Agnosticity Volume 1: An Agnostic View of Bothersome Christian Doctrine
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About this ebook
Agnosticity is a new word created by the author with the hope that it will cause the reader to take a fresh look at how Agnostics think. Volume 1 reflects agnostic concerns surrounding Christian doctrine and is the first of a series intended to analyze the belief systems of major organized religions around the world. Christianity was chosen first because it accounts for the religious preference of about three of ever four American adults.
Using his twenty-seven years as a Special Agent for the FBI as a springboard, the author draws on his experience in deductive reasoning to justify the agnostic point of view. This book is written so that the average person can easily understand the doubts that agnostics struggle with in trying to decide the existence of God. Instead of requiring a PhD. in religious studies, the author appeals to the common sense and rational thought that is inborn in most everyone.
A primary goal of the author is to portray the Agnostic in a more favorable light and that there is nothing evil with admitting that a sure knowledge of God may not be so sure after all. Almost every page will result in readers re-evaluating their belief in God and the tenants of Christianity. Whether agreeing or disagreeing, the reader will never regard Christian dogma exactly the same way again.
Raymond A. Hult
The author is 78, having been married for 57 years with five daughters, 13 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Having been for most of his life a comiited Christian, he eventually determined he was actually an Agnostice. Having served 27 years as an FBI Special Agent, he finally replaced his blind faith, invloving multiple layers of hearsay, with the importance of relying on evidence and common snense. He's now retired in Bountful, Utah engaging mostly in writing and golf. He's authored seven published books, six of which deal with his Agnoxtic views and the seventh a novel dealing with his experience in the FBI. All have been published by Trafford and can be purchased at both Barns and Nobel and Amazon.
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Agnosticity Volume 1 - Raymond A. Hult
AGNOSTICITY
VOLUME 1
An Agnostic View
of
Bothersome
Christian
Doctrine
Raymond A. Hult
1939.png©
Copyright 2007 Raymond A. Hult
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.
Note for Librarians: A cataloguing record for this book is available from Library and Archives Canada at www.collectionscanada.ca/amicus/index-e.html
ISBN 1-4120-9030-X
ISBN 978-1-4251-9713-1 (ebook)
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Book sales for North America and international:
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Contents
Preface:
1 FAITH VERSUS OBJECTIVITY
2 THE CREATION
3 SATAN
4 THE HOLY TRINITY
5 EARLY HUMAN HISTORY
6 WORSHIPING GOD
7 THANKING GOD
8 PRAYING FOR HELP
9 ANGELS
10 REVELATION
11 PROPHESY
12 MIRACLES
13 THE VIRGIN BIRTH
14 THE ATONEMENT
15 THE RESURRECTION
16 THE FINAL JUDGMENT
17 FINAL JUDGMENT (LENGTH OF TEST)
18 FINAL JUDGMENT (THE RULES)
19 FINAL JUDGMENT (TESTING PROCEDURE)
20 FINAL JUDGMENT (FREE AGENCY)
21 FINAL JUDGMENT (PHYSICAL AND MENTAL IMPAIRMENT)
22 FINAL JUDGMENT (CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE)
23 FINAL JUDGMENT (REPENTANCE)
24 FINAL JUDGMENT (FAITH VERSUS WORKS)
25 FINAL JUDGMENT (THE DIVIDING LINE)
26 CHURCH AND STATE
27 CHRISTIAN SMUGNESS
28 MY CURRENT VIEW
Preface:
Like the majority of Americans, my ancestral roots are firmly grounded in the Christian tradition. My father was attending a Presbyterian church when he married Mom who was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). Dad’s ancestors came from a long line of Lutherans in Sweden. Mom’s roots included some of the original Mormon pioneers to enter the Salt Lake Valley in the fall of 1847.
We moved to Salt Lake City in 1951 not long after Dad converted to the Mormon faith. Guided by Mormon doctrine, I was fortunate to be raised in a loving atmosphere that placed a special emphasis on family unity. We supported the Church fully and grew closer together as a result. I have many fond memories of living among Mormons and benefiting greatly from that warm and positive relationship.
My first doubts about Mormon doctrine started when I enrolled at the University of Utah. Up until that time, I had remained pretty well insulated from influences outside the Mormon faith. Ironically, a Philosophy of Religion class stimulated me to seriously question some of the doctrines for the first time. Most nineteen year old Mormon boys volunteer to go on a two-year mission to proselyte for the Church. I decided against it and became inactive for the next few years.
When we married in 1965 my wife and I were both inactive Mormons. We repented about the time of our first anniversary and agreed to attend a seminar to get our religious lives back in shape to regain full fellowship. Then we re-married for all time and eternity in the Salt Lake City Temple. We became fully immersed in the faith and several years later began the process of raising our five daughters as good Mormons.
I was too busy in the Church to revisit my earlier doubts about its doctrine. I advanced in the priesthood and was eventually called at one point to be a bishop with responsibility for the spiritual well being of several hundred members. There was no doubt in my mind that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that the Mormon faith represented the only true church on the face of the earth. This period of unswerving devotion lasted for the better part of thirty-five years.
It was about the time of the birth of our first daughter in 1971 that I was hired as a Special Agent with the FBI. I was case agent on a variety of investigations in California, Texas, and Utah. I retired out of the St. George, Utah Resident Agency in 1998 capping a career just short of twenty-seven years. It was approximately five years prior to my retirement that I once again started to seriously question some of the doctrines of Mormonism.
I suspect that it was a culmination of so many years of investigatory experience and fact-finding that ultimately forced me to take a serious look at the religious doctrines that I had for so long embraced primarily on faith alone. I started to look closer at Mormon practices that had slowing pricked away at my conscience such as polygamy, refusing the priesthood to black males, and certain disturbing parts of the Mormon temple ceremony. Although most of these questionable practices had since been corrected, it began to bother me considerably that they had ever been initiated in the first place.
This period of disturbing introspection soon mushroomed into a full-fledged private but FBI type investigation of other Mormon doctrines. Much like the result of a successful cataract operation, the partial blindness of my trust in the credibility of Joseph Smith began to correct itself. It slowly became crystal clear to me after several years of digging out the facts that a significant portion of my misplaced faith had been grounded on fraud and deceit.
I still considered myself a devout Christian, but continued over time to become a less active Mormon. I thought about attending other churches, but couldn’t come up with any particular denomination that made me feel comfortable. I was still most comfortable being a Mormon, but I finally arrived at the realization I could no longer comfortably participate without feeling like a hypocrite.
Most non-Mormon investigators fail to give Joseph Smith enough credit for his cleverness. He used the Bible to his advantage to convert other Christians. He claimed numerous revelations from God that made it appear that mainstream Christianity had apostatized from God’s will as set forth in the Bible. His biggest asset was the Bible as he ingeniously used it to prove that God had personally called on him to restore the truth.
It took years, but it finally came to me in bits and pieces that the Bible might not be everything it claimed to be. This startling realization first emerged about the time a Mormon friend of mine was trying to justify the practice of polygamy. He noted that Joseph Smith had only followed the lead of numerous apparently righteous biblical leaders in the Old Testament. I couldn’t see anything god-like about polygamy and I started to suspect that God may have had nothing to do with promoting such a dubious concept.
Since the Bible and it’s representations are so old and, unlike Mormonism, it’s difficult to prove credibility one way or the other, I undertook an extensive personal analysis of the doctrines of Christianity on the basis of common sense and whether or not I could picture a perfect and loving God approving of such dogma. This book is the result of that search.
Seeing I could no longer fully trust the Bible, I had to finally admit that I couldn’t be positive about the existence of God. It kind of shocks me to acknowledge my present leaning toward Agnosticism, but I refuse to accept the Christian point of view unless someone or something can prove to me that my doubts are groundless. Simply warning me that I lack sufficient faith no longer impresses me.
There is much about Christianity that I admire. The purpose of this book is to focus on Christian doctrines that bother me. Any attempt to make