RE: On Hell and Forgiveness
August 31, 2018 at 5:09 pm
(This post was last modified: August 31, 2018 at 5:41 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
(August 31, 2018 at 5:00 pm)robvalue Wrote: Sure, sure, sure, sure...From a purely technical point of view the description I gave you is accurate. They are all in the same category, ofc, god beliefs. It's just that one is a more elaborate version of the other.
But from a purely technical point of view, an atheist is someone who "lacks theism" or is "without theism". If deism isn't covered by theism, then it must be covered by atheism. This is why I find it neater to stuff them all in the same category.
Theos is greek. Deus..latin.
In the greek it would be "lacking god" - which, to the greek centric greeks..was to lack gods like their gods. Enlightenment deists latched onto the latin as a way of differentiating their pov, and were..coincidentally, called atheists for it.
As a fun aside, while we cant really know how the first god believers conceptualized their creator gods (when they had them)..if many surviving neolithic cultures (nativesa in the various countries we colonized) could be counted on to be similar at contact..and we think they can, there are alot of stories about creator gods who created and then sat back with other deities and spirits filling in as intercessionaries. The first intercessionaries were probably our dead family members - before we even got around to formalizing minor deities and spirits (we were burying each other quite elaborately long before we seemed to have started out in god beliefs). We might consider the march to monotheism; from animism, to ancestor worship, to deism, to polytheism, and then here... as an economizing of the divine. Lay off the supporting cast, roll every job into one, and it makes appeals that much easier. No need for this rite to that spirit in such and such sacred grove, and that rite to the water sprite in so and so pond, etc.
One ring to rule them all, lol.
-probably worth adding, to the above, that this isn't to say that the greeks were wholly unfamiliar with what we now call deism. Entirely to the contrary, it's simply that this concept was..to an extent, rolled into their ideas of their own theistic gods. The underlying reality, if you will..with theistic gods being some fraction or portion or manifestation of a greater divinity or demiurge.
.....or, as most people are more familiar with, the theistic gods being the children of even more powerful, primal, and impersonal forces, titans all long since locked away.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
