Do you belive free will exists in the sense that you could've chosen differently in the past and that your conscious mind has a veto over your final decision implying that your decision that you made is not the domino of causes.
This would also mean that your free to decide your future and that it isn't set in stone by causal laws.
I think religions vergion of God is not accurate. I think God jsn't all powerful and has limitations such as not being able to interact with us on Earth. Maybe God isn't all powerful. Let me know what qualities you think God does and doesn't have?
Deism is the recognition of a universal creative force greater than that demonstrated by mankind, supported by personal observation of laws and designs in nature and the universe, perpetuated and validated by the innate ability of human reason coupled with the rejection of claims made by individuals and organized religions of having received special divine revelation."
In comments
I have been identifying as a deist for some months now. At first, it started with being drawn to the idea of God not intervening in the world, and I really connected with that perspective, so I began calling myself a deist.
Now, though, I am more agnostic on the claim of whether God intervenes in the world through natural methods or not. I am still pretty closed off to the idea of God performing miracles or intervening in ways that break natural laws. I also do not know much about the nature of God or who God exactly is right now. At the moment, I believe in a God that is separate from the universe and all-knowing, and that is about it. I honestly need to look more into the idea of God in general and see what makes the most sense to me. I am also open to the idea of God wanting us to live moral lives on Earth.
I still think I would be considered a deist because I believe the best practical way to understand what God is comes through human reasoning and logic. I am not necessarily against revelation through books on paper; rather, I question it because I see how claims of revelation fail in the practical world. I am skeptical and against prophets being true.If God truly wanted to guide all of humanity, it seems to me that such guidance would be accessible to everyone in a universal way, something people could discover through looking, or God would communicate it directly to all people rather than through a select few individuals.
Here is a definition of deism that I really like:
“Deism is the recognition of a universal creative force greater than that demonstrated by mankind, supported by personal observation of laws and designs in nature and the universe, perpetuated and validated by the innate ability of human reason, coupled with the rejection of claims made by individuals and organized religions of having received special divine revelation.”
I like this definition because I think it includes all forms of deism and does not automatically exclude versions where God may intervene.
I also wonder whether deism has any central theology beyond rejecting revealed religion and prophets while seeking knowledge of God through reason and nature. Is that essentially the core of deism, with everything else being more open-ended and left to personal reasoning about what makes the most sense?
Question 1: Is it accurate to call myself a deist based on my current beliefs?
Question 2: Is that an accurate definition of deism?
Question 3: Is that the unified theology behind deism?
I am making this post because I have been questioning whether I would still be considered a deist, and I have been thinking about this for a while. So please, if anyone can answer any one of these questions, or all of them, I would really appreciate it. 🙏
So I grew up as a southern baptist (loosely) like I have zero religious trama or anything. But I've been struggling to see how there can be both an all loving God and omnipotent God. I feel that those two can not co exist. And at the same time when I get scared I still instinctively want to pray but I fell it's dishonest. Idk, maybe thats sum yalk could help me with.
OOOUUU, I as a deist never actually asked myself this until now because it intrigues me, should we feel obligated to have children to respect the universe?
I am aware the words "free will" and "obligation" heavily conflicts with each other, but what do you guys think O_O?
I've posted in here lots before. I've been out of religion/Christianity for three years now. I initially questioned things about religion and the morality aspect of the bible. Not just that, but things about Christianity IMO just don't make logical sense. So, I said I was done. This was in late 2023. I proclaimed myself a "Deist".
However, further discoveries and personal issues led me further down the road to atheism & agnosticism. I have since shed the atheism label as well.
I haven't been able to put it in to words exactly how I feel or what I believe. However, several concepts I always come back to, and one of the core ones is Deism, if you can call it that. The concept that we can find a God, creator, universal force, or "creative force" in the universe, without needing to believe in the teachings that superstitious religious scriptures proclaim is a broadly appealing thought process to me and one that I can't seem to shake. However, I have questions:
Would anyone also consider themselves more an Agnostic, but with a feign for Deism? Personally, I lean heavily towards Deistic thought.
I have thought it about it a little and I am withholding to a dead end. Nothing matters more than what is happening already. The past is dead and the future is confusing, just living is more than enough. Every religion and belief has to do mental gymnastics and cheap excuses whenever you tell them to prove their God is real. Well fuck. We don't know if he's real or not, we don't know shit. All we can do is assume and make predictions or research possibilities of his existence. But thats all up in the air, and when you are starving you try to feed yourself you don't sit back and beg God to conjure you food. Or maybe you do but then you try doing it yourself. Oh so many people so desperately want a parent to care for us and tell us that we have a purpose. Our purpose is stupid, eat, drink, shit, fuck, and die. There's nothing more than that for us. Jeez why am I such a romanticist? I beg to have something to make the impossible possible, but there's nothing more than that of fate to decide on.
Now I will be resuming cramming for my finals.
Do you all believe in objective or subjective morality? Is objective morality compatible with deism?
Personally, I hold a atheistic position, but if I were to entertain the possibility of there being a God, I can make up all kinds of scenarios like:
We can go on and on making up all kinds of scenarios. At least from what we can observe in our universe, there does not seem to be any indication of interference by an external agent, so all we're doing with these speculative scenarios is adding an extra step or condition for the universe to exist. Does a God really need to satisfy our definition of it (omnipotence, omniscience, etc.)? Theists are convinced that the universe has to have been created by a God but then also concludes that such an entity has infinite knowledge and power which does not seem necessary to me.
Do you entertain any thoughts like this even if it's not a very serious one?
I posted this question earlier in another sub but it seemed to have annoyed many atheists so I deleted it. I figure this might be a more relevant sub to have this discussion.
To me, it's not that I don't believe in any form of afterlife- be it nothing, Heaven, Hell; its that I wouldn't bother questioning the intangible, something that I could not realistically prove in anyway. I could question if 1 + 1 =2 though and prove it in the tangible sense on a piece of paper, grab 2 pieces of rock; heck, even count my 2 fingers. But subconsciously, I lean towards the eternal oblivion perspective(they need to choose a different wording for this belief man, eternal oblivion just sounds so depressing, had to search up what it was called when you believe theres no afterlife)
What do you guys think about this topic? i notice that deism as a perspective doesn't offer any solid viewpoint about the afterlife, just life.
I cannot ever accept God to be what the Bible, Torah, or the Quran describe him to be. Even if it pains me or sends shivers down my spine for rejecting the sacred texts. I think that God as a idea was created to be the ultimate parent for a hopeless person. Similarly punishing, rewarding, and loving like a parent. But that sounds silly doesn't it?
Instead what I believe in is that God is a infinite architect, who is perfect and just. He cannot be the "Parental God" of religion who micromanages luck or events. It simply isn't logical.
And I personally see nothing wrong with coming from nonexistence only to come back to nonexistence.
I might even argue that religion was maintained not as "truth," but as a social technology designed by "careless pricks" to curb the "assholes" of the world. It uses Tradition and Fear to leash people. It creates scapegoats (like the shunning of homosexuality) to distract the followers from the corruption of the leaders.
Last night I had a nightmare, a recurring nightmare of the decrepit house. There were five bodies were the stagnant records of my past. Where the creatures that frightened me, the "demons" only answered to that name because that was the code word my childhood was conditioned to fear. I realized that I am the elephant who has finally grown strong enough to see that the "leash" is just a memory, not a reality.
There is a "transactional" faith of the religious majority, I reject it completely. The God I believe in is absolutely intellectually honest who is a infinite, sovereign Architect. This God of mine can grant anything, anything. I can even pray for him to make me God, and he can. But it all depends on his choice to grant me what I wish for or not. It is as simple as that. I acknowledge now that I am not owed anything regardless of my hardships or the worship or the forgiveness. I am not owed anything. Afterall, there is no possible exchange rate between the finite and the infinite.
Similarly how can I blame God for the events or actions of nature? It's simply is ridiculous.
And what is Creator, in your opinion? Can it be a natural force? The laws of physics?
I've only just realised this but deism makes sense in regard to the problems of revealed theology. Why would an all loving and all intelligent God send down messengers and then hinge the salvation of their whole creation that they love so much on the words of human prophets who's words can be misunderstood and even twisted. It just sounds illogical and kinda stupid, I feel God has placed the foundations to live a fulfilling and good life in our hearts and it's completely up to us to find it. We can know and love God through so many more fulfilling ways than strict adherence to dogmatic scripture.
I recently started exploring philosophy on theism and atheism, and recently came up to conclusion that I’ll probably never become an atheist. My problem with atheism is, that it states that all our universe, life, and matter was caused by a pure accident. And even if it can be so, I found such an explanation be kinda weird, as if someone didn’t have an answer what the cause was, and just convinced themselves and others that there was no cause.
I don’t really know anything about God, and what he (it?) can be. But I’m sure for certain that such an organised, complex reality had a minimal chance of being created by accident.
So, I’m rather agnostic-deist. And I’m happy to join you here