Unitarians

[bwilson4web]

From: https://www.uuhystericalsociety.com/uu-jokes

UU missionaries go around knocking on people’s doors for no particular reason.​

A while back, someone who should have known better, disparaged my Unitarian faith. That is OK because we are not for everyone. But I thought it useful to share some history.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trini...ity,scriptural documents and prior traditions.

. . . the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, coeternal, consubstantial, divine persons
. . .
First Council of Nicaea (325)
. . .
The Confession of the First Council of Nicaea, the Nicene Creed, said little about the Holy Spirit.[89] At the First Council of Nicea (325) all attention was focused on the relationship between the Father and the Son, without making any similar statement about the Holy Spirit.
. . .
First Council of Constantinople (381)
. . .
Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, by saying that the Holy Spirit is worshiped and glorified together with the Father and the Son
. . .​

These early Christian governing bodies had a problem with various versions of Christianity being taught. So they decided to define God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit so anything else was heresy and thus punishable on Earth. They further decided which writings were true (canon) and which were false. This began nearly 2,000 years of religious wars that continue today.

My History

Mom and Dad attended "Disciples of Christ" a derivative of the Methodists. A mild if somewhat boring church (to me.) At age 14, my parents sent me to an Episcopalian junior high school for two years. We studied Latin, religion, and started each day with a 20 minute service. Five days a week I was a practicing Espicopalian and Disciples of Christ on Sunday.

It wasn't until College that I began sampling different denominations which came down to: (1) conservatives, hardest, most demanding but sexually more permissive, (2) normal denominations less invasive but not inspiring, and (3) visit to the Unitarians . . . where I found the Spirit of God in the music.

What Is It Like?

The Spirit in the music is still there and I have very seldom been bored by the sermons. Furthermore, my fellow congregants are on the high-side of the bell curve and not slaves to ROTE. So for me:

• GOD is one
• We experience GOD in the Spirit
• Jesus teaches us how to worship GOD in our daily lives

The walk-in wounded, are those condemned by more conservative denominations and their families. Individuals who found they were dam'd by their intransigent, non-forgiving, stiff necked churches. They find relief but sometimes, bad habits from their former denominations emerge and they wander off. We treat them gently but continue in our Unitarian faith.

For business reasons (i.e., maintenance of property and salaries,) the Universalists and Unitarians formed a joint denomination:

What's the difference between a Unitarian and a Universalist?

Universalists think that God is too good to send them to hell.
Unitarians think that they are too good for God to send them to hell.​

I visited a Universalist church once and they are forgiving, trinitarians. But as a 'jack booted' Unitarian, I disagree and did not feel the Spirit. I know many live in their hell by their individual actions in this life . . . when we fail to follow the teachings of Jesus.

Not every Unitarian congregation is blessed but the GODliness ratio is high and I find the proof, the Spirit, in the music. Forgiving and clever congregants helps. Just Unitarian faith is not for everyone and if you are happy in your denomination, go with GOD.

Bob Wilson

 

[bwilson4web]

Wrote this letter today:

Bob Wilson

 

[bwilson4web]

Bob Wilson

 

[Rob Lay]

Not sure I follow 100% your intent with this thread and the part about a EV charging station, but I'll go with the "spirit" of the thread.

My dad was a Presbyterian minister and I grew up with the church. Pretty open and liberal flavor of Christianity. Confirmation at 14 led by my own dad, I wasn't ready to "confirm" and still haven't to this day. I soon asked my dad based on my beliefs, if there was any congregation for me. He suggested Unitarians, Universalists, or Unitarian Universalists. I did some research and nothing yet turned me away.

I attended a few times Salina, Kansas in HS to Wellesley, Massachusetts in College to Southlake, Texas after graduation. I liked the congregations. What I started noticing with the Southlake congregation was an almost complete focus on politics and not true spirituality. Like many without organized religion they then make their politics their religion. Seems to be common these days places like China with Communism/Socialist like politics and even spawning here more in the states. People seem to be acting with more fervor and blind passion over political beliefs than even the most religious did over God.

I believe in the strong separation of church and state. Whenever my dad took on a new congregation, the first thing he did was walk into the sanctuary and put a Bible under the church flag so that it sat just a little higher than the American flag.

 

[bwilson4web]

Each congregation is different and some have wandered down paths I can not follow. But I’ve always found the Spirit in the music. The sermons make you think and not snore. <GRINS>.

I also like how they welcome the ‘walking wounded’ from less forgiving sects and families. The ‘first aid’ of fellowship.

Bob Wilson

ps. I started this thread after an Internet stalker decided being confrontational was his calling in life. Dang shame waste of time. I had to turn up the squelch as he posted no technical content. Unlike the Monty Python skit, I don’t come here for an argument.

pps. Posting from the ‘Ok Corral Shooting Sports Resort’ where I hope to enjoy the Zen of shooting my reworked AR-15 (loved my Marine M-16.) A hog hunting weapon.

 

[Paul K]

Yeah it is an odd thing for a thread like this to appear in an EV forum. I also am a long time member of a UU congregation with a slight EV twist. I read somewhere that the early adopters of EVs influence others in the circles of contact like neighbours, co-workers, churches etc. I was the first member to arrive with an EV one Sunday. Others made the plunge after learning of my experiences. There are at least 10 members with EVs now. There are no pick up trucks in the parking lot.

As for my neighbourhood not so much. There is only one other EV. A somewhat older red Leaf which the owner loves. My street consists of a mix of semi-detached and small singles homes aimed at first time buyers. The upwardly mobile tend to move on so I've seen many good neighbours leave over the years. We stayed put and built up equity instead. The house was paid for before my wife passed 17 years ago. Not being house poor was how I was able to get into EVs. Also, being self employed I can claim depreciation on the vehicle as a business expense.

A few of my clients have purchased EVs after seeing me showing up in one. I always warn them that asking EV questions could result in their ears "getting talked off".

Back to UUs I have been involved with music all my life and am a major participant in the music program. I am given a pretty free reign in how I do things so when possible I have reworked some of the more modern hymns to have a "gospel" sound. Why should the Pentecostals have all the fun <<also grins>>

 

[bwilson4web]

Back to UUs I have been involved with music all my life and am a major participant in the music program. I am given a pretty free reign in how I do things so when possible I have reworked some of the more modern hymns to have a "gospel" sound. Why should the Pentecostals have all the fun <<also grins>>

I found 'the spirit in the music' 50 years ago. If you ever plan to do a modern music program, I would drive over for:

• "Forgiveness" (Don Henly) - a female soprano group singing at least one chorus in a higher key and perhaps a male group doing another chorus.
• "The River Hymn" (The Band) - everyone led by the choir with a baritone singing "a long line and a head."
• "Rivers of Babylon" (Boney M) - choir with leads, very challenging accent and instruments.
• "Losing My Religion" (Don Henly) - enhanced with another lyric, a UUU "Finding My Religion" the congregation joins in at the end

As for thread drift, well it is about "forgiveness."

Bob Wilson

 

[SouthernDude]

I look away for several months and see probably one of the more sad and pitiful attempts to justify why its ok to be a heretic. The Nicaean Creed as well as the Apostles Creed and the various other councils occurred to more clearly summarize and clarify what Christianity is. People were developing heresies surrounding Jesus even during His ministries on earth - accusing Jesus of being a false prophet or even believing he was supposed to be some figure of "rebellion". So obviously it became necessary to counter lies and misunderstandings.

And your argument against all this?

So they decided to define God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit so anything else was heresy and thus punishable on Earth. They further decided which writings were true (canon) and which were false. This began nearly 2,000 years of religious wars that continue today.

Reddit tier arrogant dismissal. It doesn't even matter to you why these councils or confessions exist. You don't even care why something is considered a heresy. Just arrogantly dismiss it because it implicates beliefs you currently hold, but don't care about it.

Also, a universalist cannot affirm the Nicaean Creed. And you are a universalist because you consider universalism acceptable enough attach to your denomination. One of the most foundational moral views in Christianity is that are no gods above the one true God - which is the Triune God. Universalists put satan and made up BS at the same level as God.

Unitarians think that they are too good for God to send them to hell.

This might be one of the most arrogant things I've read. All of my consternation against unitarians validated again. In other words, you all think you are self-righteous by yourselves. You aren't even saying that Christ is righteousness on your behalf. Substitutionary atonement is extremely basic theology and you don't even type out something that resembles that. Gives more evidence that you have no genuine idea what the Gospel actually is.

teachings of Jesus.

There's no telling what kind of godspel hippie Jim Jones nonsense you think that is. lol

Jesus clearly stated that God created man to be man and woman and clearly defined marriage as being between a man and woman - Matthew 19:3-12
Clear as day, but you don't believe it. Very wild.

I know many live in their hell by their individual actions in this life

You say this, but then you'll never ever never ever condemn the behaviors that cause this, but instead you will condemn the people who call out destructive behavior. Its unbelievable really.

I don’t come here for an argument.

>posts bait knowing it will get a response
>engages with every post you disagree with

Everyone here knows this is a lie. lol A giant, giant lie. Weakest troll

being confrontational was his calling in life.

Somebody has to care enough about you to call you on your BS. Clearly nobody around you did, hence why you ended up in a unitarian universalist who thinks he knows what he's talking about.

Considering how old you are, you need it way more frequently.

The walk-in wounded, are those condemned by more conservative denominations and their families. Individuals who found they were dam'd by their intransigent, non-forgiving, stiff necked churches.

This is a deceptive way of saying you don't hold people accountable to actual sin. But if anyone disagrees with you on race, gender, sexuality, or whatever you'll practically excommunicate people over - even if it doesn't comport with the logic of the fake morals of racism, sexism, homophobia whatever. And they are fake because there's nothing in scripture supporting them as I was taught by my God hating public school system. One of the things I've learned about progressives is that none of them have any real morals. Any of them that did have abandoned progressivism a long time ago.

I was told that racism is prejudice against someone solely on the basis of race and you believe in "white privilege", which is literally pre-judgement white people. Oh but that's ok now because now the definition is "power + privilege" so that means you support DEI laws to exclusively discriminate against white men to make things "equal". When does it stop? Well, it stops after mass migration makes whites an absolutely tiny minority in the US - so essentially never. This is what your fake church wants to do to me. So glad your fake church believes I have to be "held accountable" to whatever fake history some DEI degree holder picks out from her acrylic nails.

"oh this is a strawman. I don't agree with all of this; I only go for the music" - 'Cause you 'feel' the music? What you listed is lame boomer rock pop covers. You can find that and actual hymns in virtually any baptist church across the state. Give me a break, you go because you 'feel' the progressive politics, like all other unitarians do. But I'm supposed to act all buddy-buddy and pretend that "we're really not that different" as you twist the knife in my back. Really feeling the "love" from you people.

I don't mind meeting with you or anything, but in the back of my mind I will be thinking that you will say whatever you can to deceive me into thinking that you don't actively support liquidating the entire nation and giving it to foreigners because you hate your own religion, nation, and people and you think its cute and funny that young actually American men, like me, have to suffer from this.

As for thread drift, well it is about "forgiveness."

Forgiveness? Oh man. I am so sorry for knowing what you are. Let me just dab that spec in my eye.

 

[bwilson4web]

No problem as the post supporting the creed, the trinity, clearly shows its effect. Instead of discussing the lessons of Jesus, we see a hyper-focus on legalities that gave our spiecies 2,000 years of bloody wars, death, and cruelty.

Wahabi Islam, Russian Orthodox, and Hindu Militants all share the same Christian Warrior mission of conversion by blood and death. It is a plague on our species.

BTW, I once attended universalist services in Washington DC and they professed the trinity. But they also adopt what Jesus taught about forgiveness.

Follow the teachings of Jesus, is enough for peace between us regardless of other religious habits and practices. But legalized religion is the path to death and damnation.

Bob Wilson

 

[SouthernDude]

No problem as the post supporting the creed, the trinity, clearly shows its effect. Instead of discussing the lessons of Jesus, we see a hyper-focus on legalities that gave our spiecies 2,000 years of bloody wars, death, and cruelty.

Uh no. "Following rules" is not what legalism is. Legalism refers to two specific things. That is either using the letter of the law to violate the spirit of the law, which is basically breaking the spirit of the law without "technically" breaking the law, or upholding laws that are not even prescribed by God - ie fake morals like sexism, racism, or whatever other fake morals people shriek at me to follow.

Wahabi Islam, Russian Orthodox, and Hindu Militants all share the same Christian Warrior mission of conversion by blood and death. It is a plague on our species.

People fight because they have sinful natures not because "religion makes them". The vast majority of wars have been fought over resource control anyways, not religious views. Claiming that "religion causes war" is intellectually lazy. Some religions are more morally permissive of war than others, but the root cause is human's sinful nature. If you were a Christian you would know this. You only have the conception that war can be bad because of Christianity - not concretely any other reason. Jesus never said that he would bring peace to the world anyways - at least until His second coming. There will always be wars and rumors of wars. Its not "society" that causes this but the inherent, evil sinful nature that man has. Drop all the leftist equality BS and actually read the book of Romans - especially Romans 1. Original sin is basic. You can't be a Christian without believing in original sin.

BTW, I once attended universalist services in Washington DC and they professed the trinity. But they also adopt what Jesus taught about forgiveness.

Universalists do not believe that the Triune God is the one and only god and that the only path for salvation is through Jesus. They consider everything valid. They have no problem incorporating or allowing the worship of any and all manner of demons or made up stuff into their services, which is a total violation of the First Commandment. Its just a bunch of people who decided that hell sounds mean so God doesn't really mean what He says about unrepentant sin. How can a loving and kind God send people to hell? Because He is just too. There is no "problem with evil". There are only people who have a problem with how God does things and think that they can do better so they defy God - which is the root of sin and God can with perfect love and justice send people to hell for that.

Follow the teachings of Jesus, is enough for peace between us regardless of other religious habits and practices. But legalized religion is the path to death and damnation.

The teachings of Jesus are not john lennon's imagine lmao. One of the first things that Jesus said in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:17-20 is that the law is not abolished at all and that not even a letter of the law is being removed. Jesus in John 14 even says that whoever keeps His commandments loves Him. Complete contradiction from what you think. The Law of God is not arbitrary and it is meant to be practiced - even if imperfectly. There's always forgiveness, but the first step to forgiveness is recognizing that you sinned first. You only know this by knowing the law. Grace neither eliminates the laws nor makes it ok to consistently live in unrepentant sin.

Its hard to believe that peace is possible with progressives given how many of them celebrated Kirk's assassination. It doesn't even matter who killed him, the mass celebration of it told me all I needed to see. Also, conservatives letting their guard down is how public schools became so subversive and dangerous that I can't in good conscience put my future children in one. I was told in highschool that legalizing gay mirage wouldn't result in it getting pushed in schools. Less than 10 years after that horrible ruling its now become a giant fight to remove what we were promised wouldn't happen - in all 50 states. Again, backstabbing as yall pretend to not be doing it. Mass immigration and indoctrination of children behind parents backs.

 

[bwilson4web]

I only have personal experience with the Universalist from one Sunday morning service. They professed the Trinity so I’ll have to go with my ‘lying eyes and ears.’

Somehow I suspect I might have more personal experience with professed Universalists. The clue is posting the technical and not personal memories. But I have no curiosity about Universalists beyond my past experience.

As for the other legalisms posted, they are self evident of what I find unconvincing. They share similar arguments that burned Joan of Arc and brought countless others to terrible deaths and suffering.

In the 1980s, the Southern Baptists claimed some percentage of Alabamians were going to Hell. My late wife and I had barely arrived for a square dancing event in Savanna, GA after a tire road hazard incident that almost ended the trip early.

After check-in and a shower, I went to the office for towels and the cleaning staff were discussing the Southern Baptists article. The clerk handed me the towels and said, “Ask him as they are from Alabama.”

So in jest I said, “Well anything to get away from the Southern Baptists.” And one indignant woman said,”Well I AM A SOUTHERN BAPTIST!!” and I left with my towels.

Heaven for the Glory of God and Hell for the company.

Bob Wilson