🙂 I would know it was a genuine one. Merely because I don’t actually believe in fences 🙂
My appendix is not so much agnostic as useless. It just sits there doing nothing, apart from the occasional threat to explode inside my abdominal cavity!
You don’t believe in fences? I’m sorry, Sam, but I’ve actually seen a fence. I think you’ll find there is plenty of empirical evidence for the existence of fences. I’m not trying to convert you to a fence-ist position. You don’t have to worship fences, just acknowledge that they are real.
Nice try. In the holy book of Wikipedia they say that the true function of the appendix is not known. It leaves room for speculation the same as the pseudo-logical dead-ended theology does.
Not sure if it useless but it makes the journey more bearable.
Can you practice fencing over a fence though?
Oh Sam, it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe in fences, as long as they believe in you.
They are stubborn the buggers. They would believe in anything as long as you don’t ignore them.
Hi Eva, thanks for dropping by my blog.
Hi Eva, Thanks for following my blog. I hope that you enjoy my posts. I surly appreciate your honesty as you share your journey.
Hi Eva,
I’m an ex-agnostic who was of the don’t know, don’t wanna know variety. After I had what I deemed a spiritual experience(could have just been psychosis) I became a believer but still don’t affiliate with any religion. I come from a family that is Christian but my parents always left my bro and me free to choose our path which is uncommon among traditional South Indian families I think. Not sure. My beliefs are now more of the spiritual, New Agey type. Love that you are following my blog and will be following your blog as well since it holds the kind of material I’m interested in.
This comment may be a kind of relapse for me since I told myself I would abstain from anything spiritually related from Last Thursday to upcoming Thursday. This was because I thought I was becoming addicted to my spiritual seeking on the Net and wanted to see if I could go cold turkey for a while. What the hell… One relapse won’t kill me, right? (Spoken like a true druggie…)
<Oh god, my blog caused you to go off the wagon! Maybe it's actually a tool of the devil… But I'm sure you can read it just once then stop 😉
This is a great idea!
We are Ed & Ang and blog over at http://spiritualbahana.com. We both grew up in church, but have taken a different path and approach to spirituality as adults. Our blog is an exploration of that path and connecting more to God spiritually rather than religiously.
Welcome- I’m enjoying your blog so far 🙂
I like this blog because of your openness and also because you’re a good writer.
I come at this from the opposite direction. My “progress” was from a mainline progressive church to a spirit-filled Evangelical church to taking a break to see where I stood. I saw that churches who “thought” about issues, especially political and economic subjects, often didn’t have much “spirit” in them, but that churches that were filled with “spirit” didn’t have much “thought” to go along with it. For example, how could Jesus, or anyone else with the freedom to think, really believe that women are subordinate to men in any way
I decided to think the whole thing through “from scratch”. Very soon, it occurred to me that part of the answer might lie at the juncture where theology and psychology meet; that linguistics might be another fulcrum point; and that courage was a key to any spiritual search because of the social pressures that could be brought to bear upon anyone who thinks for themself.
The result was my recent book “Diner Mystic” at http://www.amazon.com/DINER-MYSTIC-Self-Spiritual-Democracy/dp/1496142748 and a blog of the same name at http://dinermystic.com/.
Your perspective is so interesting, thanks for sharing. I just bought the kindle edition of your book, although that may be just because you told me I’m a good writer. I’m a bit easy like that… 😉
Hi Eva, my name is Fran, and I found my way here because you must have found your way to my little blog! 🙂
Anyway, I love the look of your blog (sheesh this sounds like spam!) and I love the way that you seem to explore things… at least from the bits I have read so far.
Looking forward to reading more!
Hi Eva,
This is a cool idea to have an introduce yourself page. I am an atheist if one follows the commonly held definition presented by atheists today. If one follows the definition held by believers then I am just an agnostic (semantics sometimes irks me a little though to be perfectly honest 🙂 ). I’ve never been a Dawkins follower though. I’ve just always preferred to have a more positive view of people who have different worldviews than my own. I also feel like the label “possibilian” fits me best.
My own journey has been somewhat colorful (or at least it seems that way to me). I’ve written some of it here: http://truthiselusive.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/in-search-of-gods/
Your blog will probably be more geared toward Christian views so not sure I’ll be commenting much but who knows. I prefer building bridges to people of other worldviews rather than walls so I try my best to be a bit careful where I comment as well as how I comment. Best of luck to you in your journey.
Hello Eva, my name is Noel. I am from Florida. How is the weather in Australia? I like this page because it feels so welcoming. I was raised in the in the Catholic church, then converted to Pentecostal church, and now I am just a spiritual wonderer. I am a reflective person who has learned to embrace various approaches in life. I am a strong believer in living the “kingdom of heaven” that Jesus taught (being poor in spirit, merciful, peacemaker, etc), and in serving the poor. I love practicing mindfulness and the teachings of Buddha. I don’t attend church any more, and I have lived a life almost without God, although I still believe He/She exists. I have practiced more Deism than Theism, but I am not a big fan of labels either. I prefer to continue to seek God through reasoning and personal experience, rather than blind faith and indoctrination. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to introduce ourselves. I will continue to follow your interesting blog. Feel welcome to visit mine. Take care. P.S.
Greetings to Howie and UnkleE.
I love your story- it sounds like we have many similarities. Thanks for introducing yourself and I look forwards to reading your blog.
And the weather is a bot cold for Summer, sadly, but at least there wont be a bushfire at my place in the next few weeks 🙂
Eva, just a note to let you know an excerpt from “Diner Mystic” has just been published in “Tiferet”.
https://files.ctctcdn.com/9e7e6acb001/4c5f9659-ac59-408f-a046-c552c77dbe0a.pdf?utm_source=Winter+2015+Digital+Issue+to+Subs+%26+Contest+Entries&utm_campaign=Jan2015DigitalIssue&utm_medium=email
Peter
That’s great!
Hi! I’ve just stumbled across your blog and I’m intrigued by your hopeful faith-tinged agnosticism (if I’ve understood it correctly – apologies if I’m wrong!).
I’m from rural Victoria, now living in Melbourne. 🙂
Spiritually I’m definitely on a journey, and if there’s a label for Celtic-Catholic-Mystic-Pentecostal-Sciencey-Trinitarian Universalist-Jesus Centric-Bible Nerd with a slight dash of Norse Heathen then that just might describe me. 😛
(For simplicity’s sake I identify as Christian…)
I look forward to browsing more of your blog. 🙂
Ha- what a fabulously eclectic description! I can identify with a lot of that I think. I’ve moved from agnostic to Christian now, but I still think that there’s definitely a work in progress type of situation going on. I hope you’ll join in with the discussion 🙂
Lol yes, it’s a bit odd. I think it’s just because I’m always learning, and every new thing I learn adds a layer to my perspective! Though in every sense my core beliefs are Christian, and about as average Christian as it gets. It’s just on the peripheral stuff that I find I am a mash of different views! 🙂
And yes, I look forward to reading more of your posts! My mother is a professed Agnostic but it’s interesting because even though she sits on the more Atheist side of that fence, she’s always been quite open minded. I imagine she doesn’t know what she did to get a pair of very spiritual children!
Hello Eva. I’m so glad I happened upon your blog. I think this page, in particular, is a great idea! I may have to copy (which is the greatest form of flattery, I’ve been told). I’m a redeemed ragamuffin who loves God, and I believe we are all on a spiritual journey, whether we realize it or not. I look forward to following your blog. And, oh, I am from the U.S….one of the Southern ones, but I do wear shoes and I don’t live in a shack, even though I am a ragamuffin! https://diaryofaragamuffin.wordpress.com/
Hi there! I copied the idea too so feel free the keep the idea going! Lovely to meet you 🙂
Hi I really resonate with your blog. I feel like we are at a similar place. I come from the other end as I was a devoted Christian for many years. I have a hard time identifying as a Christian now. And feel more comfortable with agnostic but go back and forth as to whether I to consider myself a Christian or even want to. Maybe liberal or heretical Christian. Depends on the day. I just don’t know anymore but I too found the moral influence theory extremely helpful. Also meditation, and universalism help me to remain open to God if he/she is there and I still spend a lot of time in community with Christians. Thanks for your open honesty.
Thanks for your input. I love mediation. It’s one of the main things that helps connect me to God. And your comment reminds me that I need to spend more time in community with other Christian. thanks 🙂
Hi! I have never seen a blog that asks readers to introduce themselves. Such a neat idea. I just stumbled upon your blog yesterday when I Google searched “how to be an agnostic”. That’s when I realized that I think I am one, after not knowing for several years what I have become through my simultaneous lack of faith and lack of disbelief, but constant desire for truth. I still have not admitted this to my Roman Catholic family, and in some ways I am still sad when I think about how strong and unshakeable my faith was through high school, how it got me through so much and formed my view of people and the world. I miss the simple certainty that I had, the deep sense of peace and joy that I always carried. College opened my mind and challenged me, forced me to see the many other ways of living in the world and to question whether I had really been born into the one true faith. I believe I have become more open-minded, which is a good thing, but is harder to live this way with the aching desire to know, the search for deep purpose that my religion and God always provided. I was grateful to find your blog and a fellow community of seekers who don’t know but always want to continue talking about what they don’t know, and who allow others to be on their own unique journeys. I still believe certain truths, such as the necessity of love and community, and the intrinsic value of life, but I don’t know what I believe about the origin of love or of life. I hope always to search for meaning in life and to learn from the quests of others for the same. Great to meet you!
Hi there Jana; so glad to meet you.
Make sure that you never feel bad about questioning. It sounds like you are at a really interesting stage of your life right now. You’ve taken some wonderful things from your faith but you’re not sure where you are going to travel next, and that’s ok. Not knowing can be a perfectly authentic way of being too.
You should start a blog though 😉
Eva
Thanks for the “like” Eva. It means a lot to me because I respect your blog and love your writing.
Diner Mystic aka tagore aka Peter
What a lovely thing to say; the feeling is reciprocated ❤
Eva,
I’m “FiN”. You liked a post of mine today (depending upon the value of today since you are on the other side of the world!); thank you. That led me to check out your blog, which is fascinating.
About me, about my blog: My blog is Faith is Darkness. It is primarily about my journey to sobriety. I am a Catholic who identifies very much with St. John of the Cross’s comparison of faith with night and darkness. My experience of faith has been largely objective; when I seek the subjective side of things it feels as though my prayers bounce off the ceiling and that I am talking to myself. Objectively I know better, but this subjective darkness is where I find myself. I stumble along as best I can with God’s help. I am also an addict (hence the sobriety journey) who has been learning a lot about himself. More stumbling. My knees are scraped up and my head is banged up. 😃
Your journey is an encouragement to me.
FiN
Your blog is amazing; I’m in awe of what you’re doing and you’ll be in my prayers. Have you found that blogging has been useful to you so far in your sobriety?
You are most kind, and I appreciate your prayers very much. You ask if blogging is helpful in my sobriety. It definitely is! Writing the blog forces me to think, and to try to think carefully and honestly about a subject that is very painful to me. Another way it helps is that it functions in a weird way like a twelve-step group. I want to be as honest as I reasonably can with my readers, who serve as my “group” 🙂
And that brings up another way the blog helps. I do not want to disappoint my readers – my group – by having to admit that I’ve only been sober for the last two days (or whatever)! Lol! 🙂
I will pray for you too. You are very brave to have abandoned atheism for Christianity, and have done so not without personal cost from what I’ve read.
FiN
Hello Eva,
Thanks for stopping by my blog (www.thechristianmindng.org). As you probably already know, I am a Christian from Nigeria. I was born a Christian, though nominal. I got converted some years ago and ever since, I have been longing to help people understand the Christian worldview.
Hi, Eva. Just found your blog looking for other agnostics. I understand you’re leaning more in the “Christian” direction now, but I’m drawn by your amazing balance of inner authenticity and outward-focused love. If you’re a Christian, there’s nothing “churchy” about you (and that’s a really good thing). I’m a former Christian myself (suffer from mental illness and was “addicted to God” for many years) and now agnostic, but still searching. I deeply appreciate your unconditional acceptance of and mutual respect for everyone and the way you extend that to your students. I’m going to re-share the video you posted, Ill mind of Hospin 7 to my blog. It’s an experience so many people can identify with, but are so afraid of blasphemy and of being authentic, many don’t even acknowledge it consciously. I gotta send you a virtual hug!! Following now. You can find my blog at https://beyondreligiosity.wordpress.com.
Shawna
Thank you so much for your kind words. I am now a christian but I suppose also always an agnostic, in the sense that I don’t know ‘for sure’. I think authenticity is what we all strive for, but sometimes it’s a rocky road trying to get there! I’m sure I’ve confused ‘over sharing’ and ‘people pleasing’ with authenticity along the way, but occasionally I get it right 😉 I’ll enjoy reading your blog too. Eva x.