Philosophical Vegan Forum

If you don't believe in god you're an atheist. It's not about being sure there is a god or not, because no one really know. Even the theist don't know, they just choose to believe or not to believe. As for me I believe in god, but I'm not a theist, I'm a deist. I believe in god but I don't believe that god is active in the universe and communicating with humans. As for afterlife, it is also unknown to me.

Cloppy wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2017 11:01 pmI believe in god but I don't believe that god is active in the universe and communicating with humans. As for afterlife, it is also unknown to me.

So why does your profile read Christian?

Jebus wrote: ↑Thu May 11, 2017 4:03 am

Cloppy wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2017 11:01 pmI believe in god but I don't believe that god is active in the universe and communicating with humans. As for afterlife, it is also unknown to me.

So why does your profile read Christian?

It's not because I am a Christian that I am automatically a theist. You can be Christian and be a deist depending on how you look at it. As for heaven and hell I see it as a way to tell us that our actions will have consequences. What you do will have a good or bad impacts on your life.

Cloppy wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2017 11:01 pmI believe in god but I don't believe that god is active in the universe and communicating with humans. As for afterlife, it is also unknown to me.

Have you read the bible? God is very active and he is very clear about what the afterlife entails. If you don't agree with this there is no way you can be a Christian. no matter how much you enjoy identifying yourself as one.

Jebus wrote: ↑Thu May 11, 2017 3:58 pm

Cloppy wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2017 11:01 pmI believe in god but I don't believe that god is active in the universe and communicating with humans. As for afterlife, it is also unknown to me.

Have you read the bible? God is very active and he is very clear about what the afterlife entails. If you don't agree with this there is no way you can be a Christian. no matter how much you enjoy identifying yourself as one.

It depends on how you view it. Like the muslims for example don't take everything literally from the quran, if they did it would be pretty bad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_deism

There's also Christian Atheism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_atheism

Requiring people to either think a particular (and outdated) way or abandon an identity is a big ask.
Letting them keep the title but update their thinking may be easier in practice.

Cloppy wrote: ↑Thu May 11, 2017 6:29 pmLike the muslims for example don't take everything literally from the quran, if they did it would be pretty bad.

Sure, but if they were honest to their religion they would take everything literally. Still, such "moderate Muslims" wouldn't be unclear about the afterlife or whether Allah is active. If they did they would probably expect harsh treatment from their religious community.

I have an old friend who says he's not sure Jesus ever existed but he still identifies as a Christian as he likes the moral teachings of Jesus. I have told him that their is nothing unique about Jesus's moral teachings and the only reason he identifies as a Christian is because he grew up Christian and it's too big of a step to let that go.