My Journey to Deism
It was a long journey, but I ended up as a Deist who believes in predestination ...
My trajectory. Raised Catholic but parents lapsed around age 12. Went to Catholic High School. After a brief stint reading the Koran and considering Islam, Converted to atheism in college. I never practiced Judaism (and I do not have a Jewish mother) but I defended Jews from radical antisemitism while being critical of extreme Jews. A few years ago I became interested in Calvin's predestination. I went with Calivn for about a year, but then dropped Jesus as divine (he is still a solid philosopher) and Biblical inerrancy to become a Deist. Now, I am a Deist who believes in predestination.
A piece of programming code is comprised of ones and zeros (on and off). To the naked eye, the ones and zeros have no pattern. Yet, they do indeed have a pattern, you just cannot see it. In the same way I believe a higher power reveals itself through nature which is gigantic and overwhelming. It never reveals itself in human form and all texts are man made. God has no corporeal form and the Bible is man made. Yet, I still believe in predestination, meaning what happens after death is beyond our control.
There are plenty of reasons to be a good person on Earth so that society can function properly. Go to a third world country or bad neighborhood and see what it is like when people do not behave with order. The case for order can be made on purely Earthly grounds philosophically without believing in a divine reward or punishment that we control.
https://www.deism.com/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism are good links to information on Deism. They compare Deism to other religions and give the history of various philosophers. Deism is not officially a big religion, but I would bet that many people essentially identify as agnostic but have largely Deist beliefs.
Deism is enough to complete a 12 step program. Steps 2 and 3 are
“2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”
Nowhere do these steps require a corporeal God or the Bible.
After reading the Bible I eventually gave it up. It still contains good allegories and metaphors, but Deism is now my religion.
Christian antisemites deserve to be ridiculed, to quote Constantin Von Hoffmeister. If you are opposed to Jewish influence on some level, it does not make sense to follow a Jewish God and Bible. Having written that, it is true that some Christians believe in replacement theology where Christians become God’s chosen people. I am only ridiculing the most extreme antisemites. It is clear that a more moderate position can be aligned with Christianity. Yet, I still choose Deism.