Steven Hawking 's Lecture, 1999 Lead With The Question `` Does God Play Dice?

Popular deism – belief in a being, force, or intelligence. Cold deism God is simply abstract force bringing world into existence. Warm deism God is clearly personal and even friendly.

In her explanation, Lady Philosophy states that God is in ultimate control of the universe. She also introduces the idea that while humans are temporal beings, God lives outside of time. The world, to God, is viewed as an instantaneous event and there is no past, present, or future. Therefore, while they do not have the ability to fully understand God and his perspective, humans have free will and the ability to control their life. Building upon these ideas, I would say that humans have yet to fully understand the aspects of the earth, nevertheless the universe. Consequently, it’s not difficult to believe that humans are not yet able to understand the forces that dictate our universe. Humanity’s inability to fully comprehend, or perhaps see evidence for, God is not because of God nonexistence, rather it is the choice of God that we remain in the shadows of greater understanding. Therefore, humans must hold faith, rather than doubt, in the greater powers of the

To understand how Deism came about, let’s take a look at the Theistic Worldview, first. In the Theists view, God is personal, he is triune, and he is the creator of all existence.

The idea of Deism is that God designed a world-machine and winds it up like a clock. Deists rejected divine intervention, like the resurrection story because they believe that once God created the earth, he has not intervened thereafter. However, Christianity believes that God has to intervene occasionally to adjust the motion of plants. The reason that Jesus’ resurrection is such a central claim for his followers is that it proved that Jesus was the divine trinity, or Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Those mortal gods might have created and guided us. However, they could have been just another race from elsewhere. If that were the case, then one should wonder how they would have come into existence. Surely, they must have been created by something! Take a look at nature and observe the finer details. Everything is an art of perfection, is it not? The more and more you realise the beauty of the creations, the more you will be overflowing with the sensation of the presence of a supreme architect. Maybe there is a greater and grander story of Creation than anything that our religions and sciences have ever said. The real creator of all things may not intervene in our lives. The mortal gods might have intervened in the lives of people when they lived together on earth but the true almighty god may never intervene. What is worse is that the real god may not be conscious or may not have meant to create us. Or, perhaps, he is not particularly bothered about our kind. On the brighter side, we are all completely capable of living our lives by ourselves. Think about it. We have enough wisdom to take care of ourselves, thanks to religions and philosophers. Yes, we do not need a supreme power to continuously provide us with moral and spiritual guidance even though the significance of our existences is uncertain. It is time we took some responsibility to guide ourselves towards fun, peace, and happiness. We do not even need to care about

Deism is defined as a belief in the existence of a supreme being, a belief that God exists, but does not intervene in the universe. A transition from theism, "Deism developed, some say, as an attempt to bring unity out of a chaos of theological and philosophical discussion" (Sire 2009 pg:47).

Defining God’s plan is hard to do, because it is different for everybody. Some people question if a plan actually exists, because why would anybody be put on this Earth just to die? I have found that because I was brought up in a western Christian society, I have always just believed that everybody was put here for a purpose and we just need to trust in that. Portier describes these as the “deep questions about the human condition” (Portier, 17). Reflecting on my personal experience, I can confirm that during those

Yet there may well be a large number of Deists who simply don’t realise that is what they are. It is not uncommon to hear statements such as, “I’m not religious, but I do believe in God”, “The universe is just too ‘organised’ to be just a series of random accidents”, “I just get the feeling there’s something else, something beyond what we can see” and so on. The following bullet points are an attempt to give some definition to Deism. They are most certainly NOT a creed demanding adherence.

A good example of a deist would be Thomas Paine who wrote: "…everything we behold carries in itself the internal evidence that it did not make itself. " This includes trees, plants, humans and other animals. This conclusion carries us on "... to the belief of a first cause eternally existing ... this first cause, man calls God. " Deists believed God created the world, then left mankind to fend for themselves (Comparing).

Mark, I appreciate how you bring out the attempts of Dawkins to refute the existence of God, and the overall belief in science by utilizing the laws of probability, and a computer model of artificial selection to assert major arguments for the improbability of a supreme being. Both the laws of probability and the computer model are man-made examples that man created, therefore can manipulate into any outcome they desire. While the law of probability may be a rule within the scientific realm, why should I choose to believe this concept, since I cannot see it, prove it myself, and furthermore, how do I know that the person who created this law really existed?

Both the Christian and the Deist have acknowledged God as their Creator; however there is again a major difference between these two worldviews. The Christian believes that God created man in His image, and has a personal relationship with him; according to Christianity, our capability for relationships is a result of this form of Creation. The Deist disagrees, stating plainly that, “…human beings, though personal, are a part of the clockwork of the universe” (Sire, 50). In other words, while not denying the fact that man can have personal relationships, Deism denies man the relationship to God, the image-to-original roles. This denial leaves man no way to transcend the system in which he finds himself. The implications of this view are enormous: without the freedom to act as he wishes, Adam would not have been capable of sin and therefore man would not be fallen – leaving no need for Christ. In light of this distinction it is quite plain that Locke, again, diverges from Deism. In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke looks within man himself in order to gain insight about God’s attributes. While this would be impossible to anyone working under a deistic mindset, Locke recognizes the existence of the image-to-original relationship and is able to use this in his line of reasoning. In addition, Locke immediately recognizes the fallen nature of man and the intense need for Christ’s sacrifice. One of the many times he acknowledged the divinity of Christ, Locke wrote, “He was sent by God: His Miracles shew it; And the Authority of God in his Precepts cannot be questioned…” (Reasonableness of Christianity, 108). This statement, too, would never spill from the pen of a Deist. The freedom of man to do as he wills, however, is morally restricted. According to Mr. Locke, although every man has “authority” in his own person – he can do as he wishes – he cannot take his own life, because his life is the

Blaise Pascal makes us think about the question of whether God exists or not. Pascal does not really argue about the existence of God like the other people do, he looks at the choices in whether or not to believe. His argument leads to the question of, “Can belief in God be reduced to a wager?”

For one to be considered theist, the idea that there is an existence of a supreme or supernatural being must be present. Someone can either be a monotheist, polytheist, or pantheist. Monotheists believe in one God, while polytheists believe in many Gods or Goddesses. A pantheist believes in the concept that God and the universe are identical. Being a Christian, I fall under the category as a monotheist since Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God. Jesus was crucified on a cross and died for our sins, which shows his lovingness and forgiveness of our sins. After his death, Jesus was resurrected on the third day and ascended into Heaven to be seated next to the right hand of God. Part of God’s nature is being all-knowing and having the capability to predict our future ahead of time. He is also an all-powerful, perfect being that was in charge of creating the beautiful world that we interact with every single day. Christians believe God is in charge and predicts our lives ahead of time in the sense that he chooses when we come into this world and when it is our time for the entrance of the after-life. He also watches over us to see our everyday choices in order to determine if we follow and stay true to our faith in order to be ascended into heaven and not descended into hell. Jesus is the God of our salvation, in which we ask for forgiveness after the action of our sins. He sees

Some people claim we have the authority to designate what events happen in our lives. Some say our surrounding environment and genes influence our future events. Our laws, genes, and science in general disprove the first claim and prove the latter one. Our lives and the events that happen to us are inevitable, and determined by science. (external forces)

My opinions on Deism are very mixed. I can see why it a solid option for people to think because, it can seem like a more logical approach on life and is a belief that requires little faith. It is more of a way of thinking than a way of living life, but also I can see a few cracks in their system. This may sound a little absurd, but it seems like a cover of up somebody's interest in God that is not fully ready for the commitment of living by faith. It could also be somebody scared to change their life or be viewed differently because of the belief they have chosen. But, whatever the reason is to belief in Deism I do have to give them props from making the effort from atheism; the belief in nothing, into Deism; the belief that God has created the world but