Refutation of the Sects

A. The waters do not surround the earth, but they are within and on the surface of the earth 318........................ 96 112
B. The four elements created by God are mixed with one another 319................................... 97 112

Response to [7], point by point (Pythagoreans): by reason 320-327

A. "Providence" erroneously separated from the "First Cause" 320......................................... 97 113
B. Reluctance regarding the oneness of God 321.......................... 97 113
C. Praiseworthy abstinence 322........................................ 98 113
D. Blameworthy metempsychosis The transmigration of souls, or the belief that after death a soul passes into another body—human, animal, or even plant. 323............................... 98 113
E. His arguments in the defense he makes for eating meat are false 324.............................. 98 114
F. His separation of beings above and below the moon leads to polytheism 325............................ 98 114
G. The silence, kept as he commanded, was of little use Refers to the Pythagorean practice of requiring initiates to maintain total silence for several years. 326...................................................... 98 114
H. And he dared to take the name of "god" 327............... 99 114

Response to [8], point by point (Plato): by reason 328-333

A. Plato's god is a demiurge A divine craftsman or "public worker" who fashions and shapes the material world, though often considered distinct from a supreme, unknowable God. 328..................... 99 115
B. Contradictory theses: the world as both created and perishable and co-eternal with God 329...................... 99 115
C. The breaths (animators) of divine essence 330......... 99 115
D. Community of women A reference to Plato's Republic, where he suggests that among the guardian class, wives and children should be held in common. 331............................. 100 116
E. Metempsychosis 332......................................... 100 116
F. If several gods came out of a single one, why are there not several worlds 333.................... 100 116

Response to [9], point by point (Stoics): by reason 334-337

A. For them everything is body The Stoics believed that only material things—bodies—could act or be acted upon, including the soul and God. 334................................... 100 116
B. For some, the world would be of a fiery essence 335....................................................... 100 116
C. They deify intelligence 336................................ 100 116
D. Metempsychosis 337......................................... 101 117

Response to [10], except for one point on lust (Epicureans): by reason 338-340

A. The world made itself: neither God nor Providence 338...................................................... 101 117
B. True philosophers mock the Epicureans 339............................................................ 101 117
C. They are atheists 340......................................... 101 117

Corresponding to [11]:

Response to this question: why did Christ come into the world at the moment he arrived 341-349