Deism has a slight difference with the Christianity worldview. While religions all believe in God as the creator of the universe and everything that is within it, the two differ concerning the functionality of God on earth and God's power over the creatures. Christianity believes that God created everything and has power over every creature. According to Christianity world view, it is God that has dominion over the creatures. The view differs from the Deism, who believes in the creation, but do not believe in God's power of control over the creatures. Here is a look at how the Deism and Christian world view differs in different aspects of religion.
Section B
Essential Aspects of the Christian Worldview and Deism Worldview
The Ultimate Reality
In Christianity, we believe in God as the ultimate reality. The belief about God being the ultimate reality roots on the Bible, where there is an account of creation. Christianity believes that God is the finale because it was God that created the universe. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). From the Christianity worldview, "all things were made by God; without him, nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3). In Deism world view, things are slightly different as its followers believe in God as the creator of the universe. In this sense, their Deism shares a similarity with Christian with regards to God being the initiator of the world and the creator of all its content. However, the ultimate reality in Deism is not God but the ability to understand nature and approached God's creation. In this sense, Deismbelieves that even though God made the earth and also had a perfect role in creating every content of the universe, God is not in control of every single motion on earth ( Pearcey, 2004). The belief in nature as a control mechanismof the planet other than God creates a sharp difference between the Christian world view and that of the Deism.
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Section C
Nature of God in Christiantiy and Deism
The Nature of the World
When God created the world as accounted in the creation account in the Book of Genesis, “He saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:25). From this verse, there is a clear understanding of Christianity worldview on the nature of the world. The world in proper and orderly. Further, the world is full of light and intellect in the Christian worldview. It is a perfect creation of God. God even went ahead and placed leadership in the hands of a human being. "God then created man in His image, male and female” (Genesis 1:27). “God gave mankind dominion over all he created” (Genesis 1:28). “And God saw all that he created andmade, and behold; it was perfect" (Genesis 1:31). Christian, therefore, attune corruption to the fall of man.
Deism has both similarities and differences regarding the nature of the World. Deism, through accepting that God created the world, therefore ascertains that the world’s creation was orderly. However, the fact about the world having issues such as evil are all attributed tosymbols. Deismbelieves in a world of symbols and not the perfection of unforeseen creation that brings misfortune. Therefore, Deismbelieves that people can control the states of the world with their ability to reason. It is the capacity to reason and to interpret the worldthrough observation that leads to either good or bad fortune to human beings ( Lucci, 2019). Note that Deism gives much attention to the intellect as the second most important thing that God gave the human being. In this sense, they believe that world states of order or chaos are all attributed to how people perceive, observe, and interpret different happening and derive the meaning from them to act. Unlike Christianity, the states of the world in Deism opinion has no attachments with the power and creation of God.
The Nature Of Human In Chritianity And Desim Worldview
The Nature of Mankind
From the Christian viewpoint, the human being is the superior being among all the animals. From the Book of Genesis in the account of creation, the Bible states that "God then created man in His image, male and female" (Genesis 1:27). "God gave mankind dominion over all he created" (Genesis 1:28). It gives a clear view of the nature of human being as being a superior being to any other creature. Deism does believe that God is powerful than a human being, and in this manner, Deism and Christianity indeed hold some similar view on the nature of humankind in the world. A look at the Christian viewpoint on human nature reveals a sinful creature that God must have ways of directing them to follow the right path. From the Bible, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore, he instructs sinners in his ways” (Psalms 25:8).However, Deism rejects this idea in two ways. First,Deismbelieves that God does not control human beings because God has no power and influence on the earth. Secondly, Deism believes in reasoning, and thus, they believe that God bestowed the human being with reasoning capabilities. It implies that human nature depends on the ways through which they can interpret the symbols in their environments and react to them.
Note that Christianity believes that humankind is naturally sinful and evil, and they have to turn to God to be cleansed and become useful. In this manner, the sinful and evil states are the nature of humankind, and this is reasoning that Deism rejects as it believes that the nature of humanity is God-given reasoning power ( Pearcey, 2004). In this sense, the Deism claim that even though the human being is not created as a perfect being and to some extent, they tend to be influenced by the symbols of the evil they interpret, the human nature has the ability that lies in their reasoning to override the evil symbols in their environment. So the critical difference between the Deism world view on the nature of humankind and that of Christianity lies solemnly on the power and the nature of human beings ( Berg, 2018). In Christian, human beings have to follow God to be righteous while in Deism, a human being can make their way through reasoning.
The Biblical AndDeims Worldview About The Source Of The Problem Of Humanity
The Problem Mankind Faces
Human beings have a lot of challenges and problems that they face daily. The Christians and Deism world view differs sharply on the sources of Human being's issues and their causes. From the Christianity viewpoint, the source of a human being's problem is a sin. Sin is what creates a barrier between human beings and God; thus, the reason why Lord does not answer their prayers. In this sense, the Christian world understands that when people follow God and become devoid of sin, they directly connectwith Him, which marks the end of their problems ( Lucci, 2019). The Deism believes strongly reject this nature of viewpoint. Deism believes in the ability of human beings to reason. In this manner, the source of sin comes when the human being believes in matters such as God's power in controlling the world. From the Deism viewpoint, it is the inability of people to reason that creates instability in the world that results in problems. Take, for instance, the disaster problems that human being faces daily such as tornadoes and floods. The Christian viewpoint sees suchdisasters as misfortune that comes due to the inability of the human being to reconnect with God. People intepretes them as God’spunishment due to human failure to make up to Him ( Sire, 2009). On the other side, Deism believes that such problems come when a human being makes an error in their reasoning. For instance, climate change that results from pollution and other global warming issues can lead to flooding.
The solution
The solution in the Christian viewpoint is Jesus Christ. The Christians must seek Jesus Christ as this is the only way to find their way back to God. The Bible states, “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Therefore any Christian that needs to get way back to God must seek Jesus Christ. On the other side, Deism believes that the power to use reasoning and interpret the symbols in the world is the solution to overriding any sin or problem, including the idea of evil and hell that contribute to sin in the world.
From the reflection, it is apparent that Christianity and Deism both have similar viewpoints on how God created the world. However, the key to differences between the two worldviews is based on the view on the power that God bestowed on a human being. In Christianity, human beings have to rely upon in God and not on their ability to reason, as stated on Deism.
References
Berg, J. (2018). Thomas Morgan (1671/2-1743): from presbyterian preacher to Christian deist: A contribution to the study of English deism (Doctoral dissertation).
Lucci, D. (2019). From Unitarianism to Deism: Matthew Tindal, John Toland, and the Trinitarian Controversy. ÉtudesÉpistémè. Revue de littératureet de civilisation (XVIe–XVIIIe siècles) , (35).
Lucci, D. (2019). The Law of Nature, Mosaic Judaism, and Primitive Christianity in John Locke and the English Deists. Entangled Religions , 8 .
Pearcey, N. (2004). Total truth. Wheaton. Crossway .
Sire, J. W. (2009). The universe next door: An essential worldview catalog . InterVarsity Press.
