Difference Between Agnostic and Atheist

The following article was obtained through the website, Difference Between Anything and Everything

The difference between agnostic and atheist is that agnostics are often classified as people who doubt the idea of God, but don’t claim to know whether or not God exists. Atheists, on the other hand, are people who believe that there is no God. Some people may say they are agnostic atheists, meaning they don’t think their beliefs can be classified as either atheist or agnostic.

The word “agnostic” derives from the term “ignorance”. The word is often misused to mean lack of knowledge, but in fact, means to not be able to know. An agnostic has no reason to believe whether there is a god or not. Agnostics are often considered atheistic by other people, but they are different.

Atheists are people who do not believe in God, while agnostics are unsure of whether or not there is a god. So, in this article, we’ll discuss the difference between agnostic and atheist briefly.

What is Agnostic?

Agnostic is a term that has been used to describe people who claim they are neither theist nor atheist. The term was first coined by Thomas Huxley in 1869. There are many variations of agnosticism, but some may believe in vague, unquantifiable concepts such as “the unknown” or “unknowable things”. As a religion, agnosticism is the belief that the nature of divine reality is unknowable.

Some may even believe in a higher power without assigning it to a specific god. Agnosticism can be contrasted with atheism, which holds that it is not possible to know the nature of divine reality. Both positions have their origins in classical philosophy and they are as old as classical antiquity.  

It has been suggested that people who hold these positions should be called ‘ignostic’ rather than ‘agnostic’. They’re people who can’t tell if there is a God or not. Being an agnostic, they don’t believe in the idea of God, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t believe in anything else.

What is Atheist?

Atheism is the absence of belief in the existence of gods. If someone doesn’t believe in any deities, they are considered an atheist. Atheists don’t know anything about supernatural forces and events because there is no evidence to back them up. Atheism is the disbelief in the existence of a deity.

The term was coined by author Paul Henri Thiry, Baron D’Holbach in the 18th century. Atheists are not defined by what they believe but by their lack of belief. You don’t have to believe that there is no god to be an atheist. They have fought hard to have their views taken seriously, but are still often seen as immoral, untrustworthy, or just plain weird.

They are often viewed as immoral, untrustworthy, or just plain weird. They’re often the target of prejudice and discrimination for holding beliefs that diverge from the norm. Yet atheists have also joined together to fight against religious bigotry and raise their profile in society by simply being open about their lack of belief.

Atheism is the lack of belief in any gods. It’s an independent system of thoughts that are not based on religious ideologies. Atheists believe that science and logic are more dependable than divine intervention.

Difference Between Atheist and Agnostic

The difference between agnostic and atheist is that the former claims to not know whether or not there is a God whereas the latter is firmly convinced there is no such thing. Both, however, are generally defined as someone who has either rejected belief in God or does not believe in him at all.

Agnostic and Atheist are two very different groups that are often misunderstood. The main difference between the two is that Agnostics still believe in some form of god, while Atheists do not. Agnostics are the more populous group, with estimates around 1.5 billion followers.

Atheists, on the other hand, have a small population of only around 200 million and also mainly reside in developed countries such as Europe and North America.

Both Agnostics and Atheists are people who disbelieve in the existence of a god or gods. Agnostics don’t know whether there is a god or not, whereas Atheists do not believe that any gods exist. There are many different theories as to why people dismiss the idea of a god, and one of them is cognitive dissonance. 

Every miracle performed by Jesus Christ

The following article was obtained through the website, Stars Insider.

There are numerous accounts of miracles performed by Jesus in the Bible. Many of them are indeed quite spectacular. Not only was Jesus able to heal people, but he also fed them and quenched their thirst. And even when things seemed to have ended for good, Jesus was able to bring people back from the dead. Jesus Christ was a prolific miracle worker. 

Turning water into wine

This is that one miracle that many of us wish we could replicate at times when we don’t want to make a trip to the convenience store in the middle of the night! The Gospel of John describes Jesus’ first miracle: turning water into wine at a wedding.

But how much water was turned into wine, exactly? John 2:1-11 tells us that it was six stone water jars; each containing 20 or 30 gallons (75-113 l). Needless to say, everyone was really impressed! Especially his disciples, who finally got proof of Jesus’ powers.

Healing the sick

Jesus healed a lot of people. There are plenty of examples in the Bible, including the time he healed the son of an official in Capernaum, who was dying. Or when he cured the mother-in-law of his disciple Simon Peter.

But Christ also went on to do some public healing. He actually healed crowds of people. All they had to do was to touch his robe, and voila!

A disease Jesus heals more than once in the Bible is leprosy. Not only was this condition more common back then, but it also represented those who were excluded from society.

Driving out evil spirits

Jesus, being the son of God, had to be good at getting rid of demons and evil spirits, right? Well, he sure was! On one occasion even the demon confessed that Jesus had control over him as Christ expelled him from a possessed man in Capernaum.

In Matthew 12:22-23, we find another example, this time of a possessed man who was blind and unable to speak, whom Jesus then healed.

And there was this one time when Jesus encountered a man possessed not by one, but by several demons, who called themselves the Legion. The demons were cast out and entered a herd of pigs. The pigs then “rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned.”

Allowing the paralyzed to walk

There was this one time when Jesus healed the servant of a centurion who was paralyzed in bed. This comes to show that Jesus healed both Jews and Gentiles.

Another example includes a group of men who came to Jesus with their paralytic friend lying on a mat. “Get up, pick up your mat, and go home,” said Jesus, according to Matthew 9:1-8. And the man walked again.

Healing the disabled

Luke 13:10-17 mentions an episode when Jesus healed a woman in a synagogue, who had been disabled for over 18 years. “Woman, you are free of your disability,” Christ said.

Allowing the blind to see

Healing the blind in the Bible has more to it than just giving people literal eyesight. There is also the spiritual connotation, of course. A good example would be Bartimaeus, a blind beggar who is healed by his faith.

Then in Matthew 9:27-31, Jesus proceeds to heal not one, but two blind men. Though again, it was their faith in Jesus that healed them. “Let it be done for you according to your faith!,” proclaimed the Messiah.

Jesus usually touched the eyes of the blind to heal them, but he also used another method, which is described in John 9:1-12: saliva. “He spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes.” That’s how Jesus healed this man who had been blind from birth.

Jesus keeps on healing

Throughout the Bible there are several accounts of Jesus engaging in numerous acts of healing. Another example included a man with a paralyzed hand whom Jesus healed on the Sabbath in a synagogue.

Jesus also tended to very specific conditions. A woman who had suffered from menstrual bleeding for 12 years was healed by her faith, as she touched Jesus’ robe.

There is also an account of Jesus healing “a man whose body was swollen with fluid.” As well as one where Jesus heals a man’s ear that was cut off by one of his disciples. The man came to arrest Jesus, so it was quite an act of compassion.

Raising the dead

Luke 7:11-17 tells of an episode when Jesus brought a young man back to life from his coffin during the funerary procession.

Then we have the story of how Jesus brought Lazarus back to life after he had been dead for four days. “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever,” said Jesus to Lazarus’ sister, Martha.

Lots of fish

Jesus used a miracle to recruit his first disciples: Simon Peter, James, and John. After a night without catching any fish, on Jesus’ command, they “caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear.” They quit fishing altogether and followed Jesus thereafter.

How do you prove to your disciples that you really are Jesus and were resurrected? By performing a similar miracle. How many fish did Jesus' disciples catch? 153 of them, according to John 21:4-11.

Money in a fish mouth

It looks like Jesus does have a thing with fish. When men came to collect the payment of tax from Peter, Jesus helped him out in typical Jesus fashion.

Jesus told Peter: “[...] go to the sea, cast in a fishhook, and take the first fish that you catch. When you open its mouth you’ll find a coin.” There. Problem solved.

Calming the storm

Of course, being the son of God also has its perks when it comes to controlling the elements. And this is exactly what happened during a storm at sea.

Jesus calmed a storm when his disciples came to him desperately asking for help aboard a boat. They were so amazed that they said, “What kind of man is this?—even the winds and the sea obey Him!”

Feeding people

You might be familiar with this miracle. There is an account of Jesus feeding a large crowd by multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish.

How many people were fed exactly? “5,000 men, besides women and children,” according to Matthew 14:13-21. There was so much food that they had 12 baskets left over.

Walking on water

This popular miracle is mentioned in Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52, and John 6:16-21. Jesus was walking on the water towards the boat where his apostles were, when Peter told the Messiah: “Command me to come to You on the water.”

Jesus told him to go ahead, but Peter got really scared of the wind. Jesus helped him then and said, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” The wind then stopped.

Cursing a fig tree

Jesus was hungry and approached a fig tree, but when he noticed that it had no fruit, he cursed the tree to never bear fruit again. Did Jesus get a little arrogant on this one or was there some sort of meaning behind Jesus’ action?

One hypothesis is that the tree represents Israel, and Jesus' frustration at its people's failure to follow God’s will. But again, it might have just been that Jesus got grumpy because he was hungry. Who knows?

Sources: (Grunge)