{"id":204,"date":"2009-09-11T19:23:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-11T19:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2009\/09\/im-an-agnostic.html"},"modified":"2009-09-11T19:23:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-11T19:23:00","slug":"im-an-agnostic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2009\/09\/im-an-agnostic.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I&#8217;m an Agnostic&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--StartFragment-->  <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Every so often, people ask me spiritual questions. One that comes up again and again is, \u201cWho do you think is going to heaven, and who is going to hell?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">My short answer is, \u201cI\u2019m an agnostic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I know that \u201cagnostic\u201d is usually a word used to describe whether or not people believe in God. I firmly believe that God exists, and, even more, that God exists as a Trinity\u2014Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But I don\u2019t know, and I\u2019m glad I don\u2019t know, the answer to the question, \u201cWho is going to heaven, and who is going to hell?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I think it is possible to know (in the sense of having firm faith) that an individual <i>is<\/i><span style=\"font-style:normal\"> going to heaven. I believe that eternal life with God can start now through faith in the saving work of Jesus. But I do not think it is possible to know whether someone is going to hell.   <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">God is the judge, and I am not.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"> What is more, God is a gracious judge, \u201cslow to anger and abounding in love&#8221; (a phrase repeated throughout Scripture, see Exodus 34:6, Psalm 103:8), a judge who came \u201cnot to condemn the world but to save the world\u201d (John 3:17), a judge who \u201cis not slow in keeping his promise\u2026but patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance\u201d (2Peter 3:9).<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">So although it is tempting to try to categorize the world into saved and not saved, good and bad, right and wrong, I want to leave the judgment to God. And trust that whatever happens in the end will be consistent with God&#8217;s justice, and with God&#8217;s mercy and unfailing love.<\/p>\n<p>  <span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family:Times, fantasy\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: medium\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every so often, people ask me spiritual questions. One that comes up again and again is, \u201cWho do you think is going to heaven, and who is going to hell?\u201d My short answer is, \u201cI\u2019m an agnostic.\u201d I know that \u201cagnostic\u201d is usually a word used to describe whether or not people believe in God.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-down-syndrome"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&quot;I&#039;m an Agnostic&quot; - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2009\/09\/im-an-agnostic.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;I&#039;m an Agnostic&quot; - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every so often, people ask me spiritual questions. One that comes up again and again is, \u201cWho do you think is going to heaven, and who is going to hell?\u201d My short answer is, \u201cI\u2019m an agnostic.\u201d I know that \u201cagnostic\u201d is usually a word used to describe whether or not people believe in God.&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2009\/09\/im-an-agnostic.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-11T19:23:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"amyjuliabecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"I'm an Agnostic\" - Thin Places","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2009\/09\/im-an-agnostic.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"I'm an Agnostic\" - Thin Places","og_description":"Every so often, people ask me spiritual questions. One that comes up again and again is, \u201cWho do you think is going to heaven, and who is going to hell?\u201d My short answer is, \u201cI\u2019m an agnostic.\u201d I know that \u201cagnostic\u201d is usually a word used to describe whether or not people believe in God.&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2009\/09\/im-an-agnostic.html","og_site_name":"Thin Places","article_published_time":"2009-09-11T19:23:00+00:00","author":"amyjuliabecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2009\/09\/im-an-agnostic.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2009\/09\/im-an-agnostic.html","name":"\"I'm an Agnostic\" - Thin Places","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-09-11T19:23:00+00:00","dateModified":"2009-09-11T19:23:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/4dde10eee38770361dc9b46a9413776b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2009\/09\/im-an-agnostic.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2009\/09\/im-an-agnostic.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2009\/09\/im-an-agnostic.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"&#8220;I&#8217;m an Agnostic&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/","name":"Thin Places","description":"Amy Julia Becker on Faith, Family, and Disability","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/4dde10eee38770361dc9b46a9413776b","name":"amyjuliabecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/222\/2222023dcae76abe6e896a3cf80e9836x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/222\/2222023dcae76abe6e896a3cf80e9836x96.jpg","caption":"amyjuliabecker"},"description":"Amy Julia Becker writes about theology, disability, family, and culture. Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}