I feel personally that Love and God originates from my inner being and channels into this world.

Its like God/Love bursts through a black hole and manifests in this universe warping space and bringing with it energy that changes into matter. From there, stars are born, galaxies are formed, planets are manifested from energy turning into matter.

Then life emerges through the same forces of energy that I call the creative force which is love.

Each element, each atom, each particle is an expression of this energy.

I am a manifestation of star dust as we all are. This is energy, and I see this energy as love which to me is God.

All is God, including me.

Jeannie, you continue to make beautiful, mind-blowing posts thank you

I agree with this---->There is no real separation between creator and creation in Pantheism...

Good.

Thank You for adding somethng new to the mix, ApertureScience.



If One Seeks , One Shall Surely Find.

There is definitely some confusion here because Taoism or Daoism has no deity, so no creator to be worshiped, glorified, or feared and no prayer directed toward such a concept. Just because you believe that a singular god being exists does not make that the same god in which other assign deity to.



Here’s the thing, S1owhand, how can you possibly know what the principles of every religious view are and how can you possibly know that they cannot change? If god gave directions even once to any man in history, what would stop it from happening again? The fact that there is no consensus of what it is that any god actually said AND meant to any human means that there is no possible way to know what principles of belief that or any god would expect humans to follow.



How do you know that THOSE who you say are misrepresenting have not been directed by some ‘spiritual’ communication to bring new direction and beliefs to the people? Why would you even consider assigning such limitations to a being you reportedly believe we can know so little about, much less have any real understanding of.



Then you have contradicted yourself because in you’re quote above this one you show no tolerance for fundamentalists or for those who believe they have been directed to another path. There can be no ‘freedom’ of religious belief that is not constrained by law or by civil or social contract. The reason for these limitations is because there are god conflicts. The degree to which these conflicts extend clearly indicate that one religious group does not believe that another religious group is headed by the same god.

And just as clearly, the attributes that you have assigned to the god of your making are not the same attributes of gods created by others.

Thank you Redykeulous.

Pantheism also has no individual deity or creator to be worshiped.
You just have to worship life itself, and each other.

If the love some people claim to have for God was directed towards each other what a wonderful world this would be.

Okay, good. That's a relief. I was under the impression that you wanted to end this thread.

thank you Red, you have brought forward probably the biggest issue I have with traditional religious beliefs [in bold].
(may be off topic but I'd like to respond to this).
How can any rational person accept that the Almighty Creator once decided it wise to reveal itself to Man (primitive Man, at that)? Why would it do this? Why not reveal itself every few generations to make sure that we truly have the right ideas at heart? Why not reveal itself to every individual? Surely this would've prevented millennia of disagrement, persecution, war and murder.
Apologies if I've misconstrued your meaning.

According to the Bible....

God HAS already revealed Himself to us thru His Son Jesus ....

God wants to make Himself known to all mankind....... but God

waits for man to SEEK Him ,first.


God is NOT a God Who is AFAR off...but a God Who is Always NEAR His

Creation (lookup the many characteristics of God, one being that

God is Omnipresent)....


But God will NEVER IMPOSE on us....or INTRUDE upon our free

Will...


Again....God waits for us to SEEK Him..first....Otherwise, God

would be an INTRUDER.




Christians believe that God already left us a Roadmap

to Knowing God..... called the Holy Bible

Alas morningsong, that was 2000 years and many generations ago. This is NOW. I'm sure God is revealing itself to mankind NOW in many different ways. I have felt Its presence in my heart myself and in my own way. It is the essence of Life and love.

Indeed. How about 'peace be upon us' for a change?

MorningSong, I am gathering some thoughts together and hope to start a topic about Jesus soon (2:00 am here, too late to start!), maybe tomorrow. I look forward to hearing your contributions about this on that thread

In Taoism there is also One. The Tao.

"Taoism (also spelled Daoism) refers to a philosophical or
religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish
harmony with the Tao (道), which is the mechanism of everything that
exists."

It is unifying as well. No confusion there.

Pantheism does in face have One. It is the sum of everything it
can only be One. It is a misinterpretattion to say it is many.

I do not contradict myself when I say that religious tolerance
extends to atheists and agnostics and pantheists.

So then your issue is religious tolerance, not the nature of God.

The Tao, being the "mechanism of everything that
exists" does not in my view equal a deity.

A deity is a single individual. Like a president.
The entire population of a country is not the president.

That is my point.

If the term "God" means an individual deity to some religions, and that deity has a name and he is the creator of others, then I don't see that as being "one."

The Bible's descriptions of God contradicts itself. There is some individual walking around in the Old Testament that is referred to as "The Lord" and he is always being quoted by scripture. Yet this individual is never described. Moses supposedly met "The Lord" up on the mountain to get the Ten commandments.

Yet back then, many people were referred to as "Lord" so I can imagine there would be a lot of confusion who "The Lord" actually is supposed to be.

Then came the name "Jesus" that is also a personal individual. He is not "The One" either because he was a man. Some say he is the "deity."

Then there is Satan or the Devil who certainly is an individual God of some sort.

Christians would never agree that Satan is their God. So where is "the One" in all of that separation?

Pantheism, and the Tao do not have an individual deity.

The basis of the Abrahamic religions is one God monotheism.
Not a person or individual. A God which is infinite, everywhere
and in everything.

Same for the Tao and same for Pantheism.

Same One God for everybody.

Not really. Even though some of the descriptions of attributes of God in the Bible indicate this, this is not really how God is understood by the faithful. They embody their idea of God into a deity.

I think they are wrong, but that's the way they do it.

The contradiction lies in them claiming that God is a deity called "The Lord" or "Jesus" or whatever, and then they additionally claim that God is everywhere, and knows everything and is all powerful and all knowing.

God cannot be both an individual deity and also be everything and know everything and be everywhere.

But if the Abrahamic religions believe that God is everywhere, and all knowing etc., then they MUST believe in Pantheism and they are in fact pantheists.

Yet they hate that idea because they cannot let go of the idea that their God is separate from them, and that it created them, and that it is to be worshiped and served as a deity.

According to the pantheist view, to worship life and serve the whole is the true way to worship God.

So as I said, if people would direct their love of God towards people and life in general it would be a better world.

Instead, they fight and kill each other arguing over their silly belief in whose deity is the real God.

Its childish.

They don't hate that idea. Christians, Jews and Muslims all believe
that their God is not separate from them but also found within
themselves. They love that idea.





and it is OK if they have a pantheistic view of God since it does
not conflict with the Abrahamic religions. They might not agree with
other versions or concepts which people who call themselves pantheists
believe - there are a lot of disparate and conflicting views within
Pantheism - but there is no conflict with the concept of God.

You seem to be trying to speak for the whole of Christianity and other religions and I don't think you can do that. You don't know what they believe.

The difference is that Christians say that the only way to be saved is by accepting that Jesus Christ as the savior of mankind. This is NOT a pantheistic viewpoint.

Christians want to believe in a personal God. This is not a pantheistic viewpoint. To them, pantheism is too non-personal, almost as bad as atheism from what I hear them say.