I love your logic and thinking for yourself. For me, I love being a Unitarian because we have questions, not answers so much. This partial sonnet of Wordsworth’s kind-of summarizes what I feel, that being in tune with nature is embracing all creation.
As a Christian, but not a Calvinist, I struggle with the entirety of what's known as the theology of atonement, and propitiation. I believe in total depravity - though I don't believe that children are in sin - and I accept the premise of salvation, in entirety. The wrath of God is His position towards sin, not an emotional feeling of anger. I don't believe in universal salvation; I don't believe in burning hell either. There's a lot that atonement theologians propagate to help define their reasoning of propitiation: they're responsible for the idea of suffering and betrayal and "sinners in the hand of an angry God." Every time I read of a curse, I read far, far more about redemption. There's so much more about mercy than their is about punishment. I will never change the tenets I hold to be true, but I am changing the way I see the world. I hope I'm realizing that I can't perceive it all through only my filter; I hope I'm allowing the eyes of others to compensate for the blind sights in my vision.
These are fair and challenging questions. What strikes me about the New Testament is how strongly affected so many people were that they gathered together to compare memories, and wrote them down, and accepted secrecy and persecution, and organized an institutional church to keep his teachings alive, so strongly were they affected by this man Jesus. What must that have been like in person? What a shock must have been his death, so suddenly after the normal course of traveling and teaching, and compared to what his followers expected?
Mark, I don’t do theology although I am a believer. I don’t even think I need or deserve to know the hard questions or even the harder answers. As you will recall, I had a recent terrifying near death experience that left me completely unscathed at the same time a friend died from a relatively minor illness. Why? That’s a question that is like a snake eating its own tail.
So the hard questions I don’t understand or have answers for don’t cause me to lose much sleep. Too often, they are merely word games. It’s the parts I do understand that cause me great heartburn and even distress. Let me give you two examples.
Isaiah 58
1“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.
Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.
Tell my people of their sins!
2Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day
and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
pretending they want to be near me.
3‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’
“I will tell you why!” I respond.
“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you fast,
you keep oppressing your workers.
4What good is fasting
when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of fasting
will never get you anywhere with me.
5You humble yourselves
by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
Do you really think this will please the LORD?
6“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
7Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
8“Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.
9Then when you call, the LORD will answer.
‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.
“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.
Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
10Feed the hungry,
and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
11The LORD will guide you continually,
giving you water when you are dry
and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like an ever-flowing spring.
12Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls
and a restorer of homes.
13“Keep the Sabbath day holy.
Don’t pursue your own interests on that day,
but enjoy the Sabbath
and speak of it with delight as the LORD’s holy day.
Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day,
and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.
14Then the LORD will be your delight.
I will give you great honor
and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob.
I, the LORD, have spoken!”
That all is pretty clear. Religiosity isn’t even close to what authentic religious practice requires. It’s not theological hair splitting, sectarianism, or meaningless ritual. True religion is a verb.
Here’s another, even more cutting summary, because it involves the idea of a final judgement:
Matthew 25
31“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32All the nationse will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,f you were doing it to me!’
41“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.g 42For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. 43I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
45“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
46“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
I read nothing about group religion, religion and politics, or all the other diversions and divisions stirred up by religiosity in these passages. These are the ideals I’ve tried to live up to, which as I am certain you understand is more often an intention than a reality. I am weak, I am easily distracted, I often do the right things for the wrong reasons, but even with my frequent failures, this is the faith to which I have devoted my entire life. It is a faith I have no fear of dying for, although it’s probably easier to die for one’s faith than to live it!
And that’s as far as I go into theology, because at the end of the day, it is how we treat one another that is the measure of our faith. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be something we can offload and pay someone else to do for us vicariously. It’s a first person singular faith. And I have worked with people of many faiths or who profess no specific faith who are committed to the principles above. So there you have it.
“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:27
I love your logic and thinking for yourself. For me, I love being a Unitarian because we have questions, not answers so much. This partial sonnet of Wordsworth’s kind-of summarizes what I feel, that being in tune with nature is embracing all creation.
“This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less
forlorn
…”
If there is life after death, then there is no death, just a continuous life.
As a Christian, but not a Calvinist, I struggle with the entirety of what's known as the theology of atonement, and propitiation. I believe in total depravity - though I don't believe that children are in sin - and I accept the premise of salvation, in entirety. The wrath of God is His position towards sin, not an emotional feeling of anger. I don't believe in universal salvation; I don't believe in burning hell either. There's a lot that atonement theologians propagate to help define their reasoning of propitiation: they're responsible for the idea of suffering and betrayal and "sinners in the hand of an angry God." Every time I read of a curse, I read far, far more about redemption. There's so much more about mercy than their is about punishment. I will never change the tenets I hold to be true, but I am changing the way I see the world. I hope I'm realizing that I can't perceive it all through only my filter; I hope I'm allowing the eyes of others to compensate for the blind sights in my vision.
These are fair and challenging questions. What strikes me about the New Testament is how strongly affected so many people were that they gathered together to compare memories, and wrote them down, and accepted secrecy and persecution, and organized an institutional church to keep his teachings alive, so strongly were they affected by this man Jesus. What must that have been like in person? What a shock must have been his death, so suddenly after the normal course of traveling and teaching, and compared to what his followers expected?
Mark, I don’t do theology although I am a believer. I don’t even think I need or deserve to know the hard questions or even the harder answers. As you will recall, I had a recent terrifying near death experience that left me completely unscathed at the same time a friend died from a relatively minor illness. Why? That’s a question that is like a snake eating its own tail.
So the hard questions I don’t understand or have answers for don’t cause me to lose much sleep. Too often, they are merely word games. It’s the parts I do understand that cause me great heartburn and even distress. Let me give you two examples.
Isaiah 58
1“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.
Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.
Tell my people of their sins!
2Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day
and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
pretending they want to be near me.
3‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’
“I will tell you why!” I respond.
“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you fast,
you keep oppressing your workers.
4What good is fasting
when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of fasting
will never get you anywhere with me.
5You humble yourselves
by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
Do you really think this will please the LORD?
6“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
7Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
8“Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.
9Then when you call, the LORD will answer.
‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.
“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.
Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
10Feed the hungry,
and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
11The LORD will guide you continually,
giving you water when you are dry
and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like an ever-flowing spring.
12Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls
and a restorer of homes.
13“Keep the Sabbath day holy.
Don’t pursue your own interests on that day,
but enjoy the Sabbath
and speak of it with delight as the LORD’s holy day.
Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day,
and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.
14Then the LORD will be your delight.
I will give you great honor
and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob.
I, the LORD, have spoken!”
That all is pretty clear. Religiosity isn’t even close to what authentic religious practice requires. It’s not theological hair splitting, sectarianism, or meaningless ritual. True religion is a verb.
Here’s another, even more cutting summary, because it involves the idea of a final judgement:
Matthew 25
31“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32All the nationse will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,f you were doing it to me!’
41“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.g 42For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. 43I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
45“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
46“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
I read nothing about group religion, religion and politics, or all the other diversions and divisions stirred up by religiosity in these passages. These are the ideals I’ve tried to live up to, which as I am certain you understand is more often an intention than a reality. I am weak, I am easily distracted, I often do the right things for the wrong reasons, but even with my frequent failures, this is the faith to which I have devoted my entire life. It is a faith I have no fear of dying for, although it’s probably easier to die for one’s faith than to live it!
And that’s as far as I go into theology, because at the end of the day, it is how we treat one another that is the measure of our faith. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be something we can offload and pay someone else to do for us vicariously. It’s a first person singular faith. And I have worked with people of many faiths or who profess no specific faith who are committed to the principles above. So there you have it.
“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:27
It’s not easy to do, but it’s easy to understand.