Hi Roger, thank you for answering…
I am saying that when the average person in society, and many churchgoers for that matter, talk about God they have the picture of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam in mind. Augustine may have rejected that belief long ago however, that worldview of God still has a very strong grip on today’s society because it is pushed into the minds of people through various religious ideologies. Above, even you made the statement to Wayne,
Would the “rational being” that you are referring to be the same “rational being” portrayed in Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam? Is this not what atheists reject? Thus, was Augustine not an atheist since he rejected such a “rational being?” And those who even now hold fast to Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam God—are they not distorting the truth for those who seek to find it?
My premise is true that,
Your premise is false that,
This is simply because there was nothing that created itself—ex-nihilo is a false assertion. Thus, the energy/matter of the multiverse exists eternally and endlessly recycles itself suggesting it is a natural cause and effect to itself. “Panentheism holds that God is the ‘Supreme affect and effect’ of the universe.” http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Panentheism
A more in-depth analysis of panentheism can be found here Panentheism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
However, the universe does have a rational natural cause and who’s to say that this rational natural cause should not be considered divine?
The Encyclopedia Britannica has an article for the divine at DIVINE Definition & Usage Examples | Dictionary.com
“the power, being, or realm understood by religious persons to be at the core of existence and to have a transformative effect on their lives and destinies. Other terms, such as holy, divine, transcendent, ultimate being (or reality), mystery, and perfection (or purity) have been used for this domain. “Sacred” is also an important technical term in the scholarly study and interpretation of religions.”
It is also noteworthy to comprehend that the word divine can also imply “to foretell, predict, foresee, forecast, discern, understand.” And the root word “divine” makes up the term divination “to discover or declare (something obscure or in the future) by divination; prophesy.”
We must acknowledge that the rational determined laws of nature (the cosmological constants) [are] divine and fine tuned for life. Through the spirit that dwells in life they determinedly point to a specific future as outlined in the Holy Scriptures. This conscious outgrowth of the universe is the awakening of God.