Does The Bible Teach That God Is Everything or that God Created Everything?

There are in fact people who are thoughtful, reflective and believe in Pantheism, or like myself Panentheism. I believe that Divinity encompasses and transcends all things.

You set up a weak straw-man argument against it.
“You mean, I’m God?" Yes
"You’re God?" yup
"Is my wristwatch God?" right-o
"Am I wearing God on my wrist?" sounds likely
"When I eat a hamburger, am I eating God?" Yes - the Divine is nourishing itself. What about when you eat the Eucharist?
"When I have my morning coffee, am I drinking God?" Uh-huh, but I prefer tea.
"When I empty the wastebasket, am I tossing God in the trash can? If I hike through the woods and step in some horse manure, am I scraping God off of my shoe?” yes, yes, and yes.
I also believe in non-duality, so the boundries you draw are illusionary. It is all a divine self-interaction.


Perhaps you should read "The Bhagavad Gita" to better understand this viewpoint.
here's a selection:

Himself as in all beings,
And all beings in himself,
Sees he whose self is disciplined in discipline,
Who sees the same in all things.

Who sees Me in all,
And sees all in Me,
For him I am not lost,
And he is not lost for me.

Whoso reveres me as abiding in all things,
adopting the belief in oneness,
though abiding in any possible condition,
that disciplined man abides in Me.
[vi. 29-31]

"Does it make sense that design implies a designer?"
Did your loving designer give us smallpox, Tuberculosis and HIV?

And speaking of creation - what order did it happen in? Gen 1 or Gen 2? Adam first or last? Why such different accounts?

And why, in your view, is the mythology and mystical poetry of the ancient Hebrews more valid and true than the ancient sacred texts of other peoples?

"You cannot get the personal from the impersonal."
Do atoms feel? My body feels - it's a collection of atoms. If it's the spirit attached to this body - then is there also a spirit attached to other living things? Why or why not? And if not - is it all right to be cruel to animals?

Hi Perotin

Thanks for your comments. My schedule does not permit me to get into long discussions over the internet. I invite you to call my radio show sometime on our toll free number. I promise to treat you wish respect and we can have a friendly debate. Info about my show and website is found on the bottom of each blog.

But I will respond to a couple of things: First you have admitted and agreed that without some kind of spirit matter cannot think. This implies a spirit separate from "creation". As for the problem of tuberculosis, according to Pantheism, God would BE the tuberculosis because God is everything. According
to the Bible, sin and Satan, a rebellious entity, are responsible for the cursed invasion of creation.

As for explaining why the Bible is more accurate than other myths, you just made an assumption. Please tell me exactly how you know the Bible is a myth? The Bible is substantiated with corroborative history and archealogical evidence, evidence that most other religions do not even attempt to offer. I do not have time to use this blog to rewrite every article I have ever written but if you will go to my website and read the section called "Answers for skeptics" such evidence is provided.

Finally: It was a common feature of ancient literature to have a poetic overview followed by a detailed literal account. This explains the difference between Gen 1 and 2. Gen 1 is in the style of a poem and is evidently not attempting to give an order to creation.

By the way. I did not say Pantheists are not thoughtful. All ideas can be critiqued. You certainly seem to feel free to critique the Bible but I doubt and sincerely hope you are not saying that anyone who believes in the Bible is not thoughtful. Ideas can be debated with respect.

This is all I have time to do. Thanks for the comments, my friend. Please call the radio show and we can talk more.

Thank you for your prompt and thoughtful response. I may call into your show sometime, but also, I am subject to professional commitments and it may be difficult.

To clarify, by using the word "myth" I did not mean the colloquial "falsehood". I think if someone was versed in mythology, and had never read or heard of the Bible, and picked it up, they would immediately recognize it as mythology. That is not to say there is not historical basis for some or all of the events depicted in it.

The archeological and historical corraboration doesn't in my mind elevate the Bible above other written or oral traditions. People have found corraborating historical accounts for the events in Krishna's life from China. And there is some archeological evidence. We can visit the places Mohammad lived. The pyramids still stand - does that mean the ancient Egyptian world view is the correct one?

One last thing - do you think living things other than humans have spirits? Or is it limited to humans?

I do believe that animals have souls too. But I would not elevate animal life to an equal par with humans. Call me on the show and we can talk in more detail.

Warmest Regards

Bob Siegel

I forgot to quickly respond to your statement about history and archeaology. I do not mean evidence that merely verifies the existence of Jesus or David but evidence for that biblically reported miracles actually happened, i.e. resurrection of Christ, walls of Jericho falling in an unusual way, parting of the Red Sea. Obviously people like Mohammad existed. Were his claims true? That would be the crucial question.

Warmest Regards

Bob