On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 02:16:11 +0000, Maru Dubshinki wrote > That is sarcasm, correct? Because seriously proposing that the > universe has no independent existence from a supreme deity is a > stance I believe is called pan-theism, and I gather from other > things you have written that your 'faith' is not a pantheistic sect.
It was not sarcasm and it is not pantheism. Pantheism is the belief that all things *are* God, the worship of everything, not that God is omni-present and constantly involved, yet separate. A lot of people believe that creation, in the Bible, was a six-day event. But most forms of Christianty actually teach that creation is ongoing, that God is always present and involved, even though our awareness of God's presence comes and goes. The rather dismal view that God set the universe in motion and then stepped back to watch what would happen, intervening occasionally to reward the good and punish the bad, got a lot of support from science during the the Enlightenment, as people began to see that self-regulating mechanical systems were possible. The "clockworks" view of God was quite disturbing to many theologians, as was evolution similarly; on the surface, it seemed to eliminate the need for God's presence. Nick _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
