Theism is the belief that there is only one god that exists. A theist is a person who believes in one god, deity, or divinity. Theism comes from the word Theos, which is a Greek word meaning god. The word theism is brought about to contrast the word atheism which is a belief that no god exists. However, there are other terms used to explain the existence of God such as deism, which is a belief in one or more gods who do not interfere with the world's affairs (Case, 2000). Agnosticism is the belief that it is no one knows whether God exists or not.
There are several types of theism and different types of theists as well. The most commonly known theists are the monotheists and the polytheists who have different and contradicting religious thoughts and beliefs. Through this, we get the three main core beliefs of theism which try to help explain the different types of theists. The first belief is that God is in the world and also beyond the world. This statement seems to contradict itself. God being in the world and beyond the world means that he is among us and at the same time He is not necessarily dwelling with us physically. He is with is spiritually, but he is distinct from this world. Being in the world means that he takes care of his creation which is the world. Without Him, the world would not exist. His transcendent nature explains that his ways and actions are beyond human understanding. This type of atheism is called panentheism. The panentheists believe in a God whom one can form a personal relationship with, a god who is loving and good. When they say that God is beyond us, they mean that his powers are limitless even to the world we live in. This can also be explained by classical theism where Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are founded on this belief ( Case, 2000) . They believe that God is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-powerful according to these religions. He is considered as a perfect being. The evidence of their arguments come from scriptures such as the Bible and the Quran and many other ancient philosophical books.
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Another belief is that God created the world from nothing. It is written in the Bible before God created the world it was formless and desolate, but this belief contradicts this statement. It explains that God existed alone, and he created the universe out of nothing. Therefore, this shows that it is a must for God to be and everything else is secondary and depends on God’s existence. And for these secondary things to exist, there must be created by the one who already existed.
The third core belief in theism is the belief God is a supernatural being and works miracles. Also, we are governed by specific rules, and every action has consequences, that is, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In this belief, God can interfere with the world whenever he wants through miracles. When the theist believes that we exist in an open universe where God can intervene at any time, Deists believe that we live in a closed universe where God cannot reach us in this world thus cannot interfere with our lives (Powell, 2008). They believe that there He has no supernatural power to control us. Open theism distinguishes between the free thinkers and the sovereignty of God. The free thinkers tend to argue that the world is independent of God’s control. They argue that the ideology of the sovereignty of God comes from ancient teachings and thoughts with the Greek philosophy.
References
Case, D. A. (2000). What We Believe: A layperson’s guide to Wesleyan theology . Self-Published.
Powell, S. M. (2008). Discovering our Christian Faith: An introduction to theology . Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.
