Tag: Religion

The Basics of Theism and Deism—What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

A lot of people have had tremendous influence on how we think about things and approach life. Great thinkers have loudly voiced their thoughts and developed philosophies or worldviews . Some are optimistic, and some are so pessimistic you wonder how and why anyone would want to go on living!

Today we’re returning to our overview of some of the worldviews that have shaped men’s minds and hearts, and subsequently our children’s and the world’s. And even music. It doesn’t take much listening to some of the heavy metal lyrics to discover that many of these young men and women are devoid of hope and are profoundly depressed about and frustrated with life.

As we go through these views, think about whether your thinking and reasoning has been influenced in any way by them. We’ll cover two or three of them a week.

 

In the beginning—

It doesn’t take too much studying in history to realize that all ancient civilizations had some kind of worldview that involved worshiping a god or multitude of gods. Or nature. It’s only been fairly recent that people have dismissed the idea of a creator and universal ruler and gone out of their way to make sure god is removed from the public square, or education.

 

For our discussion, we’ll look at several God-focused worldviews: Theism and Deism.

 

Christian Theism—A Christian Theist believes that an omnipotent God exists and He has authored a Spirit-inspired and man written work called the Bible that is the final authority on life and living it. (Notice I didn’t say it is the final authority on how everything was and is created. It is not exhaustive in that regard.) This Bible contains precepts and laws upon which man should base society and living. Hence, God and the Bible have a real, significant and lasting impact on our lives.

Theism—A person who calls themselves a Theist might be referring to a Christian definition, or they might be a non-Christian theist who believes in a god or many gods. Because of this, it is extremely important to define your terms when you’re having a discussion with someone about “god.” The God you’re discussing and referring to might not at all be the god they worship or follow. They are not all the same.

A person who says they believe in and follow Jesus, but doesn’t believe in the immaculate conception of Him, or His resurrection, certainly doesn’t believe in the same Jesus as someone who believes those things.

 

There are some religions that identify as Christian, or Christ followers, but they believe that Jesus was really Satan’s brother, who was able to rise to the level He did because He was able to live a perfect life on Earth. They also don’t believe in the incarnation or that Jesus was the God Jehovah. They think all men can become gods, if they live a perfect enough life on Earth.

And there are others who believe that Jesus is the Archangel Michael, come down to Earth as God’s son to fight the battle. They also don’t believe in a true bodily resurrection, but see it (as the Gnostics did way before them) a spiritual one. They don’t believe Jesus is God incarnate, and they think only 180,000 select individuals will go to heaven. The rest of the followers will spend their eternity here on a redeemed Earth.

 

You can see that it’s critical to know who you’re talking about and define your terms.

 

Deism—Some of the founding fathers of the United States could be classified more as Deists than Theists. A Deist believes there is an authoritative creator, God, who has authored the Holy Bible, which is the source that should be used to guide men’s actions and governments.

A Deist knows that God was once omnipotent, before and during creation.

But they believe that once God finshed all of His creating, He decided to take a back seat in the affairs of men and, instead, distance Himself from the world and His creation. Hence, not be involved.

To them, the world can be looked at as a clock, once created by an intelligent being, but a clock that has been set on autopilot, more or less. Man is left to go it alone and figure out how the clock works and go on living.

They believe that you can know God only through reason and observation of nature, but not through a personal relationship, revelations, or miracles, which they would regard with skepticism.

Some do and some don’t believe in an afterlife. And among the believers of it, there is varying opinion.

If you’d like to do further reading on that subject, see this discussion posted on the Church of the Modern Deist website.

 

And you?

Which worldview would you ascribe to, or have you combined them in any way, leading you to have a melded or divided worldview?

 

NEXT WEEK: Romanticism and Naturalism (Can anyone say Tchaikovsky or the Disney movie, Pocahontas?)

Blessings,

 Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Photo by Dawid Zawila

Mover and Shaker in Human History Worldview—Karl Marx

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary lists a variety of definitions for philosophy, depending on what you’re referencing. For our purposes, it lists three definitions:

  1. pursuit of wisdom
  2. 2. a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculativerather than observational means
  3. an analysis of the grounds of and concepts expressing fundamental beliefs

 

After reading those definitions, my first question is: What is wisdom? How is that defined?

So, I headed over to wisdom and found several definitions.

  1.   a: ability to discern inner qualities and relationships : insight

   b : good sense : judgment

   c : generally accepted belief

   d : accumulated philosophical or scientific learning : knowledge

2: a wise attitude, belief, or course of action

3: the teachings of the ancient wise men

 

After thinking about these defintions, I came to the conclusion that philosophers—for the most part, although some venture into the testable and observable realm—are people who seek to understand inner qualities and relationships through a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative means. (The chiefly speculative means grabs my attention. Why? Because I don’t think we need to speculate. But we’ll venture into that discussion in a future post!)

They also analyze the grounds of and concepts expressing fundamental beliefs. And many of them are quick to dismiss some of those grounds and concepts and replace them with their own theories and beliefs about people’s behaviors and attitudes, and how to make the thoughts and behaviors right.

 

The term philosophy was first used by Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician and philosopher who invented the famous Pythagorean mathematical theorem. He also founded the Pythagoreanism movement. Interestingly, people considered it a religion. Pythagoras believed in the divinity and immortality of the soul, which—on Earth—is imprisoned in a human form. (We started to discuss that belief in last Friday’s discussion about the soul.)

 

20th Century Philosophy—

The 20th Century saw a development of a large number of new philosophy schools. Many of them came and quickly vaporized. Some are still being practiced and clung to. thefamouspeople.com site contains a litany of people regarded as modern philosophers. I stopped counting at 147.

thebestschools.org lists their top 50 most influential living philosophers. Reading through their overviews is enough to make your eyes cross and your head ache.

But it’s educational, and eye opening. A cursory read of some of these philosophers’ beliefs gives you tremendous insight into what and how much of our society thinks in 2018; and how political beliefs fall into the field of social science.

And as I’m reading these most influential thinkers, I’m thinking, Me thinks you think too much! What a waste of time, and precious mental real estate.

You could, as these highly (and probably over-educated) people do, spend a lifetime posing questions about life and get no closer to solving the world’s human condition. While some of their thinking and work seem practical, much of it sounds, well, silly, and way too irrelevant for the common person.

 

Returning to the 19th Century—

But all we need to do is go back one more century to find a man who may have had one of the most profound, far-reaching and permanent influences on society.

Karl Marx.

Born in Germany in 1818, Marx wore a lot of hats—philosopher, economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, and journalist. But his most famous is the revolutionary socialist, and his fame blossomed with his writing and publishing of the Communist Manifesto. He is cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science.

One of his most famous quotes is:

 

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people.

 

Marx obviously had pity (and disdain) for religion and the people who he labeled “religious.” (Out of curiosity, all of you religious types who feel oppressed, heartless, spiritless, and drugged, please raise your hands!)

My religious life is the polar opposite of his definition. On the contrary, I feel most oppressed by the world. And my spirit sores the most when I am thinking about and interacting with God. It is faith that brings spirit to a dying, depressed world. It is the hope in the midst of pain and suffering. It is the love given to us by the Almighty that really makes the world go round.

Another famous Marx quote is:

 

“The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.”

 

And change the world Marx did!

He and the German philosopher Friedrich Engels focused on class struggle and believed society would eventually develop from one of oppressing the bourgeois—materialistic, conventional-thinking middle class, a result of capitalism—to a socialist, classless society. And he wasn’t a fan of religion. He felt that the ruling classes primarily used it to oppress the non-ruling ones.

If you allow me to perch myself on my soapbox for a minute, it sounds a lot like the progressive ideology being touted right now. And ironically, it is the powerful and moneyed that are preaching it to the masses—the beauty, happiness, and contentment of a classless society, with them in charge! (Of course you need someone in charge, since the masses aren’t smart enough to make decisions for themselves.)

Something I find ironic is that Marx seemed to abhor the idea of the state controlling the masses, snooping into people’s lives and trying to control them, contrary ideas, beliefs and writings being perused and punished. Because that’s exactly what modern Communism does.

Marxism is a philosophy that won’t die. It keeps being re-fashioned and renamed for the next generation. Keep your eyes and ears open for Marxist ideas being spread in the press, and by politicians, policy makers, and social scientists.

 

Homework:

Take a few minutes to Google how many socialist countries there were at the beginning of the 1800’s. Then fast forward to today. What kind of influence has Marxism had on the world?

And what kind of effect has it had on the people in the countries where it has become the political rule of law?

For deeper thought—

How do you think you would function under a Communist government? Would you be better or worse off? What rights that you now enjoy would you probably lose? (This might require some research, but it will be worth the effort.)

“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you” (Romans 12:2, The Message).

 

NEXT WEEK: Real-time philosophy, and meditating on the miraculous

 Until then,

Happy thinking!

Andrea

 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2, NIV).