I'm so excited to have the chance to rescue this nodeshell I can barely contain myself.
"God probably doesn't exist" is a typical comment from an atheistic agnostic. For the sake of clarification, there are generally two types of agnostic, the theistic agnostic and the atheistic agnostic. The former believes that to know definitively is impossible, but they believe that there is a god or gods. The latter believes that to know definitively is impossible, but does not believe there is a god or gods.
Agnostic in itself simply means "unknowable". Based on my experience, there are a lot more theistic agnostics than there are atheistic agnostics.IMHO, the reason for this is that most people, even if they believe that the existence of god cannot be proven, simply cannot accept that their existence is effectively arbitrary. In other words, regardless of the fact that they can't prove that god exists, they choose to believe that god exists because the alternative is too depressing or frightening for them. In order to justify this belief, they utilize a tool of anti-logic called "faith". With "faith", they explain, it is not necessary to have proof in order to confirm the existence of something. This is very convenient for them, but not very useful for those of us who require evidence with a little more substance.
As you may have gathered by now, I am an atheistic agnostic. I don't believe that I can provide indisputable evidence that god does not exist, but I have no reason to believe he/she/it does. In fact, I can't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any "supernatural" occurrences are preposterous, but I happen to believe they are. I have not heard, seen, or felt any more or less evidence for the existence of god, ghosts or spirits than I have for the existence of Peter Pan. Believe me when I say this isn't for lack of trying.
I was raised in a strict religious cult called the "Word of God". I have been to church, Word of God "Youth Activities", prayer meetings, camps and seminars innumerable times. I have read and/or heard the bible read from so many times that I wouldn't doubt that I've heard every word in there two or three times. For a period of time I used to meet with the neighborhood members of the Word of God to sing, pray, and lay prostrate before "god" for 3 hours every morning, begging the "holy spirit" to enter my life and show me the error of my ways. I used to struggle against "impure thoughts" on a hourly basis. I spoke in tongues. I prayed with my hands in air, bouncing around for hours. I tried to believe everything that I was told, because everyone around me believed it, but I didn't get it.
The conclusion that I came to after years of searching for ideas or feelings that justified a belief in jesus christ, god and/or the holy spirit, is that while they can be imagined with enough prayer, hype and hope, there really aren't any that come from above. Yet, as I have heard time and again, I am supposed to accept it all on "faith". I am supposed to pray to a god I don't believe in, and ask "him" to reveal his love for me. Well, I have come to the conclusion that "he" is probably not there.
People are so desperate to believe in something, anything that will make all the pain and struggle of daily existence appear to be worthwhile, that they ignore what seems to be the most obvious answer: There is probably no point to life. There is probably no particular reason you were born. You probably have no mission to accomplish. You are probably not going to live eternally, in heaven or in hell. You are an animal, with certain biological requirements and a relatively short life-span, and that is all. You are going to die, and after you die, it will probably become totally irrelevant what you did while you were alive. It's ugly, it's depressing, and it's frightening, but it's probably the truth.
God probably doesn't exist.