*Me being a constructive Deist, figured I'd better post something informative about it - Wikipedia came in extremely handy!
I disagree with:
Rejection of all religions based on books that claim to contain the revealed word of God.
Rejection of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religious beliefs.
The books not be the literal word of God, but they do contain marvelous pearls of wisdom. Many of the human interpretations may be wrong but I believe that the basic philosophy of all religions is one and the same... This is why I specifically label myself a 'Constructive' Deist.*
Deism can be a belief in deity absent any doctrinal governance or precise definition of the nature of such a deity. Deism bears a relationship to naturalism. As such Deism gives credit to the formation of life and the universe to a higher power that by design allows only natural processes to govern creation.
Critical and constructive deism
The concept of deism covers a wide variety of positions on a wide variety of religious issues. Following Sir Leslie Stephen's English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, most commentators agree that two features constituted the core of deism:
* The rejection of revealed religion – this was the critical aspect of deism.
* The belief that reason, not faith, leads us to certain basic religious truths – this was the positive or constructive aspect of deism.
Deist authors advocated a combination of both critical and constructive elements in proportions and emphases that varied from author to author.
Critical elements of deist thought included:
* Rejection of all religions based on books that claim to contain the revealed word of God.
* Rejection of reports of miracles, prophecies and religious "mysteries".
* Rejection of the Genesis account of creation and the doctrine of original sin, along with all similar beliefs.
* Rejection of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other religious beliefs.
* Rejection of belief in the Trinity and/or the divinity of Jesus.
Constructive elements of deist thought included:
* God gave humans the ability to reason.
* God exists, created and governs the universe.
* God wants human beings to behave morally.
* Human beings have souls that survive death; that is, there is an afterlife.
Specific thoughts on aspects of the afterlife will vary. While there are those who maintain that God will punish or reward us according to our behavior on Earth, likewise there are those who assert that any punishment or reward that is due to us is given during our mortal stay on Earth. Some do not believe in an afterlife.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
hmm..makes me think for sure!. But there are strong analogies that can be drawn with a well known process that has an aura of importance that mordern history has been permanently embedded with. Any guesses?.yes I know you wouldn't have a clue from all the verbiage above. I'm talking about the formation of the American constitution. Al Gore wrote in his " An Assault on Reason" as to how meticulously the makers of the American constitution was planned, designed and implemented it with a unique set of checks and balances so that the entire system was innately fool proof!. I know..you're wondering why i'm rambling on about this topic despite my being well aware of the fact that it has no relevance to the one above. Relevance - may be not, but the process described above , that the so called constructive deism was embroidered with has striking similarities.We can draw two conclusions. 1. religion cannot be constructed with such a processes, encouraged by mental concoction. coz any amount of mental concoction cannot be the solution to all of life's problems . 2.well.. the system implemented there in America was obviously not fool proof as the makers thought it would've been!.I'd suggest to consult Michael Moore if you want that point to be elaborated! Acceptance of a higher authority and an understanding of the component that exists beyond the plane of the biochemical reactions of hormones and cells in humans - the soul is wonderful.However, rejecting the authority of revealed texts without properly delving into the required depths isn't so much intelligent.Why?.. well understanding the words of the revealed texts, the consciousness of the reader needs to be graduated to a certain higher level which fosters correct understanding.Correct understanding combined with hearing from the knowledge of a bona fide guru gives the true picture of everything there is and was and will be. If the makers of Deism claim that the concept is the brain child of reason, then why not take up the arduous task of delving into the depths of all the original texts that have stood the test of time and then come to a conclusion?.In the end of the day only the lord or the supreme personality of god head can create something on the order of religion: 'Dharmam Tu Sakshad Bhagavad Pranitham" Sadly, Much of the Indic scholars who went down the path of investigating the truth behind the revealed texts, couldn't find a conclusion. Devamrita Swami writes in his book " In Search of Vedic India", much of the sacred process in the ancient Vedic religion of India haven't been taken into account, as much of it has no documented history that the western minds could accept. Exploring the idea of Diesm (Deism oops.. now honestly..that was an unintended spelling error), it instantly throws up questions that has the makers' eyes go wandering. 1. why is the assumed god a god and why did he create us and the universe? 2. why should we humans be ordinary souls and whats our relation to God / why do we even exist? These questions are considered to be the most important of all in human life. the scriptures encourage man " atatho Brahma Jignyasa" or enquire about your original constitutional position with all reason. The claimants to making or following deism based on reason have to understand that there is a certain higher qualification required to understand the reality discussed in the vedic texts. This picture of actual reality is important as it provides the complete picture of our position and that of God's thereby placing everything in place to understand what our mission is.It is then that we attain the degree to gain the true perspective to viewing the so called natural creation of the world as only a relative reality!. So to conclude, the devotees of Deism should use their power of reason to carefully study and understand the bhagavad gita or the original word of the lord that has stood the test of time and understand the ultimate reality that is beyond the perception of our limited senses.
ReplyDeleteCheers!, Srivatsan