Ask a Deist about Deism.

You just don't get it do you. Ask about Deism all you like... but I personally do not speak for God. I avoid people like the plague who think that they can speak for God! Perhaps other Deist speak for God, if you find one that does, then ask them if a tree falls did God do it or just observe it happening.

Is God really so inept as to need puny little me to speak for or defend Him? Would not be much of a God if He did.

 

That was Jefferson's belief. It's no worse than the altering, forging and other crooked acts that have been done to other religious text namely the bible.

 

Larf. No, just ignoring a bunch of silly old rubbish.

 

You asked me to ask you questions about deism. If you don't want to answer, then just say so.

But don't start threads opening yourself up for questions if you don't want to answer. That's just a waste of time.

 

We all suffer to one degree or another and eventually we all die. Is there an afterlife? I am still waiting to here from Houdini on that. And tell me this... I, in the view of many Christians, will go to hell for rejecting Christ... but good Christians who use porn, cheat on their wife, do drugs... they are guaranteed a place by the Lords side just because they do to Church?

So you believe in the Bible... and I say great. But that is the difference between me and you, I respect you religion, but you say "fooey" to all who disagree with your view of God.

 

I have answered your questions... you seem to not understand my answers or reject them in their entirety. Which is fine.

 

It's out of their comfort zone I would not worry about it. The whole point of christianity is to suppress anything that does not agree with its hypocritical fundmentalist dogma.

 

I don't think that should be considered fine at all, but then trying to reason with faithheads is like trying to reason with conspiracy theorists..

 

My concern is not with the bigger picture... I leave that to God... my concern is my relationship with God... everything else is incidental and outside of my control. Some kid gets trampled by an elephant in Africa... sad, but what the heck can I do about that? If I see a homeless man looking hungry what can I do about it? A lot!

 

He hasn't answered any of my questions. He promised to answer questions, but then he refuses. Why am I the one who is being unreasonable?

 

It really saddens me when Christians play judge, jury, and executioner. Only God knows who goes to heaven and who does not. After all, men like Abraham and Moses obviously went to heaven in the Bible, but they died before Jesus. How can this be? I believe that ultimately they were saved through Jesus, even though he came later. Jesus said that he was the way, the truth, and the life and that no one comes to the Father but through him. It is the job of the Christian to spread the good news, not to sit in judgement over people like yourself.

As for saying "fooey", I was just expressing my opinion. The fact remains that those of faith struggle with the concenpt of suffering in a world made by a loving God. The Bible makes a good attempt at explaining it, but since you reject it, what say you?

 

Ever heard of Biblical Archeaology? It is not just a bunch of rubbish.

 

What says I? I say to each their own. Many people like to try to explain the unexplainable... what is God... does God allow the good to suffer... I guess it is just our curiosity to find meaning in the greater scheme of things. But I... focus on my relationship with God and do not concern myself with how others were introduced to God, or how they view God or how they see the greater questions about life.

If you have spent much time on the religious section of the forums you may think that I hate Christians and Christianity... but I do not. I have a profound respect for Christianity... but in my experience most Christians like to judge others by standards that they themselves cannot even live up to. With that says, I stand in awe of those few Christians who demonstrate their faith in everything they say and do. Men and women like that are my betters and truly servants of God.

 

I am going to attempt to sum up Deism in my own words as I see it.

Deism is the belief in the existence of a god. Deism exists due to the fact that nobody witnessed the creation of the universe, and it was assumed that a being that isn't within space, matter, or time must have made it. This being is known as god. Deists merely believe in the existence of god but believe that he only established the laws of science, morality and helped life go through evolution.

How accurate am I?

 

Well I'm not a Deist, but I was one (though I never categorized myself that way). And I think its more accurate to say that Deism is belief in a higher power. But I don't think you can define it past that.

 

Neil Armstrong was a deist.

 

Like many theologies, I think you will find that different Deist will have differing views of God. Deism follows no religious dogma. We as Deist use our God given brain to find out who God is for ourself. Because of this I do not think a question of accuracy is a valid question. Ask 100 Christians about God and you will probably get 100 different answers to one degree or another.

I am just happy to hear that I am not alone here and that there are other Deist here.

 

Well said. Organized religion has structure and unity... there is a path and all whom practice an organized religion like Lutherans for example... by in large follow the same path... do the same things... hold very similar beliefs. Of course views can vary greatly from one form of Christianity to the next.

A Deist does not follow any religious dogma... this leaves the path to God undefined and probably no two Deists come to God or see God the same way.

 

Sure. It doesn't always favor the bible, however.

 

There are some disputes but for the most part is respected enough to be the basis for their scientific research.

What other holy book is used by science in such a way?

 

What other holy book contains the kind of claims and information necessary to do so? The bible is full of accounts, and biblical archaeology, as far as I understand it, seeks to investigate their validity. So what? You're impressed that some of the bible at least appears to be factually accurate? That doesn't make its supernatural claims valid. I should think that the wrong parts, e.g. the creation account and the made-up Exodus, should give you reason to doubt the supernatural claims.

People are so funny about their holy books.. The bible is like any other mythical history from so long ago. It has elements of truth and elements of fiction interwoven.

 

I don't believe in any god but your stance is just so cool!

A nice clean, unemcumbered belief in god without all the MAN-made claptrap, MAN-made rules, MAN-made corruption, MAN-made confusion, MAN-made books, etc.

 

It does seem rather pointless, though, doesn't it? I mean, does it matter whether you actually believe in such a god or not? Doesn't seem it will affect your life or death either way.

 

That's subjective though. I lived an unfulfilled and futile life until I found God. But that is not to say that atheists cannot lead fulfilling lives without God. God is not so much for the strong as for the weak. I am not a believer in God because of some amazing strength. I am a believe in God because without Him I am lost, foible, weak. My faith in God is what gives me strength.

As you can tell, I am not your average theist. You will never hear me condemning non believers to hell, judging you by standards that I cannot even live up to, or equate you with evil. Atheists are awesome. When it comes to friends and family, I get along with atheists much better than Christians.

In real life I am a live and let live kind of guy. To each their own I say.

 

I dunno, it sounds like you know, at least deep down, that you're BSing yourself. I knew I was lying to myself as a theist, hence my eventual turning away from it. My reason just couldn't get along with that faith. I know I would end up feeling the same way with Deism, personally.

I wonder about those feelings of weakness and being lost, though. I often find myself staring into the abyss, contemplating death and oblivion. I wish there were something warm and fuzzy I could believe in, something I could hang up like a tapestry to hide that abyssal view. But there isn't for me. I can't hang up any tapestry without knowing what lies behind it, and so what truth I would be vainly trying to shield myself from.

My one hope is a silly one - the idea that medical science might yet find a way to beat death before I croak. Short of that, well, eek.