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Classifying Theological ism's
My Brief on My Belief: "This material is opinionated!"
I am a Theist, Polytheist, Panentheist, Pantheist, and Gnostic. It's pretty hard to categorize my beliefs without being a total apologetic theist. I'm a fence rider when it comes to having to be categorized!
I believe in Creationism, Evolution, God (The Creator), lesser God/dess's each having her own purpose and design, angels, fallen angels, spirits, fey, magic, reincarnation, and transmigration of the soul. Damn, I have a busy, convoluted belief system! Anybody feel my pain?
I thought it was necessary to describe the below belief systems, at least from my perspective, because there are many of our visitors that do not understand the differences. If you find me grossly wrong anywhere, feel free to cordially let me know. I would rather debate, be wrong, correct the material, and be right, than be self-righteous.
- What is a Theist?
- Someone who believes in God(s); whether it be Zeus, Odin, Dannan, Brigid, Jesus, Mohammad, Krishna, Buddha; you get the idea. A theist can fall into any of the below categories except Atheist, in which the (A) implies the absence thereof or "non".
- What is a Monotheist?
- Very plainly put; A person who believes in one God. Primarily masculine doctrine.
- What is a Polytheist?
- Very plainly put; A person who believes in more than one God/dess.
- What is a Panentheist?
- A person who believes that God is of everything and everything is of God. Panentheism is the belief that everything that exists does so within and as part of God itself. Panentheist's do not view being human as a separate life, but only a state of being, and when this state ends, we continue on, creating other states of being. (Transmigration) (Reincarnation) We hold the view that after the body dies we are placed in a state of being dependant on our behavior here on earth. We hold the Universe and all living creatures within it sacred, as they (we) are all part of the essence of God.
An interesting read if you're interested! http://www.panentheism.com/ - What is a Pantheist?
- A person who believes the philosophy that everything is God (pan="everything" theos="God") or that the universe and nature are divine is a Pantheist.
When we think of the power of God, it smells of creeds and systems, of superstition, intolerance, persecution; but when we call it Nature, it smells of spring and summer, of green fields and blooming groves, of birds and flowers and sky and stars. I admit that it smells of tornadoes and earthquakes, of disease and death too, but these things make it all the more real for us to conceive of God in terms of universal Nature; A nature God/dess in whom we really live and move and have our being, with whom our relation is as intimate and constant as that of a baby in its mother's womb. This is the God/dess that science and reason reveal to us, the God/dess we touch with our hands, see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and from whom there is no escape. A God/ess whom we serve and please by works and not by words, whose worship are deeds, and whose justification is in adjusting ourselves to his/her laws and availing ourselves of his/her bounty. A God/dess who is indeed from everlasting to everlasting. - What is Polytheistic Panentheism / Pantheism? (More than likely the category most readers of this site fall into.)
- This is a hybrid philosophy of Polytheism and Panentheism; where a person believes both in the divinity of the Universe and of the Gods. In most aspects, the Universe and the God/dess could be viewed as one, as they're often revered in a spiritual division of masculinity and femininity. E.G. As Pagans, we often worship the Earth Mother and the Sky Father, or a derivative thereof.
Like Panentheism, we believe in transmigration of the soul, reincarnation, and that God is of everything and everything is of God. Having said that, revering nature would seem Pantheistic, but if God is of everything and everything is of God, then revering all life would still be Panentheistic. It's the innocence and closeness to the earth that draws us to the trees and animals. In a sense allowing us to become spiritually closure to the earth, or the God/dess.
Like Polytheism, we believe in multiple Gods; however, usually holding one supreme above all others, the Creator. Polytheistic Pantheism and Polytheistic Panentheism are probably of the most difficult philosophies to define, which is why all of our beliefs are rooted within the same philosophy, but are almost always quite different. - What is an Animist?
- One who maintains the doctrine of Animism. They too, believe that God is of everything and everything is of God. Animism is a body of knowledge founded upon the belief that the things around us are infused with more than mere existence. Animists believe that the hills, valleys, waterways, and rocks are spiritual beings, as are the plants and animals. Further, they believe that there are other, less obvious spiritual beings not commonly associated with the phenomena of everyday experience.
I believe that Animists take transcendence and reincarnation to a whole new level. The rock in your driveway could be your grandmother; your cat could be your next-door neighbors deceased relative, etc... - What is an Atheist?
- Someone who believes that God does not exist; moreover, that there is no higher power. Thus we find that atheism is rather irrelevant, relatively speaking. Indeed, it is rather an absurd notion, all things considered. There should not be atheism any more than there is Ahomeopathy or Acreationism. In all these cases, we can subsume the opposite case in one word: science. Refuting insignificant beliefs such as Homeopathy or Creationism does not demand an entire body of thought, but simply to point out that the rational method points in another direction.
- What is a Deist?
- A person who believes in the existence of a remote, unknowable deity, usually male, who created the universe, but has not been involved with it since. Supposedly, the founding fathers of America were Deists.
- What is a Dualist?
- The philosophical aspect of Dualism is the view of man as being constituted of two original and independent elements, which are matter and spirit.
The theological aspect of Dualism is a system of belief that accepts two gods, or two original principles, one good and the other evil.
Western Dualism claims that there are two kinds of things in the universe - material objects and souls. The major exponent of dualism was Descartes. The soul is regarded a thinking self-conscious entity which interfaces with the nervous system through the pineal gland. From this organ the soul controls the rest of the body, which is a purely mechanical system. Dualists believe that only humans have souls, animals are simple automata incapable of any subjective mental experience. - What is a Gnostic? (I'm personally fond of Gnostic beliefs.)
- A Gnostic is a person who believes that salvation is gained through the acquisition of divine knowledge or gnosis. In the Gnostic view, there is a true, ultimate and transcendent God, who is beyond all created universes and who never created anything in the sense in which the word "create" is ordinarily understood. While this True God did not fashion or create anything, He (or, It) "emanated" or brought forth from within Himself the substance of all there is in all the worlds, visible and invisible. In a certain sense, it may therefore be true to say that all is God, for all consists of the substance of God. By the same token, it must also be recognized that many portions of the original divine essence have been projected so far from their source that they underwent unwholesome changes in the process. To worship the cosmos, or nature, or embodied creatures is thus tantamount to worshipping alienated and corrupt portions of the emanated divine essence.
Gnosticism is the teaching based on Gnosis, the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of interior, intuitive means. Although Gnosticism thus rests on personal religious experience, it is a mistake to assume all such experience results in Gnostic recognitions. It is nearer the truth to say that Gnosticism expresses a specific religious experience, an experience that does not lend itself to the language of theology or philosophy, but which is instead closely affinitive to, and expresses itself through, the medium of myth. Indeed, one finds that most Gnostic scriptures take the forms of myths. The term "myth" should not here be taken to mean "stories that are not true", but rather, that the truths embodied in these myths are of a different order from the dogmas of theology or the statements of philosophy.
All religious traditions acknowledge that the world is imperfect, but where they differ is in the explanations each offer to account for this imperfection and in what they suggest might be done about it. Gnostics have their own view of these matters: they hold that the world is flawed because it was created in a flawed manner.
Gnosticism begins with the fundamental recognition that earthly life is filled with suffering. In order to nourish themselves, all forms of life consume each other, thereby visiting pain, fear, and death upon one another (even herbivorous animals live by destroying the life of plants). In addition, so-called natural catastrophes like earthquakes, floods, fires, drought, and volcanic eruptions bring further suffering and death in their wake. Human beings, with their complex physiology and psychology, are aware not only of these painful features of earthly existence, but they also suffer from the frequent recognition that they are strangers living in a world that is flawed and absurd.
Gnosticism, resurfaced in the twentieth century in the forms of Theosophy, Christian Science, some forms of Spiritualism, and in what was called the "New Theology." - What is an Agnostic?
- Someone who believes that God(s) may exist. One who withholds belief because he does not know and is unwilling to accept as proof the evidence of revelation and spiritual experience. There is no concrete proof, so I choose not to believe.
- What is an Agnostic Theist / Atheist?
- To find this, all we do is combine the two terms as defined. An agnostic atheist is one who believes that the existence of god can never be concretely proven, but does not believe a god exists. Likewise, an agnostic theist is one who believes that the existence of a god can never be concretely proven, but does believe that a god exists.
- What is an Evolutionary Creationist?
- The position that life as we know it was created by God through evolution. Evolutionary Creationists see chance and natural law, mutation and natural selection, not as evidence of the Creator's absence but rather as vehicles for God's creativity and providence.
- What is a Theistic Evolutionist?
- Theistic Evolution proposes that God created the biological world by using evolutionary mechanisms. One who accepts Theistic Evolution believes in both God and Darwin, representing the ultimate harmony between science and religion. Theistic Evolution opposes none of the claims science has put forth regarding creation, but at the same time the ideology is not attempting to discredit the Bible.
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