Fan Mail

This is a response to the comments left for the post “Theology – The Study of Deity.”

In the comments left by Seekingakingdom and Mark I see four basic questions:  What is the need to put a specific label on God? If a Christian is a panentheist then where does evil come from? If a Christian is a panentheist then who do they worship? Can panentheism be backed up Biblically?

It seems to me that the obvious place to start is the issue of labels. Society is built upon the assumption of language. We base our ability to communicate on the assumption that the hearer can interpret our words the way we intend them. We bank on definitions, connotations, and labels. In spiritual conversations people often feel that they disagree with one another simply because there is no unified language. When we drive down the road there are clear, universally accepted signals which tell us how to navigate safely, with spiritual conversation this is not the case. This post was intended to help people better understand what a few words mean so that they can better communicate with one another. If your God(s) does not fit into one of these labels then so be it; that is not the purpose.

The following three questions all have to do with the position of a panentheistic view of Christianity.

First, the issue of theodicy. Panenthiesm no more answers the question of evil than does monotheism. To ask how God can be in an Earthquake is the same as asking how God can allow an Earthquake. This is a question not answered by a theological framework but by one’s view of the personality of God and the purpose of humanity.

Second, worship. This raises the issue of what you mean by worship. I will try to answer as appropriately as possible. Worship and value are closely related. Panentheism lifts everything up as being intrinsically valuable since it is all connected to God. At the same time I think it is appropriate to assign different amounts of value to different types of objects. Rocks are less valuable than animals because they are less able to express God in themselves. Within this understanding of value, the only thing that would be exalted to a level worthy of reverence is the part of God separate from existence; the part which we cannot know, see, or understand.

Third; is it Biblical? While I am not typically one to point to the Old Testament to evidence my point I will start there this time. The first time God describes himself is to Moses and he describes him self as The I Am. I take that to mean The All, or The Everything. If you ask, is He this? He is.

In the New Testament, the idea of spirit is the word for wind, or air. This was a thing which the people of that day could not completely understand but they knew that it was the thing which was in everything and allowed everything to live. This is the word which refers to the Holy Spirit and refers to the spirit of man.

I don’t have a lot of site verses but I don’t think that is really what you want anyway. I am sure there are more evidences which will occur to me later but I’ll leave it here for now. Thank you for your questions and comments.

Theology- The Study of Deity

I am afraid that Christians suck at theology; at least in as much as labeling their theological framework. The vast majority of Christians claim to be monotheists; this is what is taught in Sundays schools and even religious textbooks, most of which are written by Christians and ex-Christians.

 

Monotheism is the belief in a single deistic power. There is one god. The reason Christians claim this stance is because we have named your god by his essence, God. Our god is God. When we did that we lost the actual meaning of the word god and replaced it with our understanding of God.

 

Within traditional Christianity there are several gods. One can argue about the trinity all day long and get no where so we will avoid that conversation. Sidestepping that, there are plenty of angels; these are gods in the correct sense of the word. They are subject to the creator god which makes them “lesser gods” but still gods. Also the adversary character for most Christians is viewed as a specific deity called “Satan,” he is a supernatural personality and therefore a god. One who recognizes many gods who are subject to a greater God and only worships the greater god is a Henotheist. This is what much of Christianity is, Henotheism.

 

Catholicism, which deifies individual humans, is simply Polytheistic. The exaltation of Mary as well as the apostles is Polytheism. They are recognized alongside the creator. This is also the case for conservative Christians who view Paul as Christ. Many Christians view the words of Paul as equal to the words of Christ because they view him as “the mouthpiece of Jesus.” This is the deification of a man. This understanding is Polytheism.

 

A few Christians are really Monotheists. Though I find it difficult to come to this conclusion Biblically, they reject the notion of angels, demons, and Satan. They do not lift up Mary, Paul or the disciples. They recognize a single deistic personality, this is Monotheism. Of all the options I find this the most difficult to conclude Biblically.

 

Some Christians are Pantheists. This is also a small minority, but those who view God as a spirit which saturates the whole of existence are Pantheists. They often say, “God is in everything.” These Christians often have a great respect for all living and non-living things as they view all things to have supernatural value. At the same time they might under play the life of Jesus as, while he was supernatural, he was not really different from anything else since is to impossible to add supernatural value to something which is already saturated. All things are equally god, and Jesus simply understood that the best. I also have a hard time understanding this Biblically.

 

Finally, some Christians are Panentheists. They recognize God as the spirit which saturates everything while at the same time greater than the sum of all things in our world. This is to say that God is in all of his creation but he is not bound to it. This understanding allows for some parts of Creation, and some people, to be more god than others. For example it allows Jesus to be fully God and fully man in a way which is special from the rest of humanity which is also fully god and fully man. Rocks are fully god and fully rocks. Everything has supernatural value but God cannot be counted since his essence is exterior to our universe.

The intention of this post is not to place value on one framework above another. While I think that some are more Biblical than others I respect them all. The purpose is to help Christians put the right label on how they view God. What other options are there? What did I get wrong, and where do you find yourself?