Hello friends, I entered deism due to difficulties in embracing atheism.
Difficulties On Afterlife,soul: I feel bad whenever I remember that this life is absurd, and that my death is like Hitler’s death, like the death of my beautiful lamb, there is no justice, no good, no evil. I met a classic deist friend. He told me that deism has a belief in a Creator, one of whose attributes It is justice and goodness, and if this Creator is just and good, then he will not leave the virtuous without reward and will not leave the criminals without punishment (I am not talking about heaven, hell, and eternal damnation), but rather the simplest manifestations of justice. In my opinion, those who deny the immortality of the soul and punishment and reward after death deny God’s goodness and justice. Because the conclusion against them is that this life is absurd and that the one who established justice and instilled it in us is not just himself. Do you really believe that your end and the end of the criminals are the same, which is decomposition?
Difficulties On God: If deism believes in the existence of a Creator of this universe through “mind” as well as some topics such as inspired morality and the afterlife, is this conclusion not similar to the dogmatists Descartes and Leibniz? that David Hume, and Immanuel Kant? criticized it harshly and considered it a metaphysics that is subject only to faith because human knowledge is limited to the material boundaries of the universe, so a person cannot acquire true knowledge about things that go beyond that. Didn't David Hume criticize the causal argument that the universe was not created in order for us to say that it was created by a God? And causality only applies to tangible things that are within our physical limits? Do you think it is acceptable to atheists’ opinion that all the arguments and indicators that deists rely on are incomplete extrapolations and not conclusive evidence? They stigmatize deists as appealing to ignorance and rushing to conclusions. While they see "waiting" until science gives the final word.
As Deists we observe nature and look for the Creator within the observable phenomina of nature, correct? And yet we allow Elihu Palmer and others to install in our minds a new "revealed religion" Deist cannon that is so often quoted one would think we have a creed. One of Palmer's commandments is that the supernatural is false. To a large extent I agree with him but not in the area of life after death. We have observable natural phenomenon to study and consider and as Deists, we ought to be able to say we have the freedom to do just that. NDE's are one area of study but those are often poluted by the individuals own mind and expectations so I'll put them in a gray area. But almost 100 years ago there was a Doctor who studied abnormal psychology in Chicago. This man was Dr. Carl Wickland and with the help of his wife were able to document hundreds of cases of Earthbound spirits that fastened themselves to the living and making a misery of their host's lives. His books, "Thirty Years Among The Dead" and "Gateway To Understanding" are non-religious and scientific in nature and I think, a missing part of the Deist concept of life. I firmly believe that the Creator has not only created the visible but the invisible spirit world as well. Our progress is ongoing and no matter what our state of spiritual development is at death, eventually we will progress and learn just as we are meant to on Earth. I'd like honest and kind opinions on this from anyone who knows of Dr. Wickland's work.
I think because we are Diests we have a weapons to explore this subject. They are called reason, logic and common sense.
Why would our Creator even conceive us if He wanted us to enjoy his Creation if he was going to end our lives at some point? As I have written before, I don’t believe in a place called Heaven or a place called Hell. If our Creator is not going to put us back on Earth in a new body then why did he Create us in the first place? I believe we are here to add too his Creation and make it a kinder place.
I also believe that Spinoza has the best ideas on how the Creator wants his Children to live and treat him.
Please Read how Spinoza felt about our Creator.
Spinoza: The Substance of God
God would say:
Stop praying and giving yourself blows on your chest, what I want you to do, is go out into the world and enjoy your life.
I want you to sing, have fun and enjoy everything I've made for you.
Stop going into those gloomy, dark and cold temples that you built yourself, and that you call my home. My house is in the mountains, in the forests, the rivers, the lakes, the beaches. That's where I live and express all my love for you.
Stop blaming me for your miserable life. I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner.
Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can't read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your son's eyes... you will find me in no book!
Stop being so scared. I do not judge you, nor criticise you, nor am I ever angry with you - nothing bothers me - nor do I devise punishment. I am pure love.
Stop asking for forgiveness, there's nothing to forgive. If I made you, I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies of free will. How can I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How can I punish you for being as you are, if I'm the one who made you?
Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who misbehave for the rest of eternity? What kind of god can do that?
Respect your peers and don't do to others what you don't want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention in your life, that your alert status is your guide.
Life is not a test, not a step on the way, not a rehearsal, nor a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing there is, here and now and the only thing you need.
I have made you absolutely free, there are no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record.
You are absolutely free to create in your life a Heaven or hell.
I couldn’t tell you if there's anything after this life but I can give you a tip. Live as if there is not. As if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist.
So, if there's nothing after, then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is, rest assured that I won't ask if you behaved well or not, I'll ask. Did you like it? Did you have fun? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?
Stop believing in me. To believe is to assume, guess, imagine. I don't want you to believe in me, I want you to feel me when you kiss your beloved, when you play with your little girl, when you love your dog, when you bathe in the sea.
Stop praising me, what kind of egotistical God do you think I am? I'm bored being praised. I'm tired of being thanked.
Do you feel grateful? Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world around you. Do you feel overwhelmed? Express
your joy! That's the way to praise me.
Stop complicating things and repeating as a parakeet what you've been taught about me. The only thing sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.
What do you need more miracles for? Why so many explanations?
Don’t look for me outside, you won’t find me. Find me inside... there I’m beating in you.
I do believe that there is no Heaven and there is no Hell. These are tools that Revealed Relgiion uses to control thier “customers”.
That said, I also believe in an afterlife. From all the philosphers I have read, including Aristotle who was Plato’s student. They both believe in an immortal soul.
I believe that when our bodies can no longer support it’s life, it dies. When the Body dies the Soul leaves the body and returns to it’s Creator. Our Creator at some point will send your Soul to a new born Human. You could say that what occurs after death is a reincarnation of your Soul into a new body. I don’t think that the Soul retains memories of it’s past life, but I do think what we can speculate that it may gain “intuition” which may help your new body/soul in it’s new life.
I believe in an afterlife, but I haven't the faintest idea how it works. Reading many NDE testimonies, it seems that God tends to forgive our mistakes much more than we think. This makes me think that the reason for being good is therefore not the fear of hell, but wisdom. Those who are wise understand that one must choose good over evil.
I tend to have my thoughts on that the afterlife, if there really is one, is one where our essence goes to another demensions, another form of existence for us.