Bound in Love

Animism – all things have spirit & will

This is pantheistic system in which all things participate in divinity. All things, even plants and rocks and words, are animated and have their own power to act and a will to choose a course.

Atheism – there is no God

This is the belief that God does not exist. It is an essential position of Marxism, and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote about it in the last part of the 19th century. His conclusion was that if God does not exist, then we are left with will to power. That conclusion was borne out in the 20th century in the mass killings done by Communist, Socialist, and Fascist governments from Russia to Cambodia.

Determinism – there’s no free will

All actions and outcomes are predetermined by some inescapable force, sometimes known as fate (fatalism), or astrological bodies (astrology), or genetics (racism).

Dualism – equally strong opposites

A system in which one good force is balanced by an equally strong evil force: light v. darkness, material v. spiritual, good v. evil.

Gnosticism – special knowledge

Salvation is achieved by the acquisition and use of special knowledge restricted to a few and shared through secret initiation rituals. Usually is dualistic in practice. St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, wrote in the late 100s a book called “Against Heresy.” That and other polemical writings by Christians were our primary source until the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery led to finding ancient gnostic scrolls like the Gospel of Thomas.

Hedonism – pleasure is best

A moral system that holds that humans should maximize pleasure for the maximum number of people. Everybody should feel good.

Occultism/Magic

These are practices that seek to make things happen beyond the power of natural causes through nondivine agencies. Spells, appeals to demons or other spirits are typical of this cult. This was a concern for certain people when they read the Harry Potter books.

Monism – it’s all one thing

This philosophy denise any real distinctions in the universe, and it argues that the apparent variety we see is merely different phases of one singularity.

Paganism – religions other than the big 3

Any religion other than the one revealed by God, including its two children: Christianity and Islam. Frequently leads to polytheism, so multiple gods replace the one true God.

Pantheism – natural & supernatural same

This cult maintains that all things participate in divinity. There is no distinction between the natural and the supernatural. What we can see/experience in the universe is all that there is. And all that is one divinity. This is a problem for Christians because we teach that God is essentially different from his creation. Pantheism rejects that.

Reincarnationism – 1 soul, X bodies

You get to come back as a cat. Usually, it is a progression up some hierarchy of bodies until you reach the highest level.

Satanism – worship of the Devil

This one is pretty straightforward.

Spiritism – communication w/the dead

This is the belief that men can and do communicate with departed souls. If this is related to ancestor worship, it is called necromancy.