Can you be a Pantheist and a Catholic at the same time?

Question

Just wondering, because I am thinking about possibly becoming a Pantheist.

Answer 1

Jehovah loves you but he will smite you for this.

Answer 2

Pantheist and catholics both believe in more than one God- Pantheist in many and catholics generally in trinity. So both are almost same. There is only one faith that believes in Oneness of God by the name of Allah i.e Islam.

Answer 3

Syncretism. It's been around forever.  You take one thing and mix and match it with another thing, and poof, you have your own new mix of religion.

I believe that there are belief systems in the Caribbean that involve elements of Christianity and voodoo together.

Elements of Christianity have fused with other religions in various places to produce a new religious experience.

Obviously you can't be a pantheist and a Roman Catholic (or any other catholic, for that matter) if you adhere to your Christian faith in an orthodox sense. Christianity is monotheism, and pantheism, whatever else you might say -- well, isn't.

But not making sense has not stopped very many people, when they wanted to follow a religious bent, so why should you allow rational thought or reasoning or common sense to hold you back. GO FOR IT!!!

Answer 4

If you would like more answers, consider asking around this site as well...

http://christianforums.com/forumdisplay....

Answer 5

No

While much of Christianity was influenced by Pantheistic beliefs.

The Catholic Church would not allow it's members to be Pantheistic themselves.

Answer 6

Not really.  I think the Catholics would have an issue with it.

Answer 7

LOL didnt he say, have no other Gods BEFORE ME? So He just expected to be first and best, not necessarily only. Originally. Everyone reading a current translation will be horrified I am being literal on THAT part. Everyone chooses just when to be literal and when to accept somebody elses doctrine.

Bring on thy smiting thumbs down, how dare we quibble on interpretations!!!

Answer 8

They aren't the same. Catholics wouldn't consider themselves pantheistic.

BUT, isn't free will great?

There are many roads you can follow, but only one will be the true path to heaven. In my life's experiences, I've chosen Jesus Christ as my Savior.

Best wishes in your search.  

Answer 9

You can be anything you want to be. Whether it's a good idea is another story

Answer 10

That would make you a heretic.

285 Since the beginning the Christian faith has been challenged by responses to the question of origins that differ from its own. Ancient religions and cultures produced many myths concerning origins. Some philosophers have said that everything is God, that the world is God, or that the development of the world is the development of God (Pantheism). Others have said that the world is a necessary emanation arising from God and returning to him. Still others have affirmed the existence of two eternal principles, Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, locked, in permanent conflict (Dualism, Manichaeism). According to some of these conceptions, the world (at least the physical world) is evil, the product of a fall, and is thus to be rejected or left behind (Gnosticism). Some admit that the world was made by God, but as by a watch-maker who, once he has made a watch, abandons it to itself (Deism). Finally, others reject any transcendent origin for the world, but see it as merely the interplay of matter that has always existed (Materialism). All these attempts bear witness to the permanence and universality of the question of origins. This inquiry is distinctively human.

286 Human intelligence is surely already capable of finding a response to the question of origins. The existence of God the Creator can be known with certainty through his works, by the light of human reason,122 even if this knowledge is often obscured and disfigured by error. This is why faith comes to confirm and enlighten reason in the correct understanding of this truth: "By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear."123

287 The truth about creation is so important for all of human life that God in his tenderness wanted to reveal to his People everything that is salutary to know on the subject. Beyond the natural knowledge that every man can have of the Creator,124 God progressively revealed to Israel the mystery of creation. He who chose the patriarchs, who brought Israel out of Egypt, and who by choosing Israel created and formed it, this same God reveals himself as the One to whom belong all the peoples of the earth, and the whole earth itself; he is the One who alone "made heaven and earth".125

288 Thus the revelation of creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the covenant of the one God with his People. Creation is revealed as the first step towards this covenant, the first and universal witness to God's all-powerful love.126 And so, the truth of creation is also expressed with growing vigor in the message of the prophets, the prayer of the psalms and the liturgy, and in the wisdom sayings of the Chosen People.127

289 Among all the Scriptural texts about creation, the first three chapters of Genesis occupy a unique place. From a literary standpoint these texts may have had diverse sources. The inspired authors have placed them at the beginning of Scripture to express in their solemn language the truths of creation - its origin and its end in God, its order and goodness, the vocation of man, and finally the drama of sin and the hope of salvation. Read in the light of Christ, within the unity of Sacred Scripture and in the living Tradition of the Church, these texts remain the principal source for catechesis on the mysteries of the "beginning": creation, fall, and promise of salvation.

Answer 11

Ah, what a good question!

Short answer: No.  Because the beliefs are actually incompatible.

Slightly longer, maybe better answer: You seem to have in mind something like Spinoza's naturalistic pantheism.  Although both beliefs may have in fact influenced each other at different times in history, the God of Catholicism (Christianity) is a very personal, non-abstract deity (unlike pantheism's abstraction of what we call "God").  The Universe, as Christianity deems it, is dependent upon God for its creation and existence, but it is never God himself (Spinoza's 'Ethics' refutes this).  According to Christianity, all creation is made "through" Christ, who himself was present at the Creation.  If "nature" were to cease to exist, God would still, in fact, Exist.  One of the reasons for this is that nature is merely part of Creation, and although it reflects the creativity of the Creator (just as human beings do), it is never God itself.

Pantheism, on the other hand, conglomerates the notion of a "higher power" and the notion of the "order of the universe - i.e. nature", and creates an unlimited number of interpretations of "spirituality" based on this idea, really -- very much unlike Catholicism.

P.S.  A doubtful Catholic is a Catholic with the opportunity to learn about his faith more openly.  If knowledge is the antidote to doubt, be open to knowing more about your faith :).  Find someone you find interesting and know to seem to have a lot of faith -- ask him or her why.  You'll find that even those with strong faith might find themselves doubting -- I know I do!  Feel free to get in touch!

Answer 12

The two do not go together. You are either a Catholic under authority, or you are not really a Catholic.

Answer 13

no. 'You shall have no other Gods before me.' - the ten commandments.

Answer 14

In a word: No.  You'll have to get off the fence.  Otherwise you're just dabbling in religion.

Answer 15

No.

Pantheism is the view that everything is God, that the Universe (or nature) and God are the same. This Pantheistic god is an abstract 'god' and is not a personal or creative deity of any kind.

The Christian (and Catholic) view of God is that He (or She) is a personal God and is separate from His Creation.

By the way, Catholics agree with you on these probably not being the "end times."

With love in Christ.

Answer 16

From a Catholic point of view: NO.

From a Pantheist point of view:  Yes.  

I am an atheist and in this case an impartial judge.  ;)