Question for Theists/Deists or those who may loosely identify as such

[Anodos]

Just wondered if anyone would like to share their views regarding origins, specifically from those who regard themselves as more aligned with Deism/Theism.

 

Having read and re-read Thomas Paine 'The Age of Reason', his views were made quite clear regarding his belief in one 'God' and his rejection of Christianity. I'd  like to have known what his views were regarding the origins of Man compared with the Christian story. Would he have rejected the entirety of the Bible?

Are there any Deists/Theists out there who may have some thoughts on this question? 

 

[pantheory]

As a total atheist myself, upon your question I reviewed the life and history of Thomas Paine. Some have called him the father of the American Revolution because of his ideas expressed by his famous writings; some were published by Benjamin Franklin. First, he was an Englishmen befriended by Benjamin Franklin, then came to America. He had unusual talents, first he was a philosopher, second an idealist, third a socialist, an accountant, a writer, etc. He was a theist but was against organized religions in general. He eventually criticized almost every movement he became a part of including criticisms of George Washington personally, and the strategies of the American revolution.

 

He stated in his writings that the biggest slavers in the world were the black Africans themselves. Instead of warring, killing, and enslaving their African neighbors and stealing their land as it always had been, they learned to just capture them, kill as few as possible, then sell  them to white men as slaves. He said this practice was very wide spread and very profitable amongst many west African tribes.  Not only could they steal their neighbor's land as before, but they got paid handsomely for doing so.

 

As to your question, Paine was a theist as far as God being the creator, but he thought organized religions were a farce and that they did not follow the teachings of Jesus or any other prophet or God. This was 80 years before Darwin and his theory of natural selection.

 

 

[Anodos]

Many years before Darwins theory and so he would have sided with the belief in a Creator, from whence humans originated. My question would be therefore, how did he and other deists conceive this origin of humans to have taken place? A sort of Adam and Eve scenario, with just two humans?  Or totally different? What I am getting at, is do Theists like Paine totally throw out the biblical version of human origins? They believe in a Creator, but do they dismiss the Christian biblical version as just fables and myths with no basis of truth, and if so, what's the alternative?

[pantheory]

2 hours ago, Anodos said:

Many years before Darwins theory and so he would have sided with the belief in a Creator, from whence humans originated. My question would be therefore, how did he and other deists conceive this origin of humans to have taken place? A sort of Adam and Eve scenario, with just two humans?  Or totally different? What I am getting at, is do Theists like Paine totally throw out the biblical version of human origins? They believe in a Creator, but do they dismiss the Christian biblical version as just fables and myths with no basis of truth, and if so, what's the alternative?

 

Don't know, of course, but believe such deists believed in the Bible, or at least parts of it, and the Biblical story of creation, but not the orthodoxy of religion as it was being practiced by all religions of all faiths, all Christians and otherwise. I would guess that Paine believed in Adam and Eve.

 

https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/thomas-paine-attitudes-biography

[Wertbag]

13 hours ago, Anodos said:

Many years before Darwins theory and so he would have sided with the belief in a Creator, from whence humans originated. My question would be therefore, how did he and other deists conceive this origin of humans to have taken place? A sort of Adam and Eve scenario, with just two humans?  Or totally different? What I am getting at, is do Theists like Paine totally throw out the biblical version of human origins? They believe in a Creator, but do they dismiss the Christian biblical version as just fables and myths with no basis of truth, and if so, what's the alternative?

Some deists follow science as far as it is able to take them but put God as either the first force or the guiding hand.  So they can believe in abiogenesis, the big bang and evolution, but just think God lit the fuse on the big bang.  He hit the switch, then let nature take its course.