Am I a Deist?

[Amhairghine]

Thomas Jefferson, America's most intelligent president and great thinker called himself a Deist. He rejected the divinity and resurrection of Jesus. He never calls on God or Jesus. He refers to Providence and mostly to Nature's God.

I do not believe in any personal gods. I do not believe in Humanoid Gods like Judeo-Islamo-Christianity. I believe that there was/is a creation carried on by non-divine forces. I do like the naming of those forces with god-like names for metaphorical effect. My ancestors (Scots, Picts, and Irish) had deities with natural functions long before the fall to Christianity.

I think that the virgin birth story of Jesus, his god-human hybrid status (minus a Y chromosome), and questionable death with magical resurrection...to be so inane as to be childish in my opinion. Sorry but that is how I do feel.

As one who is almost obsessed with modern theoretical physics, astrophysics, and astronomy, I find the Celtic Gods to be poetically wonderful images of the gods, and far superior to the Christian pantheon.

It is simple. The Sun is our father. He is Lugh (meaning light) and he fertilised our Mother Earth, Brigit.

We exist because of solar energy acting upon Earth compounds leading to combinations that we call alive. We are the walking and talking chemical compounds that evolved into us only because Lugh the Sun impregnated Brigit our Mother Earth to produce the seeds that led to us.

Danu the Moon Goddess was the likely Mid-Wife. She stabilised Mother Earth's wobbly orbit with her balancing orbit like a gyroscope. She provided marine tides that have fostered some of the ocean life to move up onto land. Perhaps our first land ancestor came to land because of playing around in the tides.

Therefore, my Trinity is Lugh, Brigit, and Danu.

There is a super-Trinity. Obviously, Lugh had a father too. Lugh's father was the Singularity of the Big Bang whom I name Aed Álainn, the Celtic Father of the Gods. His repulsive force (speculated to be Dark Energy) exploded the Big Bang and keeps the universe expanding. Galaxies move away from each other.

Balor of the One Eye is the misbehaving god who kept quarks together and prevented protons from attaching to each other with his weak atomic force. He made neutrons repel their electrons. Everything remained energy in that short time universe. Balor's weak atomic force kept the energy particles from fusing into atoms.

Sila na nGig, the Matter Universe Mother was the Strong Atomic force. She overcame the weak positive charge vs positive charge repulsive force of protons and fused them into Hydrogen with an electron, and fused Hydrogen into Helium to make tremendous energy and form the first matter. Her Interatomic Bonding Force made us possible. The interatomic bonding force is powerful. Atoms bonding together as rock or soil, hold our bodies against gravity so that we do not sink to the Earth's core.

Therefore, our local Trinity was Lugh, Brigit, and Danu. The big cosmic trinity was Aed Álainn, Balor, and Sila na nGig.

In every way religious people believe, I think that those forces are the closest entities to gods in the cosmos.

I can have a concept of these "gods" whereas the humanoid gods JHWY, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost seemed childish, and off for a mature adult to accept.

Can I claim to be a Theist or Deist now and not get my passport to the US blocked? I believe in gods but think they are natural, not divine and not personal like animals. It makes no sense for me that some super-animal created the Universe. JHWY and Christ are defined as I would define animals.

Amhairghine

 

[Nepenthe]

In every way religious people believe, I think that those forces are the closest entities to gods in the cosmos.

But they're only metaphorical deities in your description. There's no intent or will on the part of physics. So no, not deism.
But this was nore interesting to me:

Can I claim to be a Theist or Deist now and not get my passport to the US blocked?
Amhairghine

What passport, U.S. or otherwise lists religious affiliation? I'm a U.S. and EU citizen and I have nothin' of the sort on mine. Nobody would be denied entry to the U.S. based on their being an atheist.
Or maybe it was a joke...?:sarcastic

 

[Amhairghine]

Just kidding about the passport. I have traveled to the USA 4 times without problem or being required to face the religious police. I said that out of concern that America is drifting toward eventual Christian theocracy.

Ignore the poll. I screwed it up with the last two choices being essentially alike. I did not even vote.

Amhairghine

 

[AntonBatey]

If there is a god, the "deist god" is my choice.

 

[Sophia]

The best description of Deity I've found is that of the En Soph (Ein Soph). The Kybalion is my preferred explanation of the workings of the "cosmos". "The Universe is Mental". The prime cause, or prime mover of the "Big Bang" or whatever - would have (imo) designed all to function in cycles with no need to "tinker" with it. This "Energy-ALL" would be found within all, and therein we ARE "gods" with the ability to be "cause", and to resist the expected "effect" as agents of free-will.

 

[Splarnst]

You sound more like a pagan or pantheist than a deist. The sun did not create universe.

 

[Sophia]

You sound more like a pagan or pantheist than a deist. The sun did not create universe.

If you are replying to me; I'm confused. I didn't say the "sun created the universe". The sun IS a part of the universe. Have you ever heard of a panendeist?

 

[Splarnst]

You didn't ask whether you're a panendeist; you asked whether you were a deist. Deists typically believe in a creator deity outside of the universe.

 

[Sophia]

Perhaps you're right in the word, "typical". The term, "panendeist" is a form of Deist - there are not a lot of rules in what a Deist MUST believe to wear that label. If one thinks of this creator deity as "intelligent energy" - then one could think this energy was spread (as maybe in the nature of "big bang") to be a part of everything in existence. In panendeism the concept of "we are all gods" is easily incorporated.

As there are innumerable types of beliefs among theists - the same holds true among deists. Basically, I think a deist will think that the prime mover or initial creative force does not somehow coalesce to become involved in the lives of humans.