What is Pantheism? Is It Cohesive with Christianity?

Introduction

Throughout the entirety of Scripture, faithful men and women have had to defend Christianity against competing worldviews. In the Old Testament, there are numerous examples of idol worship, witchcraft, necromancy, and more; however, it was the Israelites and pagans alike who were engaging in these demonic practices. For instance, the Israelites were responsible for building shrines to, and worshipping, false gods like Asherah, Baal, and Tammuz, a Phoenician and Syrian god of fertility. It is a continuing occurrence throughout Scripture of God's people being deceived, and seduced by, as Paul said, "the doctrines of demons." Needless to say, competing worldviews are not a modern challenge that Christians have to address, and one such religion is pantheism. The word "pantheism" is derived from two Greek terms pan (all or every) and theos (God). Essentially, it is a metaphysical belief about God, which identifies Him with creation, or views creation as a manifestation of God. In other words, God and creation are identical to one another, and He is not a distinct sovereign deity. At first, this doctrine appears to be cohesive with the historical beliefs of Christianity, but upon further examination, the distinctions could not be clearer. While pantheists and Christians agree that man is intimately related to, and dependent upon, God, the biblical worldview discredits the primary pantheistic belief that the Lord is interwoven into His creation, thus, everything that exists is God.

Analysis of Pantheism

The concept of pantheism originates in the early 18th century, beginning with John Toland, an Irish English rationalist philosopher, who created the ideology due to controversies in the philosophy of religion, which were prevalent during the Enlightenment. Evidentily, contemporary pantheism owes its emergence to the age of rationalism, the time period where the debate between philosophy and theology intensified. Furthermore, the natural sciences were beginning to grow in popularity, and most Enlightenment thinkers adhered to the belief that nature is, "the existence of things as far as this is determined by universal laws." With that said, before an analysis of the worldview is presented, it is important to establish a definition of pantheism. The most comprehensive definition states, "So, if we take pantheism to be the metaphysics of the divine on which God is everything, there are two assumptions that we must make. First the "is" in "God is everything" is the "is" of identity, not constitution. Second, "everything" is the totality of existents constitutive of the universe." In other words, God is identical with all of creation. As mentioned above, the primary belief of pantheism is grounded in metaphysics, specifically that God is identical to His creation; therefore, He is everything, and He cannot be separated from it. Basically, it is an "all-oneness" doctrine, which posits that God and His immanence are indistinguishable from the natural and divine law.

At first glance, it appears that pantheism can be compartmentalized into one belief, however, this is not true. In fact, pantheism, or ideologies rooted in it, intersect with several other religions, which include: (1) mysticism (spiritual union with God), (2) acosmism (doctrine of God as the only reality), (3) panpsychism (doctrine of all-soulness), (4) monism (doctrine of oneness), (5) atheism and materialism (primacy of the secular), (6) panentheism (doctrine of all-in-God). For the sake of being concise, the manifestations of pantheism within mysticism and Eastern religions will be addressed. It is easy to identify the fingerprints of pantheistic ideas among pagan religions, especially ones like Hinduism. Essentially, Hinduism is a "melting pot" of various religious movements, and over time, it has culminated into a diverse belief system that oftentimes has contradictory components. Arguably, Brahman, a prominent belief within Hinduism is similar, if not identical to, the concept of pantheism. Brahman is the belief that there is a superior being, or deity, that is the epitome of reality, and all created beings are part of it, and the deity is part of all created beings. Due to this belief, it is not uncommon for Hindus to claim, "I am Brahman," which would be the equivalent of a Christian asserting he or she is God. This notion of the universe being indistinguishable from its inhabitants is prevalent in many Eastern mysticism religions like Hinduism and Buddhism however, these religions, as well as pantheism, often lead to the worship of creation rather than the ultimate Creator. In summary, they are typically rooted in subjective experiences, and their claims are often not supported by historical, geographical, or archaeological evidence.

There is often a misconception that such worldviews, like pantheism, are external to Christianity meaning individuals within the faith dare not assume such ideologies are true. Unfortunately, even believers are not immune to the wiles, and doctrines, of the devil. For example, Huldreich Zwingli, a protestant theologian, is known for arguing in favor of pantheism. Essentially, Zwingli believes that God, as the sole source of life, power, and existence, is all-encompassing and unitarily intertwined with creation. He goes so far as to not only make claims about who establishes the world's destiny and design but also the power which brought it to fruition. More specifically, Zwingli's thesis states, "everything in creation obtains its nature, being and activity from God who is 'the only real cause of all things,' such that 'those nearer things which we call causes, are not properly causes, but the agents and instrument with which the eternal mind works, and in which it manifests itself to be enjoyed." Zwingli, like other pantheists, argues that divine providence (i.e. the belief that the world is under the sovereign control and guidance of God) requires pantheism since God and the universe are not ontologically distinct. All in all, individuals who profess Christ, but attempt to combine pantheism with their biblical worldview, are sorely misguided, and the two religions are not compatible with one another. Furthermore, it will be established in the following section that pantheism, itself, is not a sustainable or livable worldview.

Critique of the Worldview

Typically, adherents to pantheism hold to the position that their worldview is a superior ethical foundation to any other worldview, such as Christianity. As mentioned above, the primary belief pantheists affirm is that the entire world is one divine being, which implies humans, trees, and animals can be considered distinct entities; however, there is a moral issue with this concept. If inanimate objects like plants and trees are seen as divine entities, the value of human life is essentially non-existent since pantheists revere everything on Earth as sacred. Rather than benefiting humans, it reduces them to virtually nothing, so if a man wants to murder his wife, what authority does the law have to punish him? The life of the wife is no more sacred than that of bacteria or disease, and doctors annihilate disease every day through the use of chemotherapy in cancer treatments. Clearly, this is a moral predicament for the pantheistic worldview, but the issue goes deeper. The author, Luke Wayne, writes, "If pantheism is true, then whatever anyone says, does, or thinks is actually said, done, or thought by "God" and is just as divine as any other set of actions or motivations. Theft is as divine as giving. Murder is as holy as rescue. To rape is as sacred as to respectfully court." This is a dangerous precedent, however, for if everything in the universe is divine and sacred, what does the word "sacred" even mean? It, too, loses all meaning as there is no objective standard (i.e. God) by which to compare it to. Similarly, if a man's thoughts are considered to be divine, then all his beliefs are sacred since they are God. Unfortunately, this can lead to an Orwellian-style society, which is not grounded in reality, and it promotes false ideologies like a man can become a woman and vice versa. In the United States, we have seen what consequences come from demonic doctrines such as this.

An additional reason as to why pantheism is an unsustainable and unlivable worldview is that it encourages individuals to remain where they are. More specifically, it disincentivizes men and women to make benevolent changes in their lives. If they are God, why would they need to become less selfish, prideful, arrogant, angry, etc.? In the pantheistic worldview, there is no divine law outside of humans to hold them accountable for their words and actions; therefore, societal standards and laws would no longer be grounded in objective morality. Furthermore, how do people reconcile guilt and shame within pantheism? When humans act immorally, they are guilty whether they acknowledge their sin or not. The law of God does not vanish, or change, simply because a man or a woman refuses to recognize it. There will still be a day when everyone must give an account before Christ for every word and deed done in their lifetimes regardless of whether they believe so or not. Additionally, since pantheism sees man as God and vice versa, it is unable to provide an explanation as to how man can be reconciled to, or saved by, God. In the Christian worldview, the doctrine of original sin is inherently foundational to the faith. This doctrine establishes that, in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord by eating the fruit from the tree of good and evil. In doing so, they separated themselves, and their descendants, from the presence of God because they were no longer holy and perfect with Him. As a result, the Lord sent His only son, Jesus, to die on a cross and atone for the sins of humanity, and His death was the ultimate act of reconciliation between mankind and God. In short, pantheism fails to provide a plan of salvation for mankind, specifically, it leaves men and women dead in their sins and unable to be saved while keeping them on a path to eternal damnation.

Defense of Christianity

As stated above, pantheism purports that it is the superior worldview compared to others, such as Christianity; however, it ensnares people within a salvation-less system that promotes self-idolatry and creation worship. The first refutation Christianity establishes against pantheism comes from Genesis, and the account of how God created the world. According to Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," and it took Him six days to do so. Additionally, in John 1:1-3, it reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." The verses above, along with many others, point to the fact that God made the world as an ontologically distinct creation from Himself. If God is the universe, it is not possible for Him to create himself. The universe did not, and could not, come into existence out of nothing despite what proponents of the big bang theory might claim; therefore, there had to be a divine Creator. The prominent apologist, C.S. Lewis, briefly presents an argument against pantheism in his book, Miracles. He writes, "The Pantheist's God does nothing, demands nothing. He is there if you wish for Him, like a book on a shelf. He will not pursue you. There is no danger that any time heaven and earth should flee away at His glance. If He were the truth, then we could really say that all the Christian images of kingship were a historical accident of which our religion ought to be cleansed." Essentially, Lewis identifies a key pitfall of pantheism as God being a useless and powerless deity who does not have the desire to pursue man in a loving manner. This begs the question, "What kind of God is that?" Certainly, He is not a deity who deserves the praise, reverence, and worship of man. Christianity, however, establishes that God is living and active in the lives of His people, and He desires to have a personal relationship with every man and woman.

Furthermore, pantheism can lead to the worship of creation since it holds to the belief that the universe is God and vice versa, but any type of idolatry is specifically prohibited in Scripture. In fact, the pantheistic worldview violates the first and second commandments of the Ten Commandments, the ultimate divine law established by God. The first commandment is, "You shall have no other gods before me," and the second commandment reads, "You shall not make idols." Additionally, there are several other passages throughout the Bible that condemn the pagan practice of idol worship, such as Leviticus 26:1, Exodus 20:3-6, Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 10:14, Colossians 3:5, Revelation 9:20, Isaiah 44:9-20, and Psalm 16:4. In Scripture, God makes his disdain for idolatry, sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, etc. abundantly clear. In chapters 4-7 of the book of Ezekiel, the prophet provides warnings to Judah and Israel to prepare them for the impending siege and destruction of Jerusalem. Ultimately, this destruction was a symbol of the severity of Israel's sin of idolatry, and their punishment that would be coming under the captivity of the Babylonians. The Bible informs believers that the idolatry was not just evil because it was idolatry but rather because of what it led to, which was the worship of false gods. Oftentimes, idolatry is inherent in pagan religions, and it is prominently seen in pantheism.

All in all, Christianity is the superior worldview to pantheism. It is a historically and factually based religion, and it establishes the only way to God. Unfortunately, Pantheism falls short of providing its adherents with a plan of salvation since the basic tenets of the religion claim man is God and God is man. It is impossible for man to save himself; therefore, there must be an eternal solution to reconcile him to the one triune God.

Conclusion

In summary, "pantheism" is derived from two Greek terms pan (all or every) and theos (God). Essentially, it is a metaphysical belief about God, which identifies Him with creation, or views creation as a manifestation of God. At first glance, this ideology appears coherent and sustainable, but upon further investigation, it the pantheistic worldview fails to provide a plan of salvation for mankind. More specifically, it leaves men and women dead in their sins and unable to be saved while keeping them on a path to eternal damnation since the universe cannot save man. In conclusion, the religion of pantheism is an unsustainable and unlivable worldview that is incompatible with Christianity due to its denial of the distinction between the Creator and the creation.

Bibliography

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