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.