I might be a Deist

by professor 38 Replies latest jw friends

  • LyinEyes
    LyinEyes

    After reviewing these post, I have to put myself in the Deist catagory. I dont think this is by my choice , but when I examined it, it seems the only thing that I feel comfortable with. Since leaving JW I have not been able to trust the Bible, and even wondered if there is a God. I really would choose to be a Christain, I would love to trust the bible, and beleive Jesus is my salvation. I just dont know. I have alot of studing and thinking to do on this. I think it will take me years before I figure out what I personally beleive. I can thank the WTBS for screwing with my mind so much , that I can't find any spirituality. But for now the facts of the Deist are as close as I can get to what might be the real truth. I am going to read more books on this subject.

    Good Post!! Made me feel a strange sense of peace... something I have been searching for and desperatly needed. Thanks.

  • TheContagion
    TheContagion

    If I wasn't Pagan I guess I'd be a Deist.

    Deism is pagan.

  • professor
    professor

    Your statements reflect how I feel almost exactly, LyinEyes. I am going to read into this also.

  • TheContagion
    TheContagion

    The following quote from Albert Einstein also offers a good Deistic description of God: "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God."

    Everybody's try'n to claim Einstien eh. I do no where to find the quote but i do know that Einstien thought the idea of a personal creator was childish.

    A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and this sense alone, I am a deeply religious man.-Einstein

  • TheContagion
    TheContagion

    I would suggest checking out Pantheism.

  • JanH
    JanH

    Deism is a form of theism without observational consequences. It postulates a Creator that made the universe and then left it to itself.

    I suspect it is a form of post-religious nostalgia. People know there is no god in their lives, but still don't want to be labeled atheist or agnostic.

    Deism avoids the problem of evil by postulating a God that is basically amoral and without interest in human lives or suffering.

    Deism has the same problem as theism is postulating a massively powerful being for which there is no shred of evidence.

    - Jan

    Edited by - JanH on 28 June 2002 14:18:13

  • professor
    professor
    postulates a Creator that made the universe and then left it to itself.

    This idea is acceptable within Deism but only some believe this.

  • JanH
    JanH

    professor,

    This idea is acceptable within Deism but only some believe this.

    I noticed the page above says that some deists believe in soem forms of divine interaction. This would leave no difference between monotheism and deism. I realize that there is a sliding transition between deism and monotheism, like there is one between agnosticism and atheism, but I am still puzzled by the idea of a Deist that believes God sometimes interferes in human affairs. Religious historians certainly do not consider such beliefs deistic.

    - Jan

  • Paradiselost
    Paradiselost

    I took the suggestion and read Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason". It's an extrememly interesting read. His reasoning has sounded basis. I like the two edged sword anology he uses...since he uses the Bible to proof his point...either you have to disregard the evidence presented and thus disregard the Bible...or you have to accept the evidence and possibily conclude that it is not inspired. Also his point concerning the limited nature of language, I found particularily valid. Translations lose substance and written human language can be altered. Interesting.

  • Farkel
    Farkel

    Contagion,

    : Deism is pagan.

    Obviously, you're either clueless or a self-righteous religious bigot. Which is it?

    Farkel

    Edited by - Farkel on 28 June 2002 15:41:30

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit