On Deism

I was raised as a Christian (Anglican), but I now call myself a deist. I know of some people who are concerned by this, so I figured I would try to describe what it means to be a deist. First, what is deism?

'Deism' is a belief in God based on reason (natural revelation), and specifically not on recorded scripture or events (special revelation).
A 'deist' believes in God, and believes that reason on its own can provide sufficient access to religious truths.

Deism differs from other religions primarily by its rejection of scripture. For example, a 'deist church' would be a contradiction because it would have no scripture to espouse! With no organisation and no directives, deists will generally not evangelise their beliefs. Indeed, a newly-found deist may have never known other deists; they simply apply their own reasoning and reached the same core conclusions as those before them.

Despite the ad-hoc nature of deism, almost all deists would agree with the following statements:

• God instigated reality
• God does not interfere with reality
• We should give thanks to God
• We should not not ask anything of God

Of course, the ad-hoc nature of deism ensures that each deist will have beliefs different from their peers. For example, one belief of mine not supported by all other deists is:

I should assist others in the enjoyment of their lives, just as I try to enjoy my own.

The reasoning here is simple: Life has obviously been provided to all of us, and is rooted in the same cause (ie. God). If I am to treasure my own life and give thanks to God, then I should presumably also treasure the lives of others. Therefore I should do what I can to improve the lives of all, not just my own.

Like the majority (but not all!) deists, I also believe that questions about the afterlife are not important. I feel that many religions rely on the "afterlife" as a place of reward or punishment, and use this as a guide to moral behaviour. I choose to ignore the question of the afterlife, and trust that moral behaviour can be derived from reasoning about this life. In that way, my beliefs are more aligned with those of the deist writer Thomas Paine:

I trouble not myself about the manner of future existence. I content myself with believing, even to positive conviction, that the power that gave me existence is able to continue it, in any form and manner he pleases, either with or without this body; and it appears more probable to me that I shall continue to exist hereafter than that I should have had existence, as I now have, before that existence began.

Perhaps what I find most amusing about deism and Christianity is how similar the morality and behaviour they suggest. Both suggest we be thankful to God, and treat our fellows with care. However, deist beliefs seem to be less likely to raise conflict with others... I am aware that some people are concerned by my non-Christian beliefs, but as a deist I am not concerned by their Christian beliefs. It is not clear to me how to allay their concerns, but I hope that this post has helped.

Settling Down Again

It's been a few weeks since the last visitor left. I think. I haven't had time to look at the calendar in a while, and the weeks just blur past. :| The main thing is that life is settling down into some kind of routine.

Pressure at work has been increasing, but still within sane limits. Others at the office are feeling greater pressure than me, and that sucks. If you're reading this from the office, just know that I'm trying to be less of a pain-in-the-arse. ;)

If you read Emily's blog, you'll already know that she and I have been getting out a lot more. We've been to Video Games Live, a UBC student symphony, and to see Missy Higgins live. We've also got a Disneyworld trip planned for the end of the year.

Now that winter's hit, we're having to spend more time indoors. We just picked up a copy of Settlers of Catan, a rather cool board game similar in principle to Monopoly. You build 'settlements' and slowly gain 'resources' from them. Those resources can be used to build more settlements, or do a variety of other things. It's very fun, though Emily and I are forced to create our own 2-player variant for now.

Emily and I have been attending hot yoga, and there's been some effects already. The good side is that my headache is gone and I feel I have more 'core' strength. I've now got lots of aches in other joints, and pain in my left hip if I stretch it more than 20 degrees outwards. I think a lot of the 'negative' effects are just the revelation of underlying problems, so I'll keep up with the yoga for now.

I'll try to post more often in the future. I have a few things to write about yet. :)

Visitors

This month is the month of visitors. Emily's immediate family is coming to visit for 4 weeks. I'm looking forward to taking Tim kite flying if the weather holds up. Emily's marble run is also likely to get a work out (I will link to her marble run once she blogs about it :P ).

I've also got an important visitor coming from Australia. A friend of mine from a few years ago finished a big step in her training (she's a real medical doctor, not one of these fake computer science doctor's...). She's coming to visit for a week in the middle of October and I'm insisting on hosting her in my apartment. No hotels for visitors! Not now that my place is big enough. :)

Anyway, this means I have to get rid of my cold quick smart. Yes, I forgot to mention that I've been sick for about 3 weeks. It wasn't really noticeable to start with - just a headache that lasted for weeks on end. Only in the last few days did it flare up into a proper head cold. At least that means it's near the end. Or I am. One or the other. ;)

Chinese Yo-yos

Emily spent a few hours today trying to teach me how to use a Chinese Yo-yo. She has a lot of experience, but I think we can agree that I'm not the best student. :)

Still, she persevered and managed to teach me the correct way to make it spin, and got me to the point of 'throwing' the yo-yo into the air for her to catch. We succeeded a couple of times, though mainly due to her skill at catching than my skill at throwing...

I'm hoping that she'll continue to teach me. At the very least, this should be good exercise for my arms and backs. At the worst, it is something else to do when the wind dies and the kites won't fly.

One day, we might be able to throw a pair of yo-yos to each other, without the danger of ripping skin from toes... :D

P n' E at the PNE

Emily and I went to "The Fair at the PNE" on this long weekend. It's basically a smaller version of the Sydney Easter Show. Much to Emily's dismay we didn't actually go on any rides - far too expensive to justify it. We might try and go this coming weekend, when the prices drop. However, we did have a lot of other fun...

For $8 each we got these temporary airbrush tattoos. 3 days later and they're still looking good. I'm tempted to look into body spraypaints (if they exist) to have some more fun ourselves later. Of course, with winter coming, it's not like we'll have any exposed skin for 6 months anyway. :)

We also got to watch the "Toontastic" parade. It was surprisingly cool just to see all the old non-Disney comics cruising past. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough pressure to get rid of all the wrinkles in the inflatables, making them look very aged. We had to wonder: was this intentional?

Near the end of the day, we went to see the Iams Superdogs show. The Iams Superdogs are a collection of highly-trained dogs, sponsored by the Iams petfood company, that go around doing shows. I was pleasantly surprised to see the dogs really enjoying themselves. See the videos below of "Hairy Potter" getting a homerun, and another extremely well-trained dog that I forget the name of.

To end our day we went to see the Wheels of Steel motorbike stuntshow. It started at 9.30pm, and was 10 minutes of quad-bike races, 10 minutes of street-bike tricks, and then 10-minutes of dirt-bike jumps. Aside from the jumps and tricks, the best part was the pyrotechnics - it was cold out there, and every burst of flame gave us just a little bit of extra warmth! See the videos below of two of the dirt-bike tricks; Starfish Barhop and Double Grab In The Air.