Isn’t pantheism the same thing as atheism?

[Ferrocyanide]

Since Seax wrote:
“God would not create a universe with laws opposed to His Will.”

^^^^^So, this is the keyword right here. Seax says His Will. So, the pantheist god has a brain.
Since a pantheist thinks of the sum total of the universe as god, I suppose they mean that all this is his brain.

So in your view, will necessitates a brain. Is this a human-like brain? Or can it be different? Generally God's will is not thought to be the product of a material brain, but maybe you have other theories.

Many Christians say that God's will is not like the will of a changing, thinking being with a physical brain. God, as the Form of the Good, attracts us to himself insofar as we desire the good. So "God's will" is just this attraction we have toward goodness. It isn't like some guy sits around and decides what he wants to happen.

“So in your view, will necessitates a brain. Is this a human-like brain? Or can it be different? Generally God's will is not thought to be the product of a material brain, but maybe you have other theories.”

==Imagine that I have Win XP on a CD. Let’s say I have another copy of Win XP on a DVD. I have another copy on a USB stick. I have another copy on a HDD.
Are all these Win XP identical? Well, the files are identical however we can notice that the hardware is not identical.
But all these have a representation of the software known as Win XP on them.

It’s the same way with the pantheist god brain. The hardware looks different compared to a human brain.
Wether the software that it represents, the thinking patterns, memories, input and output and processing centers ..... if it is identical to a human’s software, I do not know.

“Many Christians say that God's will is not like the will of a changing, thinking being with a physical brain. God, as the Form of the Good, attracts us to himself insofar as we desire the good. So "God's will" is just this attraction we have toward goodness. It isn't like some guy sits around and decides what he wants to happen.”

==If by will, you mean thinking patterns, I would say that the thinking patterns differ among humans as well.
You used the words “physical brain”, therefore, you are referring to a non-physical brain but what is a non-physical brain? Are you saying that it is not made of atoms?

“God, as the Form of the Good, attracts us to himself insofar as we desire the good.”

==I guess it has to do with his thought patterns. At some point, he has decided that he wants to  “attracts us to himself”.

“So "God's will" is just this attraction we have toward goodness.”

==I would like to attract you to goodness as well. I would say most humans are like that.
What’s your point? Earlier, you wrote “God's will is not like the will of a changing, thinking” so what is the difference between him and me?

“If God is nature, then God isn't occupying nature as if nature were a space you could move around in. That would be like moving around inside yourself.“

==No no no.
Let’s call our universe, UniverseB. UniverseB is god’s brain and perhaps all other components of his body as well. If you wish, we can call it NatureB.
The pantheist god = NatureB.
So, maybe the pantheist god lives inside NatureA with other gods and he leads his life as his wish. And those other gods in UniverseA are other universes.

Note: I am not saying this is what pantheists believe. I am just exploring ideas.

“I don't know about pantheists, or which ones you're referring to, but in classical Christian theology it's generally said that God does nothing. As impassible and perfect, God has no motion or change.”

==Nothing? What a boring life.

“I don't know who Seax is, but he's fairly fuzzy here. Maybe it makes more sense in context.”

==It’s his first post to this thread. I did not quote his entire post since it is long.

“You're right, there is a wide variety of opinion among Christians. According to Genesis, after God made matter he said it was good. So Christians who like that would think that matter is good.”

==I find that it is a weird thing to say that “matter is good”. Why is matter good?

“Are you wanting to say that the creation story is something which differentiates pantheists and Christians? That might make sense.”

==No.
My focus was to find out if atheists and pantheists are identical. That is why I started this thread.
Initially, it seemed like pantheists call this universe a god so I wanted to know if they believe that it is a personality.

Because their definition has
“Pantheist belief does not recognize a distinct personal god”

and I find that word set as confusing. What’s a personal god. What is not a personal god.
So, it is not anthropomorphic, meaning it does not have cute eyeballs and big ears like Mickey Mouse.
That’s nice, but I want to know what their god is.
Does it think? Does it have feelings? What feeling does it have? Is it curious?