Kevin's Watch

The problem of the Creator in the chronicles seems to be one of endless debate. But one thing that always caught my eye was the Creator's assertion that he could do (almost) nothing to help the world he created, much to his sorrow. The arch of time is the device that Donaldson uses to describe this dilemma.

Anyway, this is a belief that exists in the real world and has actually played an important part in history. It's called Deism. The simplest way to describe it (and the one you have undoubtedly heard) is "God is dead". This statement is almost accurate, but the defining aspect of Deism is that God no longer has a hand in human events. Most modern Deists say that God stopped placing his hand in human events around the time of Jesus' assumption. (that came after the ascension? It's been a while since Catholic school religion class)

So what do you all think this means? Is Donaldson defending Deism as a philosophy or was he merely using the tenets of Deism because he thought they would help his story? Or am I completely crazy?

Check out the SRD discussion for a thread called "SRD's Religion".

--Avatar

Since it's not the easiest thread in the world to locate:

kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1461&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=srds religion

Hmm, to me Deism is less of a religion and more of a philosophy. I believe one can be a part of nearly any major religion (as long as it includes the concept of a creator) and have a deist philosophy. There are also degrees to which one can hold this philosophy. A little bit of a Deistic streak is healthy (in my mind) to a believer in any major religion. We cant expect God to fix all of our problems can we?

I see it as a belief that man and man alone is responsible for man's destiny, as well as it's damnation. God isn't on your shoulder telling you what he wants you to do, and neither is the devil. All action stems from us, because we have free will. God created us, and having eaten from the tree of knowledge, we are capable of choosing whether to follow his will or not. So I really don't see it as being a religion.

The Dreaming wrote:Hmm, to me Deism is less of a religion and more of a philosophy.

I'd say you're pretty well right about that...in the Critical Thinking course I took, we were taught that Deism is one category out of three main categories of World Views: Deism (belief in one god, usually one who is personal, as in Judaism and Christianity), Naturalism (includes all kinds of Atheism), and Pantheism (as in Eastern Religions where more than one god is involved). A World View can be defined as: a) a philosophical system that orients how we think
b) a pre-theoretical grid that shapes our perceptions of reality. It’s a comprehensive set of ideas by which we explain all of life and our experience. A total interpretation.

If God were to intervene in human affairs then we would have knowledge of His existence. Since the gift of salvation is based on faith, God intervening directly in human affairs would result in and end of salvation.


SRD does an excellent job working with TC and does not reveal himself to anyone else but Covenant. TC doesn't even believe in God when he meets the Creator, and the old man doesn't suggest that He is God. So TC to himself to obtain salvation through faith.

To those that do not believe in God, all this is simply an interesting excercise in religion and good vs. evil. For Christians, it is visible and obvious that SRD bases much of his viewpoints on Christianity within the books of TCTC.

I agree with you completely, Zef...
Do you find that The Chronicles seep into your theological discussions at all? Almost every time someone asks me "well, why doesn't God just stop all these bad things from happening...if he's so powerful, couldn't he just freeze the guy in his tracks?..." my first thought is "Because that would break the arch of time!" Imagine trying to explain that to a theology professor at Bible College *grin*