What you think about deism?

Question

Any deists, Christians, atheists, or any others care to answer?

I don't want a definition, because I already know what it is. I've been considering myself to be a deistic thinker for a short time now, and I am starting to wonder if this could really be the belief system that I would like to be a part of. I want to know what others think about deism in general.

Also, just for the record, no overly religious threats such as "ur going 2 hell," nor any "because the bible said so" responses. Intelligent and reasonable answers only, please.

Answer 1

I love Deism. It's very logical and rejects dogma while not rejecting the possibility of a Supreme Being.

Answer 2

Forgive me but I need a definition to answer your question.

Deism. The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation.

Answer: I would suggest that you looked at Logical Positivism instead of Deism if you are looking for a belief based on reason.

Details: What follows is something for you to consider. Think of it as a description of our world explained by two distinct belief system: Revelation and Science. Simply stated God reveals, man observes.

What we know about God comes from revelation. For the Christian that is the [Christian] book as spoken by the prophets. We know God is spirit; God existed before He created all the man can observe, etc. There are no proofs of or about God in the bible: The reader assumes it.

Science is a collection of theories that explains the facts where a fact is an observation by men (note plural) independent of location. There is no belief in science, there are just theories that cover the facts. They may multiple theories about a collection of facts, but there is not belief. Moreover, there are not facts about God. God is beyond the scientific method.

Now to Deism. It is a belief (revealed knowledge), based solely on reason (observed knowledge), in a God … (again revealed knowledge). As you can see this is a combination of belief systems. It takes a belief and rationalizes it using eventual the scientific method. However, the belief is outside of the scope of science (now this is where the Logical Positivism view comes in).

If we removed “based solely on reason” we have a statement of belief, and the natural question is where does revealed knowledge come from? Deism is a revealed knowledge that states there is no revealed knowledge. This is leads open to opposite conclusion that there is “no God” at all.

Where did this 17th and 18th philosophy come from? It started with the [Christian] Bible and then systematically removed parts that they did not believe. For example, Deism states that God created the Universe [Genesis 1.1] and then abandon it [denial of the prophets]. How did we know that God created the Universe? From the first five books of Moses, a prophet.

I really do not want this detail part to be a bashing of the deism, but the simple fact is you either believe the bible or you do not. If you say you are a deist, you are saying you do not belief in the bible, but you are willing to take biblical ideas and rationally build a belief system. Understand you are building a house with nails of water. You can believe what you want, but you are limited to the two belief systems.

So have you checked out Logical Positivism?

Answer 3

The God of the Bible does not act like a god of a deist.

In the Bible God takes an active role.
He talks to people; Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, the prophets and judges, the Apostles and others.
He used His power to affect things like; confounding man's language at the tower of Babel, raining fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues of Egypt, parting the Red Sea, a pillar of fire and cloud, manna, calmed the storm, multiplied the bread and fishes, heals people, etc.

And today He is still doing things through the Holy Spirit, people get filled with His Spirit, talk in tongs, get healing and miracles, some can hear or some times see Jesus, etc.

Answer 4

I'm an atheist. If, however, I were to be persuaded that a god/s did exist, a deist view of it is the only logical answer. I think that a deistic perspective is the only one that fits neatly into human reason.

Answer 5

Here's my simple view, which makes my life a whole lot easier: GOD EXISTS, PRAYER WORKS. That's it. I don't read the Bible, I don't go to church, I don't belong to a religion, I don't look down on people who don't believe in God. I believe there is one universal intelligence that connects all things and all people. Prayer is our way of communicating with God. God does not speak to us in words, God speaks to us in flashes of insight, ideas, coincidences, etc. As for the Atheists that are replying to this question: I think you are probably intelligent, educated people that I would enjoy tallking to, and being friends with. I would not waste a minute trying to convince you I'm right. I'd rather just enjoy your company and being with you.