(September 30, 2011 at 3:00 am)Cinjin Wrote: All the established religions of the world are considered "revealed religions". Deism is considered "natural religion". In other words, we don't pretend to know God. We don't assign him a personality or the human attributes that yours and many other religions assign him/her/it. To do so is dishonest as we believe there is no way to know the Creator of the universe. If you feel that this is a denial of your god's person and character, than feel free to thinks so. Obviously we do indeed deny your god's character, and all the world's gods for that matter. On a side note, you'll notice that all the world's gods, especially yours, are all-powerful amazing beings that have never been proven to exist and yet somehow, amazingly enough, all have painfully human characteristics. Jealousy, wrath, envy, kindness, mercy, vengeance, etc. It is obvious to a deist that any god that has human characteristics, especially so many horrible ones, is a concoction of the human mind. A made up entity.
Well, on the flipside of this statement, we have the fact that man is created in Gods image. So, the reason that both God and man have some similar characteristics is because there is a likeness between them. This is not to imply an equality. The characteristics of God are transcendent of man, and the emotions that we have cannot be contrasted to what God might feel. It is only to say that we were patterned after Him in some respect. God also anthropomorphises Himself, most notably in the person of Jesus Christ, so that we can better relate to Him.
I agree that the way that human emotions can sometimes be expressed is quite savage and shameful. However, since humanity is inherently corrupt this isn't surprising. So, the way human beings express their feelings isn't good evidence to suggest that the mere fact of having feelings is some kind of deficiency on Gods part. It would only be evidence if it could be proven that these feelings were inconsistant with His other characteristics, such as holiness, goodness and perfection.
(September 30, 2011 at 3:00 am)Cinjin Wrote: I am not telling you this to convert you, as we believe that your soul is already spoken for regardless of what you believe. I'm only telling you because you asked. I couldn't care less what you choose to believe, just as long as you keep it to yourself.
I would ask what you believe will happen to my soul and what evidence do you have for it?
Now that the reply is out of the way, I want to say first of all that my goal in this debate is to have a civil discussion about our beliefs, free from acrimony. This is my position:
I am a former lifetime agnostic. When I came to the realization that there is a higher power, I became a Theist. After 7 or 8 years I converted to Christianity. I became a Christian because I received revelation that the bible was true, and this before I read or understood anything about it. I was not converted by anyone, in fact not one person had ever witnessed to me in my entire life. I came to the faith independently, because of revelation I had received about God.
I am a fundemental, bible believing Christian. I believe in a literal 6 day creation and the literal truth of Gods word.
So, I guess I'll begin by asking you a few questions.
1. I have seen from your profile that you were a former Christian. What specifically led you to walk away from the faith?
2. From there, what led you to Deism, and why not atheism or agnosticism instead?
3. Is God involved in our world at all today, in any way? Was he ever (beyond initial creation)?
4. What are your thoughts and feelings about the Deist God? What is he to you, and how do you relate to him?
