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Old 06-20-2007   #34 (permalink)
JoshJ
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Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 465
Default Re: My faith: Pantheism

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Originally Posted by Ilya View Post
1. He is omniscient. Is knowledge any more than a model of reality? Well, God here is defined as the perfect model of reality, since He is reality. Consider Rodney Brooks's Nouvelle AI premise: The world is its own best model.
Congratulations, you've discovered a tautology.

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2. He is omnipotent. Since He represents ultimate reality, all that can possibly be done is done through Him, and therefore by Him.
Well, yes, any action capable of being performed in the universe is capable of being performed in the universe. Another tautology. You've done nothing but relabeled the universe "god".

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3. He is omnipresent. This one should be fairly obvious.

4. He is perfect. Perfection is a very vague and muddy term, but if we use its original definition, it becomes very evident that God is perfect. After all, the original meaning of perfection is completion, and God is the most complete thing that can be, since he is Everything that exists.
Yes, of course, the universe is a complete subset of the universe Your philosophy thus far is essentially a bunch of tautological statements that you call god.

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5. God is unique. There obviously cannot be another 'Everything', from the very definition of 'Everything'. This is quite consistent with Monotheism.
Same.

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At this point, I am sure that at least some theists would agree that it is indeed God that I am talking about. I would add to this another idea that is certainly not held by all Pantheists, but one that I personally believe in:

6. God is a conscious, thinking being. I believe that there can only be one consciousness in the world, and that seeing our own consciousnesses as being distinct is an illusion. If there is only one thinking substance, it can very accurately be described as the mind of God. I've had personal experience (prophetic dreams) that suggests this, and while I am sure it will never convince anyone but myself, I can't deny its reality. See this thread for more about this: http://socialdiscussion.com/religion...ciousness.html

I'll be happy to answer any questions, as I've done quite a bit of research on this subject.
This is the only non-tautological statement you've made after your initial redefinition. As such, it's the only thing really worth discussing in any manner.

Now, you say you've had prophetic dreams and those "prove" to you that there is a conscious god and you're part of it. I shall point you at Star Wars for your mystical all-powerful being connecting all living things (or for something a little more modern, U-DO in Xenosaga, though you likely wouldn't care for the Nietzschean flavor of that series) and a psychology textbooks so you can learn that dreams officially mean squat.

Got any real proof?
“There can be but little liberty on earth while men worship a tyrant in heaven.”- Robert Green Ingersoll
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