I never understood deism. In my personal opinion and observation, it seemed like separating oneself from former theistic thoughts (however one defines theism), while still maintaining belief in God. Kind of like a "just in case" theology. The way deism is described, I don't see what makes it unique besides what it is not (contrasting it to other faiths it disagrees with).
I mean, that's my impression. Is that what deism really is or just some deist fall into this catagory while others don't?
The basis for deism is the belief in God based on observations in nature, not ancient holy books written by man. Deists look at nature and the universe and see purposeful design, not randomness. That is the very core of deism.
Every religion that has a holy book is referred to as one that received divine revelation. In other words, at some point in history some person(s) claimed to receive word/visions from God, and wrote down what they saw. The human element tends to corrupt things, as we are very biased toward what we believe and think. If God wanted the world to know about religion, He could simply plant His religion into everyone's DNA or minds and be done with it. There is a reason that there are so many different religions, beliefs and traditions...humans made them up.
Think about this: the Holy Bible is full of mysticism and supernatural elements, but if you strip those away you are left with a book that basically condones mass murder, rape, enslavement, an easy rich life for priests, and is very male chauvinist in nature, as well as having stories (Eden, Noah's Ark, Tower of Babel) that make no sense and that science easily debunks. It is so blatantly obvious that all of that stuff is man made. Then there is the Christian concept of Satan as the devil...the need for a supernatural boogeyman to blame all the crap on, instead of just accepting responsibility for our actions. There is only one God, so therefore Satan can't have godlike powers and be independent from God, otherwise you have a polytheistic religion, not monotheistic.
Deists remove the human element and man made holy books, and simply worship God with respect and reverence.
Now, some people (myself included) refer to ourselves as Christian Deists. We add the belief in the moral teachings of Jesus to our lives and try to live accordingly. That is what it means to be a Christian...a follower of Christ. All that mumbo jumbo about accepting Jesus into your heart is purely symbolic. There is not a verse in the Bible that states that you must do that in order to be saved. As a matter of fact, Jesus said there were only two commandments: love God, love people. Christian Deists do that.
We also take it a step further and study what the Bible actually says, instead of repeating stuff from tradition. A classic example is the Christian concept of heaven...no where in the Bible does it say that when we die, we are immediately judged and go to heaven. That verse does not exist. The Bible does say that we die, go to the grave, remain "asleep" until judgment day, and then we will be raised, judged according to deeds (not just faith), and the righteous go to paradise on new earth (not heaven). [Revelation 20 and 21]
Granted we can't debate about it here, as this is the Deism DIR, but feel free to look those verses up and we can discuss them elsewhere, if you like.