The doctrine of God is the part of theology that, confusingly, is referred to as theology (theo=God) in a specialized sense. The doctrine of God is the natural starting point in the study of theology since an understanding of God is necessary to understand the relationship of God to other things. This introductory post discusses the existence of God and various belief systems in this regard.
The first words in the Bible are, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God as the Creator God is assumed in the Bible, and no proof is offered for the existence of God here or in any other place in Scripture. The Bible does teach that the existence of God is self-evident is verses such as Rom 1:19-20, “[T]hat which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” This is not an argument or a proof and many will simply disagree with this statement. But the believing Christian assumes that nobody is born an atheist.
There are many beliefs that people have about God, some being closer to Christian beliefs than others. The main categories are now presented, starting with those furthest away from Christianity and ending with those that are closest.
Atheism. Atheism is the positive assertion that God does not exist. It is a belief most commonly held by intellectuals that also believe in materialism, in a deterministic universe, and in the development of human beings from evolutionary processes. Atheism is a rare belief from a historical perspective, as nearly all societies from pre-history have a predominant belief in some sort of higher power. Since atheism is the positive assertion that God does not exist, it must be understood as an unprovable belief just as the belief in God can be understood as an unprovable belief. For sure, atheist have given proofs that God cannot exist (e.g., the problem of evil, see p. 313) just as Deists have given proofs that God must exist. But these proofs are almost never convincing to those starting out with opposing views.
Agnosticism. An agnostic is a person with the belief that God may or may not exist, is uncertain which is true, and does not have a strong belief as to which is true. An honest agnostic is simply admitting their lack of faith, which is fair. A person should not pretend to have a faith that does not exist, but one can argue that the existence of God is a supremely important question, and that an agnostic should at least be attempting to come to some sort of faith with respect to God. In any case, an agnostic is the same as an atheist in the sense that neither have a God to worship.
Paganism. Paganism sometimes refers to any religion that does not worship the God of Abraham (i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). But with respect to the existence of God, paganism refers to the belief in many gods, none of which are perfect in their goodness and power. Examples of pagan religions in this sense are the old Greek, Roman, and Norse religions. Abraham’s father, Terah, is described in Josh 24:2 as being a pagan: “From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.” The struggle of the ancient Israelites against the worship of pagan gods is also a recurrent theme in the OT, culminating in the spiritual failings of Solomon. “Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, on the mountain that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abhorrent idol of the sons of Ammon. He also did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods” (1 Kgs 11:7-8). Modern forms of paganism include wicca, shamanism, and druidism.
Dualism. Dualism is the belief in both a good supreme power and in an evil supreme power. These powers are in constant tension with each other, and the universe is their eternal battlefield. These powers are equal in status. Neither has moral authority over the other, and a person can freely choose to worship one or the other. Examples of dualistic religions include Zurvanite Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism. Christianity has a dualistic flavor in the sense that there is a spiritual battle between good and evil forces. But Christianity is not a dualistic religion because the head of the forces of evil (Satan) does not have the same status as God. God is perfect and infinite whereas Satan is imperfect and finite.
Deism. There are several forms of deism. But in its most common form, deism is the belief in an impersonal god that created the universe but does not intervene, such as by providing special revelation or by violating physical laws. A deist believes that the universe provides sufficient evidence to believe in a creator god, but that there is no evidence that this god cares about what happens either generally or to specific individuals. Deism is a sort of compromise between atheism and a morally meaningful religion. For the Deist, there is a dual comfort that God exists but does not care about bad behavior. C.S. Lewis describes deism as the belief in a life-force. He writes, “[T]he Life-Force, being only a blind force, with no morals and no mind, will never interfere with you like that troublesome God we learned about when we were children. The Life-Force is a sort of tame God. You can switch it on when you want, but it will not bother you. All the thrills of religion and none of the cost. Is the Life-Force the greatest achievement of wishful thinking the world has yet seen?”[i]
Pantheism. Pantheism is an imprecise term, but generally means that the universe is God, that everything in the universe is part of God, or that everything in the universe is animated by God (pan= all, theo=God). Pantheists generally think that God is beyond good and evil. Therefore, as one gets closer to God’s perspective, seemingly good things would simply be how they need to be. Similarly, seemingly bad things would also simply be how they need to be. Pantheism is therefore untenable for those who draw a distinction between the truly good and the truly evil. Examples of pantheistic religions include Taoism, some forms of Buddhism, and Advaita Vedanta Hinduism.
Theism. Theism is the belief in a God or gods who are personal in nature and play an active role in the universe and in people’s lives. Monotheism is the belief in one such God and polytheism is the belief in more than one such God. In common usage, theism typically refers to monotheism. The God of theistic religions is typically an all-good, all-powerful, creator of the universe, and the determiner of moral goodness. Examples of theistic religions include Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Rastafarianism.
[i] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, New York, NY: HarperOne, 1952/2002: 27.
Leave a Reply