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#8B BELIEF IN A PERSONAL GOD

I believe, not only did He create me, but that God is concerned with human beings personally.  I conceive  of Him as a personal being (perhaps a father) with a personality. I value talking with God through introspection / praying.  I believe God listens to prayers and watches over us. I believe that, given His personal interest in the world and its people, He will intervene on behalf of worshippers (performing miracles, etc) or to reward / punish. Some conceive of God in terms of forgiveness and love, others in terms of vengeful, judgmental punishment.  

More Information About This Worldview Theme

a diamond WV Theme...

...individual <---> knowledge

the theme is paired with: #8A Monotheistic Deism  to make Choice #5    in the Choices We Make cards 

this theme as presented in older version of theme structure:  version 1.0  version 2.0    version 3.0        is this theme new to version 4?--NO

click to look at the Project Worldview Cultural Literacy Encyclopedia Related Words, Beliefs, Background articles for the above choice 

 Project Worldview authored discussion, Worldview Watch related issues, songs, etc.  

Discussion from The Worldview Literacy Book Songs
Worldview Watch issue #55, posted 12/31/2017 What the World Needs Now: Tough Love
Worldview Watch issue #47, posted 12/21/2015," Paris, France and How Big and Majestic is Your Conception of God? "
Worldview Watch #27: Critical Thinking, Prayer,  and the Free Inquiry Path to a Worldview
Worldview Watch #20: Prayer, Reason, and Drought in Texas

Wikipedia articles related to this theme:

Theistic Evolution  Personal God Anthropopathism
Psychology of Religion   Incarnation  Prayer 
Miracles God in Abrahamic Religions Love God Has for Us / Love We Have for God

 worldview internal inconsistency related: Strongly valuing this theme and any of the themes in the list below is a contradiction:

#1B Skeptic   #5A   Scientific Materialism #6A Orderly & Explicable #6B   Scientific Method
#7A   Mysticism    #10   Secular Humanism    #12A Polytheism, Animism, Pagan   #13  In Human/Computer Hands:  Dancing With Systems    
#36A Cynicism #101A Mind Open, Vision Global     #104B  Respect for Nature #201A Evidence-Based    
   

More to Explore -- Worldview Theme #8B: Belief in a Personal God 

The Validity of Belief in a Personal God, by C.D. Broad
The Validity of Belief in a Personal God, chapter from Religion, Philosophy, and Psychical Research--Selected Essays by Charlie Dunbar (read this at Google Books)
"America's Four Gods" -- Baylor University Religion Survey
The Christian Doctrine of God  (from religionfacts.com)
“Tight cultures and vengeful gods: How culture shapes religious belief”. (from PsycNET post)
Trump shares bizarre biblical video saying God made him to be America’s ‘caretaker’  by Joe Sommerlad (posted on The Independent January 6 2024)
Losing Our Religion by Russell Moore (review of book about the crisis of US Christianity The Guardian August 13 2023)
Belief in God, The Devil Falls to New Low by Julia Shapero (from The Hill July 20 2023)
American Christianity Is Due for a Revival by Tim Keller (from The Atlantic, Feb 2023) 

God: An Anatomy by Francesca Stavrakopoulou (Book review by Matthew Lyons in The New Humanist Nov 14 2021)

“Tomorrow’s Gods: What is the future of religion?” by Sumit Paul-Choudhury (from BBC August 2 2019)

"When Americans Say They Believe in God, What Do They Mean?"  (April 25 2018 Pew Research report)  

“Fear of a vengeful God may explain humanity’s global expansion” by Niraj Chokshi (from The Washington Post Feb 2016) 
"Most Christians Believe in a Personal God, Others Tend to See God as Impersonal Force" (Pew Research Nov 2015 report)
Belief in God--Pew Forum on Religion (explore how "different religious traditions conceive of God") 
The Need for a Personal God (by Ali Z, on FaithFreedom.org). 
The Phemonology of Prayer, by Bruce Benson and Norman Wirzba (excerpts of 2005 book at Google Books)
The Psychology of Prayer, by Karl Stolz (read excerpts of this 2006 book at Google Books)
Allah is Not a Personal God (includes article "In the Name of God", by Richard Scheinin)
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell  (science fiction book examining belief in a personal God; title based on Biblical quote "No one sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it")
Did Albert Einstein Believe in a Personal God?
The Delusion of a Personal God
My God Problem  (by Natalie Angier, NY Times Science Reporter)
Christianity in Antiquity (the blog of UNC Biblical scholar and author Bart Ehrman)
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan (book review from The Economist July 20 2013)
"Did Jesus Exist? A Historian Makes His Case" (April 1 2012 NPR review of similarly titled book by Bart Ehrman)
"Does God Care Whether Tim Tebow Wins on Saturday?" by Owen Strachan (Jan 12 2012 post on The Atlantic)
God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer...Why We Suffer, by Bart Ehrman  (review of this 2008 book)
God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It by Jim Wallis (2005 interview with the book's author on Mother Jones website)
Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero ( PBS Frontline program, that asks "Where was God on September 11th?) 
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (more about this 1998 novel in which main characters wrestle with belief in a personal God)
Leading Scientists Still Reject Belief in God
Angels (from the Catholic Encyclopedia)
quotes related to God

back to Theme Choices version 5.0 structure

"As you shop in "The Reality Marketplace" avoid spending your "reality cash" too early,  before you have seen everything. " 
from Coming of Age in the Global Village,  by Stephen P. Cook,  with Donella H. Meadows.

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