As a more traditional Stoic, I am a personalistic pantheist and a polytheist.
Firstly, ancient Greeks and Romans had always acknowledged the existence of a plurality of deities, but over time began to recognize a single One as Supreme.
The Universe is, for me, identical with this Supreme...
I sympathize with Christianity as a religion, however I find my spiritual succor in Ancient Greek philosophy. This being said, I’m quite fond of @Vouthon and his various posts; they do make me curious about topics such as Christian theology, the history of the Church, and the like.
Indeed. To respond, I’ll say that there is such a thing as slander. There is such a thing as libel. To deliberately mischaracterize a person based upon misunderstood actions or intentions would be thus, right?
There’s so much that’s blatantly incorrect about your characterization of the Christian idea of God that, honestly, it makes me wanna blow a gasket. (And I’m a Pagan.)
In virtually no Abrahamic religion is God described as needing anything; He is self-sufficient. We worship any particular deity...
I wouldn’t know. I’m not an atheist or an agnostic.
Hm, indeed.
I suppose that if you examine these things empirically, it doesn’t matter. But — as I previously stated — conceptually, it makes all the difference in the world. Though, you could say that regarding everything, could you not...
I would agree with most of this. In fact, I referred to the crux of this matter quite explicitly in my last reply: The universe is identical to God precisely because it’s conceived as such by some people. Indeed, in my view, there are things about the Universe that do make it worthy of such a...
I was speaking specifically to the individual to whom I was responding.
And are you sure about your assertion? That there are no typical arguments used in attempting to argue against the existence of Divinity? I’m curious. What do you think, then, about the pantheistic conception of God (like...
You still don’t understand. Pantheism is a type of theism, like monotheism and polytheism. Absolutely! Yet, it’s impossible to criticize using standard atheist arguments, because of the fact that they simply don’t apply. This is the point I’m making. That you don’t feel any sense of awe and...
Oh boy. I honestly don’t know where to begin with this. It’s 5 am, but I’ll do my best.
The Stoics were not deists. You’re thinking of Epicureans. Stoics were pantheists. Zeus (God), for them, was equivalent to the cosmos. Can you argue against the existence of the cosmos? No. No one in their...
I don’t think you understood what I meant. Perhaps that is my doing. Per the immanent Creative Force, I mean that which directs the processes of life and being in the Cosmos. Simple stuff, right? You don’t mean to argue that the creation of life and all of the happenings in the Universe are...
I’ve been observing, reading the replies in the thread, and y’know, I would like to throw my hat into this ring.
To begin, I feel it necessary to state that the Stoic conception of God (or Zeus, Jupiter) is as the immanent Creative Force within the Universe (Logos, Logos spermatikos) who...
I suppose it’s because the Ten Commandments enshrine one system of ethics and morality. In my opinion, I would’ve like to see a collection of statues relating to all of the sources of Western law, especially Ancient Greek and Roman.
Indeed. This is also true.
Yes, I can.
Bill of Rights Institute
Ten Commandments & other displays | Freedom Forum Institute
I had come across these earlier in my deeper investigation, and — upon examination — I think you may be correct. I had misjudged the situation. I was wrong.
Noted. In this regard, then I suppose I would agree to some extent. See my response to Sheldon below.
The Supreme Court has variously ruled on this issue many times, but to summarize: general references to God and the artifacts of different religions are allowed in and on state grounds...
I’m not knowledgeable about the particular ordering of the Ten as differentiated among different groups, so I will defer to you here.
However, I don’t necessarily agree with the ending statement. There is nothing inherently political in religious statements that mainly deal with ethics and...