God and Nature?

 

Deism: belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not interfere in the universe [god the clock maker].  The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17^th and 18^th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind.  To understand something of the creator, deists stressed the necessity of studying creation [as opposed to scripture or revelation].  Deism is usually taken to involve God’s leaving the universe to its own lawful devices, without intervention, once creation was completed.  It is most often associated with boundless confidence in reason; the human intellect, once liberated from superstition and fear, can discern the creator by studying the natural laws of creation.

 

Pantheism: doctrine that identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God.  Pantheism is the doctrine that the divine is all-inclusive and that man and nature are not independent of God, but modes or elements of his Being.  Christian theologians have generally denounced pantheism as a form of atheism, since it detracts from orthodox theism [belief in one God who controls creation and who sustains a personal relation to his creatures].