You can always tell when a person has too much time on their hands, their thoughts start going esoteric. This often leads to trouble. Being currently under-employeed, this describes me.
'Woke up with a "This I Believe" thing going on (thanks a lot Amy!). So here we go.
Most of the reader know I have been in the Unitarian Universalist church for all my adult life. You might also know UU's are always defining themselves by what they do not believe. We find this far easier than nailing down a real personal theology. Yet this is what we are called to do.
I'll get the easy part out of the way first.
What I Don't Believe
The Bible is the flawless word of God
You Must Believe in Jesus or go to hell
God wants us to rank our fellow beings
The Earth is ours to conquer and subdue
Wow that list was a lot shorter than I thought it would be.
In case I didn't get my point across, let me say it like this: Mainstream Christian Doctrine is not on my support list. From that, feel free to assume the various wing-nuts that off-shoot the mainstream are also not on my support list.
Many people have a strong aversion to the concept of church or religion feel as I do, and wonder how people like myself continue to attend and support a church. I've spent many a decade wrestling with that same question.
What I Do Believe
We all are born with a mountain to climb
There are many paths up the mountain
The great religious concepts are timeless and of value
Churchy Terms
Here are some terms that run off many a non-believer. I've made friends with them by enlarging the context. You can also plug in your own substitute words to play in your head when you hear them. I believe as humans we are born seeking validation, and are in a struggle to find and be our true authentic selves.
Salvation - liberation from ignorance or illusion.
Redemption - The act that earns freedom
Prayer - To focus on a person, place or thing
Holy - A moment, a place, a person occupying a mindful reverence
God - A power greater than our own
I am not interested in creating a glossary here, there is a great one at http://www.religioustolerance.org/
Feel free to throw your nickel-ninetyeight in comments. Love me, hate me, but don't ignore me!
'Woke up with a "This I Believe" thing going on (thanks a lot Amy!). So here we go.
Most of the reader know I have been in the Unitarian Universalist church for all my adult life. You might also know UU's are always defining themselves by what they do not believe. We find this far easier than nailing down a real personal theology. Yet this is what we are called to do.
I'll get the easy part out of the way first.
What I Don't Believe
The Bible is the flawless word of God
You Must Believe in Jesus or go to hell
God wants us to rank our fellow beings
The Earth is ours to conquer and subdue
Wow that list was a lot shorter than I thought it would be.
In case I didn't get my point across, let me say it like this: Mainstream Christian Doctrine is not on my support list. From that, feel free to assume the various wing-nuts that off-shoot the mainstream are also not on my support list.
Many people have a strong aversion to the concept of church or religion feel as I do, and wonder how people like myself continue to attend and support a church. I've spent many a decade wrestling with that same question.
What I Do Believe
We all are born with a mountain to climb
There are many paths up the mountain
The great religious concepts are timeless and of value
Churchy Terms
Here are some terms that run off many a non-believer. I've made friends with them by enlarging the context. You can also plug in your own substitute words to play in your head when you hear them. I believe as humans we are born seeking validation, and are in a struggle to find and be our true authentic selves.
Salvation - liberation from ignorance or illusion.
Redemption - The act that earns freedom
Prayer - To focus on a person, place or thing
Holy - A moment, a place, a person occupying a mindful reverence
God - A power greater than our own
I am not interested in creating a glossary here, there is a great one at http://www.religioustolerance.org/
Feel free to throw your nickel-ninetyeight in comments. Love me, hate me, but don't ignore me!
Never let it be said that I missed a chance to comment! You have really shown an example of why we UUs sometimes (sometimes?) disagree. I accept these definitions, but am not evolved enough to believe that all of "us" use them the same way. There is a brilliant DVD called "Speak
ReplyDeleteWith Your Life", which I use to demonstrate what I believe, personally, to anyone who wants to know. Maybe you should recommend it? Meanwhile, As we examine our selves, keep looking for the love in you. That will solve lots of problems.
Very interesting, Cubil. You explained, in part, how I viewed things as I began my quest for my personal "truth." I was raised in a religious household and as I broke away from that and began to read and study and question, my ideas and the way I thought about religion changed very rapidly. Over the course of about 15 years and hundreds of books and countless hours of thinking and pondering later, I've most certainly come to a solid hold on what it is I believe and don't believe.
ReplyDeleteDuring those years of studying, I used religious terms like you used in your post to describe my changing views. After all, that vocabulary was all I had at the time. I have a new vocabulary now and have found that many of those words arent' even needed. For those raised in a religion, that vocabulary is most difficult to get rid of and even some of our great scientists who were atheist and agnostic were thought to be religious because they would use words like "divine" and "miraculous" to describe things in nature.
It's totally rockin' that you're at least giving it thought and devoting some brain power to it. Most people just go through life never questioning it. Question everything!
My view about those terms Amy is it is not necessary to get rid of them. I see them as part of the timeless quality of the search. Once I got past thinking those terms belong to people who see the world in a way that conflicts with my own, my own understanding expanded greatly.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this is why the UU has been the only church I have ever been able to understand. Even though I don't attend regularly, they come close to my view of life.
ReplyDeletePolls show there are roughly 10 times more people that identify themselves Unitarian than there are members of UU churches.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I meet someone (outside of a church) that calls themselves UU, I ask what church do they stay home from? They usually laugh and admit to being casual attendees...
To Coffee (and anyone else); Speak With Your Life is a CD I recorded about 14-15 years ago. It is currently out of print, but I bet I could find somewhere on the Web to post some tunes.
ReplyDelete