Reply To: Okay, Nerdy Keith, I'll bite: Why would someone be a deist?
Well truth be told; I don’t think that one position is better than the other. Deism is just where I’m at spiritually and philosophically. I think both positions have something to offer to the table in regards to embracing reason, rationality and scepticism; just in very different ways.
I personally feel that there is something to deism. Based on what I currently know about the laws of nature; to me it seems very structured very systematic. Therefore it stands to reason that there is a strong plausibility that something rather than nothing is responsible as the first cause. Do I know that this is the case as a fact? No I don’t. I can only base faith on nature and reason.
In regards to what happened to God? I have no idea. For all I know the God of nature could be still acting as a first cause to create other universes (if the multiverse theory is correct). This idea that God died upon the formation of the universe is going more down the lines of pandeism. I find the idea of pandeism interesting; but I personally don’t believe in pandeism. I’m much more persuaded by modern / contemporary deism. In that I believe in plausibility of something that was a first cause of sorts to get the ball rolling; but doesn’t intervene beyond the starting point of creation. It would need a big bang and evolution as its process to create the universe; in order to maintain this distance. I would imagine that if this deity exists; it purposefully does not intervene as to not disrupt the natural order of the universe.
Does God intercede in the world anymore ever? In terms of how a Christian or Muslim believes in revelation? I don’t believe so. I see no reason for it to interfere with he laws of nature it would have set up originally. I also see no reason why such a deity would obtain human emotions as the biblical and koran deity is portrayed. This deity would truly have to be above human emotions. Which is another reason why theistic concepts of Gods will never make any sense to me. I reject direct revelation; most deists tend to be with me on that regard. If this God exists; I would imagine it would have some sort of higher more advanced state of existence. Taking a trip down to Earth; would not really be on its agenda. We are but one planet within a seemingly vastness universe (we don’t know the exact size at present; at least not to my knowledge). Human beings or indeed an creature on Earth are just not that special. Thats the thing with many theists; compared to deists. They think human beings have special privilege over all other creatures of the universe; this simply is not so.
I don’t mean to nick pick at semantics; but the idea of a “holy spirit” is a very Christian idea. Which is really only used by Christians (more notable Catholics) to define the trinity. As a deist I don’t believe in a trinity. Its possible that there was one single entity responsible for the first cause; bringing about the big bang; followed by evolution etc
Edit:
I would just like to add that I’m still in the process of educating myself on my belief system. Reading various texts written by deists philosophers (both of the classical and contemporary areas). At the moment I’m reading a very interesting book written by Beth Huston called “Born Again Deist”. She is a former Christian turned deist. Interesting stuff to say the least. So I’m a working progress
