Cerebrum Society

(IQ 130+)

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My Religious Beliefs in a Nutshell (Christian Deism)

This is the symbol of Christian Deism--my belief system. I won't go into detail about my religious background right now (that will follow in a later post), but I will nonetheless outline the essentials of my theology--the culmination of a debate that has raged inside my head since high school.

Let me be clear: I am NOT trying to convert anyone to my manner of thinking or anything of the sort--merely sharing my own battle with faith and reason that occupied many thoughtful evenings. In short, I hope to encourage anyone who's dealing with similar issues, engage your curiosity, and hopefully enrich your own experiences. Thus I procede...

My Beliefs

1. God exists and created the universe (by means of evolution).
2. All human beings are born with God's law (morality) imprinted in their hearts and minds, which he wants us to act upon.
3. All people can know God through practicing their God-given morality and reason, which better ourselves and humanity.
4. All morality can be summed up by Christ's greatest commandment: "Love your God, and love your neighbor."
5. All peoples are loved by God: Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Deists, Agnostics, gay, straight, black, white, yellow, red, brown, Republicans, Democrats, religious and non-religious...
6. God has not abandoned the world, miracles are possible, and faith is the recognition of God's presence in our lives. (Faith and the promise of God's involvement in my life at key moments have made me who I am today--I could not and would not live in a world without them).
7. God does not send people to everlasting punishment because they did not believe "correctly" in something; this puts God into a box.* I like to think that God is a lot more understanding and merciful than many give him credit for. (However, I do believe that people of all faiths will be held accountable in some way for their actions in accepting or rejecting their innate sense to love and care for others).
8. I believe Christ and God are one. That being said, I don't believe that God rejects people if they don't share my belief, or if they have a different interpretation of who Jesus was. I also believe that God has manifested himself in all cultures throughout human history--be it: through reason, through nature, through faith, or through an individual (the Buddha, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, Dante's "good pagans"...)
9. The greatest way for us to worship God is to truly love him and to love our fellow humans. That is true religion--not incense, hierarchies of priests, liturgy, rituals or chants.

*Having been told by Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals, Greek Orthodox, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, non-Denominationalists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and countless others that I'm wrong in my theology and probably going to hell...makes me think that noone has all the answers. If I listened to half of these people, we're all going to hell if you think about it. :P Again, God is a lot more merciful and understanding of the human brain than most people are.

So, there you have it. In my next note on religion I plan on offering a background of my own experiences with faith growing up, the debates I listened to, and how I arrived at my present conclusions. Peace and love be with you all.