Varieties of Theism: Monotheism, Polytheism, Deism, Pantheism, and More
EDIT: OK, so as Xris pointed out this is a topic that has sprung out of the "What's your religion?" thread due to its deducted "off topicness." As a result I edited this opening post so it would make more sense to a lot of you.
The purpose of this thread is to clarify how each and everyone of you view God. (Atheists are welcomed to give their thoughts on how they view the forces that are at work in this universe). The following questions are just a framework to help many of you get on the same mind set. It is not needed to keep all your points to these questions, however, it would be useful if they were answered in your posts. This is not a simple declare your religion or views thread. If it is so I shall direct you over here. Please give thought out responses. An example of such a post is Vexx's below mine. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Do you all view God as a single entity (monotheistic) that is conscious of itself and what it has created? Do you view the universe as having many Gods (ala Greek and Roman Gods)? Do you think man was created in God's image? Or is God some kind of life force, some energy that is source of creation and perhaps the big bang? Is your God tangible, or is he some corporeal existence that is omnipotent? Or do you all simply consider God to be some concept that is utterly unconceivable by man in any such matter to the point that it is something that exists, but we cannot really be concerned with due to a lack of understanding? |
Simple enough....
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Posts moved out from the What's your religion? thread.
And yes, the current thread name (Title Intentionally Left Blank) is a pun awaiting for Reckoner (or someone else) to provide me or another Mod something more suitable. And just in case... Quote:
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One thing I would like to add that was not in my original post... The only way I would find this thread interesting is if people from the other thread came here and answered these questions because those were the people I wanted to ask in the first place.
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2. This could actually depend. As a believer in monotheism I believe in one God of this universe. However, is said God limited to a discrete universe or does He exist and span through multiverses, all of which are connected through him? If one day the Many Worlds Theory and multiple universes are to be proven, I am likely to believe that a single God exists among the mutlitude of possible universes. 3. Yes, however an imperfect one. On the assumption that God himself is good and just, a perfect image would would be the same. However man has shown to deviate a lot from this idea, which leads me to believe that humanity is simply an imperfect creation and an imperfect image. I don't think anyone can really answer when or where humanity became imperfect, if it was at the instant of creation/evolution (not very likely) or somewhere along the line. Genesis symbolically (I don't believe the Book of Genesis to be factual) represented the introduction of sin to mankind, so for me it's possible man fell from grace somewhere after he came from apes (for the record I believe in a fusion of Creation and Evolution, such that God created life, molded it from behind the scenes, and allowed man to evolve from lower primates). 4. Many people interpret the Christian God to be present in all things, such that all things came from Him therefore He is in all things as well. It's probably not so far to suggest he may have been the Big Bang himself, distributing his essence to the universe and molded everything from there. Scientists have been looking for the "god particle" (or the Higgs Boson to you scientists... wait I'm a Biologist too...) considered to be the original substance of the singular mass of the Big Bang. Perhaps God is this particle in reality, possessing his own consciousness and will? As such he is likewise a living being not in the sense of "living" as science puts it. Think... uh... the lifestream in FFVII? 5. The tangibility of God is a rather touchy subject. Some Christians will claim to have seen, touched, heard and/or felt God while others still see him as a omniscient presence that does not physically manifest itself within this reality. As for me, I have no idea.:eyespin: ------------ The existence of God has been a very controversial subject even amongst theologians and religious philosophers (wait aren't they the same thing?). Over the years there have been many schools of thought that have arisen in trying to actually prove the existence of god(s). I'm personally more knowledgable in Christian theology than any others, having studied theology and philosophy in a Jesuit school. There are 3 more prominent and classical smethods of thought regarding the arguments for the existence of the Chrisitian: 1. Ontological Arguments, most notably that of St. Anselms Proslogion, which is based on the notion that God is "that which nothing greater can be thought of". In the basic sense, ontology tries to reason out the existence of God through an almost purely mental exercise using logic and reason sometimes independent of physical experience. God is proven through a logically-sounding argument. 2. Cosmological Arguments, the argument for the "First Cause", such as in Aristotle's Metaphysics. As the argument says, it attempts to reason out the presence of existences, that is how an existence can come into being if it cannot come from nothing. The argument states that only an existence can give birth to existence, however because for this to occur there should have been an infinite chain of existences into the past to give birth to new ones, it is posited that there was one original Existence, a special case who existed since infinity that was not preceded and to give birth to everything that followed. 3. Teleological Arguments, similar to the idea of intelligent design, most notably in St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica. Most people are familiar with the idea of intelligent design, that the universe seems to have been designed with a distinct purpose (hence teleology) that stands out amongst the nearly infinite other possibilities that may or may not likewise have purpose. Here it is argued that there must have been a Prime Mover of sorts to shape the universe into how it is now. ------------ I'm not actually sure if this post belongs here or on the other thread. If it should be somewhere else feel free to move it.:eyespin: |
I suppose I'll give these a shot...
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My personal assertion is that, in a religious sense, until I see some actual tangible proof, there is no God. I'm willing to believe in forces beyond my control or understanding, but I don't place direct merit in their power over me. That is to say, I do not subscribe to the idea that those forces will punish or reward me based on how I live my life. I think we can all agree that there are things in this world that we simply do not understand, and I'm willing to accept that as a basic part of life. I don't feel, however, that I should have to accept those things I don't understand as being the result of influence from some all-powerful father figure who may choose to smite me at any moment. |
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I have a couple of theories regarding this : Spoiler for THEORY 1:
Spoiler for THEORY 2:
I hypothesise that the primary objective of creating humans in her image is a subconscious manifestation of the desire to control something called love. The entity never understood what it was, so basically, we are test subjects in an experiment of eternity. These are all results of thought experiments, like every single other religion in this world. There is no solid proof, just a belief and dedication to the "entity/ies". |
I do not care at all whether the metaphysical God exists or not. However this metaphysical God is different from the socio-cultural God you people have been worshiping since time immemorial.
This socio-cultural God...I try to keep off my life. Why? Because it's just a product of the human mind. Hence, no potency. |
For me, every life-form is a God itself, God of their own World. What exist in those worlds are what they believe it exist, and it will exist. Just like how my cousin believes of ghosts existing as a common sense, and she can see ghosts, while I believe in them, but my common sense blocks them, thus I can't see them. And all of these Gods make up one Existence. Or as an other interpretation, all these Existence make up one God.
Thus, I believe in everything. Also, Devil's Proof. |
Ah, yes. So far the responses are much more interesting that the other thread.
This really delves into what people actually think versus the categorization placed on them by ascribing to a certain set of beliefs. I'll give a little explanation of my views regarding "God." I kind of view the source of creation as nothing but some sort of force at work. It is neither monotheistic or polytheistic because because there is no conscious God or Gods at work. It doesn't have to be one "force." I don't see God as something tangible, because if it was, then I would find it in contradiction with nonexistence. We are actually talking about an existence that somehow overcame the concept of nonexistence. We humans cannot even understand nonexistence, much less the force that overcame it and created existence. Because of this, I doubt that humans will ever be able to truly figure anything out about this. Even if we were to figure it out 10000000000000000000000000000000 years from now, we may very well be dead due to an explosion of the sun, or something similar. |
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Sounds fun.
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I believe that God is benevolent but, similar to a parent, he's the parent(God) and should not be treated/respected as the child (humans). If the smallest sort of government holds this virtue, then I believe the *grandest* should hold it as well. Quote:
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I was a little bored, so...
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In the end, if there is a God, then I see no reason why it should be confined to one specific entity. It would make more sense for a God to be everything and nothing, or something equally undefinable. Quote:
Then again, something like Dualism can explain "good" and "evil" far better than any current monotheistic interpretation. Quote:
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If something called God does exist, then it is like nothing we can conceive, so trying to limit it by what we can conceive is ultimately pointless. That being said, I find myself not old enough to fear death, and not young enough to go out of my way to care about the possible exsistence of God. In a few years time, as my mortality comes to forfront of my mind (and faith becomes a more interesting concept), I will probably turn to these questions again to find some sort of personal answer, but currently, the universe and my exsistence being mysterious makes for a damn good time and a fun ride. |
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Again, this is if God even exists. Quote:
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On another note, What religion(s) identifies God so severely that it acts as limitations? |
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