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Pantheism
With the advent of the poorly-named
"New" Age movement, we saw a rise in a strange mixture of religious
beliefs that combined elements of Eastern Mysticism (there are many
gods), Humanism (I am "god"), and the occult (powers exist to me if
I realize these things). Of course, none of these teachings are "new"
at all. Satan used these very same lies the very first time he tried
to plant doubts in the first human's minds. And they are such good lies
that it worked then just as good as it does today. This blending of
false belief also makes it appear that all religions teach the same
thing, or at least close enough that we should accept all beliefs as
part of some "higher" truth.
Pantheism cannot answer the question
of how it all began, for the same reasons atheism cannot. While atheism
denies a God capable of creating all that is, pantheism says that the
universe itself, including us, is God! But if this God/universe/us is
eternal (and it would have to be if it was not created by a true God)
then how could we be ignorant of that fact? We are not born with that
knowledge, and if we must learn something new, then we are not eternal!
An eternal being, by definition, cannot change or be added to. This idea
also ignores the common sense fact that for something to create itself,
it must first exist, and it is therefore not possible.
Pantheism cannot explain evil or suffering
or morality, and so simply does away with them by calling illusions! But
as Craig Esvelt has pointed out, illusion can only exist if there is a
reality to compare it to. Non-existance, of course, is not really an answer
so much as it is a denial of the obvious.
All religions are not the same! Beyond
the basic morality all cultures share regardless of their religious beliefs
(Romans 2:14-15), we see a tremendous difference between gods and godesses
and no gods etc. But you cannot have it both ways, there is either only
one God, or there are several gods. Either salvation is based on realizing
that you are a god, or it is in realizing that you aren't! Religions may
overlap in some areas, the truth has a way of permeating throughout all
of life, but it is in the differences that we truly define a religion.
Also, it might be added that tolerance is only a virtue when you assume
the other person is wrong... which implies a difference between right
and wrong... and is therefore self defeating. Of course, accepting a person
as a person while believing differently is right, but tolerance should
not be confused with pretending to affirm a person in something that you
do not believe is true.
Pantheism does not make sense. It adds
more questions than it answers, and rather than attempt to explain its
internal inconsistancies, it merely denies the ability to do so. Moreover,
when backed against the wall of reality, it simply calls reality an illusion
which is self-defeating.
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