Are diests really different from the Christian view? (Jesus Christ, Deists)

[Epsilon]

Originally Posted by DrM

If you are truly a Deist, there is but one God which is the God of creation, reason and nature. The absence of dogma does not negate the validity of God. The absence of dogma brings reason to "belief".

This does not indicate that Deists are absent of ethics. We are more prone to ethical behavior because we do not have our minds in the heavens but on our fellow man.

Exactly.
Especially that last part. You wouldn't believe the people that are: "But then your un-ethical"
Or some such I won't elaborate.
But even though I don't follow a gods Ideals I still have a moral code.
Most people do.

[Very_Irreverand_Bill]

Deism is a intellelectual philosophical viewpoint, and a progressive and open-ende done at that.
The classic deists of the enlightenment and the founding father sof the U.S. were like the liberal theists of today; some were deistic Christians, but some-such as Thomas Paine and others were either just PLAIN liberal theists, agno-deists, and right out Deists{Thomas Paine beeing this; he did not see God as a personal sky-daddy, but merely as first cause**.

Todays Deism is even more progressive and diverse. My own deism is that in which I believe in the probability of a intelligent first cause/prime mover/uncaused causer of all causes force of some unknown sort; impersonal and beyond human morality and understandings; I am often of a PanDeistic or PanenDeistic mindset as well. That brings me to my next point; Deism can be mixed with other philosophies or into other religions. PanDeism/PanenDeism is Pantheism/PanenTheism without the "personalk" or "loving" divinity aspects, and without as much fluffiness.

Deisms can be mixed with religions. Like I said, some of the classic deists and U.S. founding Fathers for example were Christian Deists...such as Thomas Jefferson{though he believed NOT in miracles and denied the trinity and despised the Yahweh of the O.T.**.
I am myself of a Deistic form of Satanism/Luciferianism; which is symbolic satanism/luciferianism mixed with deism.
Deists can be Pagans, Buddhists, Taoists,etc. Deism is the standpoint between Pantheism,atheism,agnosticism, and plain theism.

In Reason:
Irreverand Bill

[recluse]

Originally Posted by Unphased

A Methodist or maybe a Christian Deist. I follow Jesus' teachings, but I believe the Bible has been twisted and manipulated. I believe in a human Jesus rather than a divine Jesus. I don't believe that God directly intervenes in day to day life.

I am an agnostic. And as much as I can find complete beauty in the writings of Thomas Paine or a concerto written by Beethoven, I can surely find beauty in the psalms of the bible as well as the moral code that this Jesus supposedly tried to define. After all, all of the above were written by men who were ingenious. I am not a Christian and think that Jesus was probably an urban legend imposed on the Jewish hierarchy for political reasons. And just look how well it has worked! But to believe that he raised people from the dead, made blind people see, etc.--thats just the monkey part of the brain at work. If you know the bible, he promised that the people following him would do the same, yet that never happened. So, I feel it's okay to use some of his purported moral ideations but I have my own and know them intrinsically as well. One of them is to not be fooled by anything that is imaginatory i.e. santa claus, etc.
Many atheists who have never even read the bible or had a religious upbringing lead very moral lives. Why? It's intrinsic to the nature of most of us.

[Aaron CT]

Deism is a rational based category belief. Theism is a mythic based category of belief.

[Jistyr]

The God that deists believe in is quite different than the God that Christians follow, for the Deist God merely created the world and can no longer affect it. So Deism also differs from Christianity because they do not believe so much in praying and believing in miracles, or a God that will allow one's entrance to Heaven or damn someone to Hell. So Deists don't spend so much time worshiping God and turning to him for change. That's another larger difference aside from the lack of Jesus Christ in Deism.