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Return to Theism: A dark version of Abrahamic religion

#1
C C Offline
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/one...urn-theism

EXCERPT: [...] What is the alternative? Atheism, as I mentioned going in, brings its own punishments in the form of social rejection. Atheists, in this country, have trouble getting dates and they cannot be elected president (of just about anything).

Shall we try deism? [...] Here, god created the world and then walked away. He does not care about you, let alone love you. The good news is that he will not punish you [...] Deism is cerebral. [...] many wanted their rationalism but were too scared to give up the idea of god. Deism is not rational, though. Once you give up the infantile fantasy of being monitored by an omniscient and benevolent creator god, there is no psychological need to hold on to the idea that there was a creator. In deism, the problem of theodicy is no longer an issue, but the problem of infinite regress remains, and a rationalist should recoil from it. Who created the creator? [...]

Love-theism, deism, and atheism all have their problems. An option that remains is theism without love. If god is a mischievous, even sadistic, demon, the problem of theodicy is solved and the problem of infinite regress can be left to the philosophers. The psychological consequences seem dire at first, but liberating at second glance.

On the dire side, it may seem depressing to think that a malevolent supernatural entity is responsible for the construction of a deeply flawed world and an even flaweder human nature. On the upside, we would know whom to blame [..] and we could take the matters we can control into our own hands. By the lights of this dark theism, we can confront life as the heroic struggle that it is, and in the end, we can consider ourselves worthy adversaries – and not sheep....
#2
Magical Realist Offline
Gnosticism sounds like this new proposed anti-theism. It turned monotheism on its head, teaching that God is in reality a deceptive Archon who seeks only to enslave humanity in the darkness of matter. The way of salvation then comes thru knowledge and wisdom, a path particularly suitable for the science ethusiast. The truly transcendent source of truth dwells in fragmented scintilla embedded inside of human beings. Our mission is to battle the Dark Lord by spreading the truths of knowledge and reason thruout the world.

"The threat posed to Christian ideology by the Gnostic message was very great, indeed. And still is. For one thing, Gnostics asserted that the paternal father god of Jews and Christians alike, Jahweh-Jehovah, was in reality one of the archons. An alien intruder, a hostile ET. And moreover, they insisted that this alien pretender is insane and working against humanity. Needless to say, this proposition was extremely alarming to devotees of the Abrahamic faith. Since the discovery of the Gnostic cache in Egypt in 1945, that alarm is again sounding across the land."===http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/...disclosure
#3
elte Offline
(Nov 16, 2015 09:18 AM)C C Wrote: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/one...urn-theism

EXCERPT: [...] What is the alternative? Atheism, as I mentioned going in, brings its own punishments in the form of social rejection. Atheists, in this country, have trouble getting dates and they cannot be elected president (of just about anything).

Shall we try deism? [...] Here, god created the world and then walked away. He does not care about you, let alone love you. The good news is that he will not punish you [...] Deism is cerebral. [...] many wanted their rationalism but were too scared to give up the idea of god. Deism is not rational, though. Once you give up the infantile fantasy of being monitored by an omniscient and benevolent creator god, there is no psychological need to hold on to the idea that there was a creator. In deism, the problem of theodicy is no longer an issue, but the problem of infinite regress remains, and a rationalist should recoil from it. Who created the creator? [...]

Love-theism, deism, and atheism all have their problems. An option that remains is theism without love. If god is a mischievous, even sadistic, demon, the problem of theodicy is solved and the problem of infinite regress can be left to the philosophers. The psychological consequences seem dire at first, but liberating at second glance.

On the dire side, it may seem depressing to think that a malevolent supernatural entity is responsible for the construction of a deeply flawed world and an even flaweder human nature. On the upside, we would know whom to blame [..]  and we could take the matters we can control into our own hands. By the lights of this dark theism, we can confront life as the heroic struggle that it is, and in the end, we can consider ourselves worthy adversaries – and not sheep....

How does that solve who made that malevolent being; I wonder how that fits better than deism.  I think we could forego speculating about the existence of the supernatural since there isn't evidence of either a good or bad being that has that quality.  The most we can do constructively is realize we are fighting a struggle against things that are bad for pleasant existence, and everyone should strive only to oppose those things while not desiring to oppose other self-aware beings.  Someday we could go further and end doing harm to any life that can think and thus consciously suffer.

Alternately, and maybe even ultimately, suffering could be done away with if survival of the fittest life forms could be eliminated.  That seemingly requires a powerful supernatural being to do humanely.  However, if a universal contraceptive could be developed and disseminated over the entire globe, that could at least take care if it as far humans' ability to do so in this universe.  At least it could end suffering on Earth.  Maybe if there is life elsewhere in the universe, it may work under a more benign principle than competition against other life forms.


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