My Latest Thoughts on Panentheism

Panentheism is the newest and most popular theology found in Christianity. I reviewed the a book that introduces panentheism to American readers. This introduction is titled. "In Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being: on God’s Presence in a Scientific World." You can read my review of this book on Amazon.com. Click.

Panentheism became popular because it explains how God creates all things out of nothing. Panentheism does this without creating a pantheistic universe in which all created things become gods. Panentheism did not develop earlier because the ancients viewed all created things as containers which are either empty or filled. Empty containers were called 'vacuums' whereas the filled containers were called 'things.' Vacuums and things were distinguished by defining what was 'in' each thing.

To me, the greatest error that one can find in the Bible uses the word 'in' at Job 32:8. This error was not found until functional relations were discovered with modern science. Job says, "But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." I interpret this spirit as the human mind, which functions for us to develops knowledge. Thus, I accept panentheism and view a human being as a function of God But, ancient and modern religious leaders interpret this spirit as the Holy Spirit of God. Thus, they view a human being as a filled container. These different interpretations will divide today's Christians.


A panentheistic God is active and cannot be exhausted. This God is also found "in" all created things. But, this "'in-ness' does not mean that all created things are containers. Panentheism says that this "in-ness" means (1) that all things are relativistic rational images of God's absolute rationality and (2) that no two things in the universe are identical. Today, the in-ness of the ancients is replaced by 'functional relations' that connect things. For instance, consider the equation, F = MA. This equation means that F is functionally related to M and A. Using the in-ness of the ancients, we can also say that F can be found in both M and A. Since a panentheistic God is active, we can use the in-ness of the ancients and say that God is in all created things contractedly. So, we can also use modern thoughts and say that God functions in the universe contractedly through all created things. Since the freedoms of human beings are relative and not absolute, God's functionality in the universe is through a harmony with all created things. Today, we do not understand this kind of harmony. Since this harmony is eternal, man must investigate and develop knowledge of this preestablished harmony.

So, it is wrong for a Christian to say that humans are containers in which the Holy Spirit exists as a part of each human, talks to humans, guides humans, and inspires humans. Nor can we view the universe as a container. Nothing is outside of God or the universe. And, neither God nor the universe are containers that can be filled. The functionality of all things in the universe explain why death is an illusion. Further, vacuums will not be found in the universe. And, no two identical things will be found in the universe. Thus, identical twin beings will not be found in any specie. Does this mean that the current gene theory has problems?