DEMOCRACY & PANTHEISM

 

DEMOCRACY & PANTHEISM

GotQuestions.org: "What is pantheism?"

  Pantheism is the view that God is everything and everyone and that everyone and everything is God. Pantheism is similar to polytheism (the belief in many gods), but goes beyond polytheism to teach that everything is God. A tree is God, a rock is God, an animal is God, the sky is God, the sun is God, you are God, etc. Pantheism is the supposition behind many cults and false religions (e.g., Hinduism and Buddhism to an extent, the various unity and unification cults, and “mother nature” worshipers).
  Does the Bible teach pantheism? No, it does not. What many people confuse as pantheism is the doctrine of God’s omnipresence. Psalm 139:7-8 declares, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” God’s omnipresence means He is present everywhere. There is no place in the universe where God is not present. This is not the same thing as pantheism. God is everywhere, but He is not everything. Yes, God is “present” inside a tree and inside a person, but that does not make that tree or person God. Pantheism is not at all a biblical belief.
  The clearest biblical arguments against pantheism are the countless commands against idolatry. The Bible forbids the worship of idols, angels, celestial objects, items in nature, etc. If pantheism were true, it would not be wrong to worship such an object, because that object would, in fact, be God. If pantheism were true, worshiping a rock or an animal would have just as much validity as worshiping God as an invisible and spiritual being. The Bible’s clear and consistent denunciation of idolatry is a conclusive argument against pantheism.

Recommended Resource: Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias

+++

I enjoy living in a democratic republic but know that pantheism makes democracy problematic. How so? To answer I share an excerpt from THE BEREAN CALL, October 2020. Reading the 3 page article I recognize that we are not getting there. We are there. ☹ EBB4

  Pantheism is not only driven by its appeal to humans to “be as gods” [Gen.3:5] but is reinforced by political action, notably democracy. How so?

  Andrews* writes The “… growth of Democracy serves to pave the way for the Antichrist by making the popular will supreme., both as to the choice as to rulers and the nature and extent of their rule; and by giving legal expression to that will.

  When a people elects its legislators, the legislation will be what the majority of the voters demand. In the past, among all Christian nations, such legislation has, in great part, been based upon Christian principles, and involved the recognition of God’s authority. So long as this authority, as declared in the Scriptures or by the Church [Not a denomination, but the Church; ekklesia.] is recognized, popular will is not supreme; but according as it is denied, this supremacy is more and more enlarged. If, then, the belief becomes general, either that there is no God [Or the unbiblical “god of our understanding”.], the Law giver, or no expression of His will which is authoritative, what principle shall determine the character and limitations of legislation? The only principle is that of the [supposed] public good; whatever this demands, is right.”

*In 1898 Samuel Andrews insightfully foresaw and wrote his book Christianity and Anti-christianity In Their Final Conflict. In it, Andrews addresses the naturalist pantheistic beliefs that influence society. Popular philosophers Baruch Spinoza, Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson headlining his list.