Answer to the Allegation against the Catholic Church: Agnosticism

Just lately in this month of March, I had a short apologetic discussion with the newly hired co-worker of mine. He is a claimed agnostic.

Agnosticism is a belief that the human mind has no capacity to know the nature or the existence of God and anything that is beyond physical phenomena.

It turns to be sound in a hearing that God in the case of His nature and existence and whatever lies our physical world is quite beyond the control of our human understanding and reason. However, this claim is logically flawed and intellectually coward.

Why do I say this?

First, this claim is logically flawed. This is a fallacy from ignorance. How can we conclude that man can’t know God’s nature and existence and other metaphysical phenomena just because they are intangible and beyond our scientific study? Let’s put as example numbers, numbers do not exist in reality but we know them because of the countable things existing in our world. Same also to the nature and existence of God. We can know Him because of the creation he left since the beginning of time. Our ignorance should not brand us as incapacitated. The more we don’t know, the more we should search.

Second, this claim is intellectually coward. Agnosticism teaches man in his rational nature to cease being what he is. What do I mean? Man is rational, that is, a thinking being. He has in his nature to know things even beyond our physical world by the aid of his rational gift. So, to believe in a philosophy that we can’t know Him is an idle statement of stop thinking and remain ignorant.

There are already published explanations and sound philosophies explaining the nature and existence of God. Yes, these explanations and sound philosophies do not explain the explicit and totality of God’s nature and existence, but even how little the knowledge, it is still knowledge. Is it not possible to know a little of the whole picture by examining its parts? God gives us the reason to believe in his existence and nature by the help of the awe-wondrous creation. Our rational nature can draw a conclusion of God’s nature and existence out from the creation entrusted to our care.

Remember that all the knowledge we have about God’s nature and existence and the knowledge of metaphysical beings even how little are still knowledge. We might not know Him in His totality but we know Him in a slight and little way.