Nontheistic Christianity

wil

wil

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Nontheistic Christianity

To me it means I don't believe in the anthropomorphic being that decides whose headed to heaven and who to hell (oops don't believe in any critter called the devil or a physical place called heaven or hell either).

I believe in G!d. I've been called panentheist and I think that maybe close. I believe us all to be expressions of G!d, like the ethers adjusting the membrane of existence and we get the visual.

But some creator, some being, some entity that exists apart from us, all of us, the collective universe and universal us...I'm wondering not.
 
I agree. I wouldn't call it nontheism (I call it panentheism, as I really am a firm panentheist). But I don't think God is anthropomorphic. I do follow Christ. Not sure what you call us.
 
"Nontheistic Christianity" is the biggest oxymoron ever. Why don't they call it "Pantheistic Christianity"?
 
Well, for 1 thing pantheism is not the same as panentheism. But, these days I don't spend much time trying to figure out "God." earl
 
whao! I didn't even notice it said "Panentheism"! I've never heard the term before!

I like to end my sentences with exclamation points! It makes me look excited!
 
... the anthropomorphic being that decides whose headed to heaven and who to hell
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I know!

It's one of the biggest fallacies of the Reformation, and seems to underscore Protestantism ... from this bank of the Tiber, of course, it's utter nonsense.

I mean, look at it another way ... is it the Buddha who decides that everyone suffers if they don't follow him?

+++

But yes, 'non-theistic Christianity' is an oxymoron. Then again, if you believe in God, you are, by definition, a theist.
How you define the deity is another matter.

Thomas
 
Yeah, I only use the term "God" because of 54+ years living in a predominantly Judeo-Christian culture & just because there's something about the "New Age" alternative term "Source" that doesn't appeal to me. But, again neither terms nor especially grand conceptualizations which are merely speculative about Source, God, Bob, whatever are as attractive to me as discussions about how to relate to it. Guess I occasionally need to call it something when I choose to speculate. earl
 
I can only describe how it seems when I'm Bobbing. When I'm in the Bob groove it simultaneously seems as if a greater sense of sentience and compassion fills me and is released from me-is it's source from outside of me? A theistic view. Or is it a release of my deeper potentials? A non-theistic view? It seems both. A panentheistic view.:) But I acsribe no ultimate metaphysical truth to it. earl
 
I've always liked Tillich's Ground of Being, or the God beyond God. Even as I recognize the transcendence of God, not containable in 'a being' and yet the sustainer of all being, I am limited by my own humanity. God is love, but that seems meaningless unless I can relate to God as a Person. That's why 'non-theistic' Christianity just does not fit me.

Maybe my favorite reference to God is the 'More', always realizing that any conception I have is limited not by God, but by myself.
 
Nick the Pilot said:
Wil,

How does the concept of Jesus relate to nontheistic Christianity?
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My elder brother and wayshower who blazed a path, grokked oneness and walked the walk.

theism - the belief in one God as the creator and ruler of the universe, without rejection of revelation (from dictionary.com)

Like sitting down and refusing the pledge due to disagreeing with 'equal justice under the law'.....I currently don't buy 'creator and ruler of the universe'
 
lunamoth said:
I've always liked Tillich's Ground of Being, or the God beyond God. Even as I recognize the transcendence of God, not containable in 'a being' and yet the sustainer of all being, I am limited by my own humanity. God is love, but that seems meaningless unless I can relate to God as a Person. That's why 'non-theistic' Christianity just does not fit me.

Maybe my favorite reference to God is the 'More', always realizing that any conception I have is limited not by God, but by myself.
Click to expand...
Sounds like I've got to add another book to the que, thanx!

I love your last line, because I believe we've created G!d in our (person)image, on steroids and a power trip, and that is what no longer resonates.
 
wil said:
theism - the belief in one God as the creator and ruler of the universe, without rejection of revelation (from dictionary.com)
Click to expand...

That definition sucks because it says "one God", defining monotheism rather than theism in general.
 
Wil,

You said,

"My elder brother and wayshower who blazed a path, grokked oneness and walked the walk."

--> Does this include the idea that Jesus was a 'deity,' that is, the second person of the trinity? Or, was he just a great teacher like, say, Buddha?
 
Nick the Pilot said:
Wil,

You said,

"My elder brother and wayshower who blazed a path, grokked oneness and walked the walk."

--> Does this include the idea that Jesus was a 'deity,' that is, the second person of the trinity? Or, was he just a great teacher like, say, Buddha?
Click to expand...
Does it matter Nick?

And if it does...why?
 
Christianity is based on the New Testament. Where is God the Father involved? Christianity seeks to bring man closer to God through rebirth and to save the good seed through salvation. Christendom seeks to bring God down to the level of fallen man on earth. Why confuse one with the other?
 
Nick_A said:
Christianity is based on the New Testament. Where is God the Father involved? Christianity seeks to bring man closer to God through rebirth and to save the good seed through salvation. Christendom seeks to bring God down to the level of fallen man on earth. Why confuse one with the other?
Click to expand...
Oh I don't know, "This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased", immediately comes to mind...
 
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