No, if everything is God, then everything is God regardless of appearance. An apple seed, an apple tree,a ripe apple. a rotten apple are all God, there is no change, all still God.
It is true that there is only a subtle difference between pantheism and the Christian understanding of God; but in understanding the rational consequences of God gained by a proper understanding of Gods attributes - and also the act of reality itself - we are provided with a big difference non-the-less.
I sympathise with those who fall in to the trap of Pantheism, and this is because it is almost true insomuch as it admits of only one true existence; that is to say there is only one thing that truly exists in and of itself because of its own nature. But that doesn’t necessitate that a thing cannot be its own distinct thing or nature and yet have no being of its own generation; and this would only mean that in order for it to be real, a created thing must participate in the “act” of existence, that is to say, it’s continuous being is only real because something is sustaining it or bringing it “in” to reality, but that which is only potentially real is not itself intrinsically “existence” or “reality”. In this context none of us really
exist, and that is only to say that our distinct natures are not intrinsic to what the
act of reality is, otherwise it would not have a beginning in anyway shape or form and thus neither would it change; since to change is to take on the potentiality of more existence. I cannot say that I exist merely because I am human, but rather I exist because something beyond my power is making me exist.
A thing that begins to exist, is only potentially real. That means at one point it never existed and thus it is not intrinsic to what reality is; it is not reality. If reality is a nature in and of itself (
which we would have to admit unless one is persuaded by the ridiculous and meaningless notion that out of nothing comes something), then there can never be a time or reality where it does not exist. It is what ever it is in the instant of its being, and it is absolute. In fact we cannot speak of it in the context of time at all because there is no potentiality or potential parts in its being, since its being simply is “
reality” and not something it “becomes”. Its very nature would transcend all time and thus also the essences of all manner of things or distinctions that change, proceeding or preceding each-other in potentiality. Existence as an intrinsic
nature would have no beginning or end; it would be a
timeless act. Thus the universe is not God. God permeates all things and is in all things but at the same God is absolutely distinct from them. We come “in to”
Existence; we come in to God. God is already a complete nature to which we are presented; we are not an intrinsic of God of what God is. Existence does not begin to exist. Only “essences” begin to exist. However, change is
relative according to the
perspective from which you
perceive being, and thus even from a strict Gods I view of ontology, nothing at all is changing; because Gods perspective is
eternal and thus transcendent of all change. Therefore all the change that has ever happened or will ever happen is timelessly present to God and is a timeless expression of God, and in so far as that is the case, from Gods point of view, the universe has existed for all eternity even though from our point of view it had a beginning and is changing.
To be fair to pantheists, if we did not experience potentiality/change and distinction, we would not be able to tell the difference between the universe and God.
, in thinking this we may not be alone: