 | Pastor Dave grew up in northern New Jersey in a very diverse cultural area. He attended Central College in Pella, Iowa received a BA in sociology and psychology. He was an offensive guard for their NCAA Div III National Championship team in 1974. In speaking for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, he sensed a call to full time ministry. Meeting is future wife Sandy at Central, went to Michigan to finish her college while Dave started Western Seminary in Holland, Michigan. Dave married Sandy in 77 and completed his Masters of Divinity degree in 78. Pastor Dave’s first church was in Fort Lee, New Jersey, home of the George Washington Bridge. Their three children were born there and he also served as a Police and Fire Chaplain for the city. In February 1991, they came to Wichita to start Harvest Community Church. In 2006, he received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Covenant Theological (Presbyterian) Seminary in St Louis. During that year he gained a daughter-in-law with now 2 grandsons of 3 years and 6 months old. Besides Pastoring at HCC for the past 20 years, he has been Director of the SCSD & WPD Police Chaplains for 11.
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Religion
2011-10-20 12:19:13
Deism
Q: Deism, which is based upon the light of nature and reason, teaches us to not worry about the hereafter as we should trust nature’s God with our future. Thus, we should do everything we can in life to make for a better world. What do religions based upon revelation have to say about Deism?
A: Deism as a philosophy of belief has been around for a long time but it really took hold among the intellectual elite of Europe during the 18th Century. This cultural movement was called the “Age of Enlightenment” or “Age of Reason”. It was a cultural revolution that began in the mid 1600’s and went on through to the 1800’s with some of our founding fathers of America (Paine, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison to name a few). Their Theology can even be seen in the wording of our “Declaration of Independence”. ie, “...the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them...”
They truly believed that there is one supreme God who should be worshipped; with part of that worship being man’s virtue and piety that man lived out every day. That man should be sorry for his sins and repent but also that God would take care of man with rewards and punishments both here and the next life.
At the core of the theology of Deism, God does existence but that He can only be understood through reason and nature. It rejects all supernatural revelation found in the Bible. Their main belief is summarized in God being the “Supreme Architect” or “Divine Watchmaker”. God the watchmaker put this complex universe together with intelligent design and wound it up. Then the Almighty placed it in motion and stepped aside to let it run on its own through the laws of nature God ordained. Since then, He remains uninvolved and indifferent to it. Now it is up to man to harness and use with the reason of his mind to run the show.
At the height of the Age of Enlightenment, where man with his reason was the measure of all things, most intellectuals could not fully agree on how this theology/philosophy fully understood God and His world. Kant from Germany thought it was reason plus experience. While Rousseau, the Frenchmen through reason and senses. Locke the Englishman thought reason and perception; Spinoza the Dutchman reason, intellect and deduction. This philosophy spilled into the theological realm with later spawning “Biblical Criticism”. Between scientific thought changing and rethinking its longstanding theories along with some of the abuses stemming from dogma in the church, change was occurring on all fronts. Some of it was necessary and some not so good.
From the Christian point of view Deism is flawed in many ways and it tragically misses the beauty of all that God has done and has to offer mankind. Kepler in that day saw his discoveries as a Christian mathematician and astronomer as God’s thoughts expressed in the way He put the universe system together. It was a matter for rejoicing over the brilliance of God’s thinking, which gave more impetus to the Praise and Worship of Him. With the same information, some Deist began a step away from God toward Atheism by reducing God to a “mathematical abstraction”. Explanations for the universe became mechanical reasons of blind chance. Faith started to be looked down on by the intellectual elite and viewed as a matter of superstition and mythology.
Deism is also flawed in thinking humans could by reason and nature know God. Paul in his letter to the Romans covers this in the first three chapters. There is something to be known about God from creation but the danger, as in this case man falls into idolatry by worshipping the creation and not the creator {Romans 1:18-25). He even makes a statement that fits the Age of Reasons’ philosophy in verse 22, “Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools.” The sinful nature of man corrupts what we know and even acts it out in deviant sinful behavior (1:26-32). Job (40-41), Isaiah (40:25-28), Paul (Romans 1:21) contend, man because of his fallen sinful nature, cannot fully know God without God revealing Himself (3:11). Man’s blindness due to sin (3:23) will misunderstand and misread what his mind tries to put together about God (1:23-25).
My greatest sadness is for them because they miss the true God who revealed Himself in Jesus Christ to save them from their sins (John 3:16-21) and give eternal life (John 20:31). Also missing for the Deist is a God who really cares for them and knows their pain.(Isaiah 53:1-6; Hebrews 4:15) God is not at distance, uncaring Sovereign but who cares to know us closely and intimately. (Matthew 10:30) My pity even goes deeper because it can lead to Atheism, a godless people and society that lives for today and self with no thought for their personal future or society’s. This selfishness leads to no hope or accountability that leads to all kinds of atrocities. (2 Timothy 3:1-13) Read Ravi Zacharias’ book “Can Man Live Without God?” is very telling.
My prayer is that if you or anyone you know is struggling to know who God is, go to the scriptures in prayer with your mind open for God to reveal His saving, caring and intimate love in your life. He’s delightful!
