(July 9, 2010 at 5:34 pm)Godhead Wrote: Facejacker -
I've tried looking for the website which gave some definitions, but I can't find it. But I found this, which kind of explains what I believe :
"According to Hartshorne, panentheism can best be understood through an analogy: just as a single organism exists both as as a collection of semiautonomous, individual cells and as an autonomous individual who is more than jut a collection of cells, God can be seen as both a collection of all the constituent parts of reality and as "something more" than the universe itself. Although we, along with the rest of existence, can be thought of as part of God's "body," God's mind or consciousness extends beyond that body and causes God to be more than just a collection of parts.
As parts of God, our freedom is not absolute - just as the freedom of cells in our body is not absolute. At the same time, our actions and thoughts are not dependent upon or controlled by God any more than we are able to consciously control and direct the actions of our individual cells. We may be more than our cells, but we depend upon our cells acting independently of our minds in order for us to grow and even to be in the first place."
Wow, far out. That is an intriguing view. I was a bit confused about panentheism, but I have to say, it sounds like the kind of belief which if I was to be a theist, I'd go for. It's a lot more intelligent than the biblical idea of a god.
