Finding religion

You're not quite getting their main concept. People go to a UUC to get away from lists of things you have to believe. That's what all the other denominations do. UUC is the alternative.

You won't find any two of them to be exactly alike, but that's not because of any official declaration they have made. They are officially open minded, and that's all.

At a typical UCC, on the other hand, they have official statements of faith pertaining to Jesus Christ, which are not enforced. They're not going to throw anybody out.

 

of course... you think I'm any different in real life than online....think again:2thumbsup:

 

Well, I always thought the rattlesnake handlers of Oklahoma were a little off. Yes, I see what you mean.

 

Well I just double checked with the wife and I am mistaken.
No, there is no "contract" to be signed.
Actually the opposite, employees are not allowed to be church members.
What I was thinking of was some stupid bitch that was there a while back tried to stir shit up and SHE was the one pressuring my wife to become a member..They got rid of that bitch.

Sorry for the confusion, I'm only human and make mistakes.

but that doesn't change my impression of the UU church. We view it more as a community organization than an actual church.

 

Just went and looked annnnnd... I will keep my opinions to myself. Except that's really hard... lol... pretty messed up, I think. But, whatever... not my rules.

(to expand on my thoughts... in a Christian forum, to not be able to talk about how you "became saved" or talk about bible verses... kinda makes it like...what are you supposed to talk about? but yeah I should shush now)

 

(to 64)I guess that's what I like about the idea of it. (Mistakes will be made. Others will be blamed.) That's a sticker I have on my dashboard.

 

I don't assume that.

Now we're getting somewhere! The dominant form of UUC liberal thought is to consider Christianity to be more like Buddhism. In fact, some of the members have a Buddhist or Tao background, in large cities. The moral teachings of Jesus are valued in a similar way to the teachings of Buddha.

I don't believe that's the case, at least not with the majority.

Fair enough. I'm not sure there is an English word that perfectly fits it. It's more of a philosophy than a religion. What do you call a building where you study a philosophy? Most commonly here, it would be a university classroom.

 

just saying that to make the point.

but as you say, each UUC is a little different.

 

And it's a valid point. If we assume that God wrote the Bible, then that assumption leads to only one possible conclusion about religion, in my opinion. That's the key issue.

In a typical New Age store, people come in and buy books from many different world religions, for the purpose of picking up bits of human wisdom collected down through the ages from many different cultures and philosophies. They aren't viewing any of those books as being guaranteed sources of 100% accurate information from a supernatural source, in most cases. Some may believe that a Higher Power inspired all of these books, to some degree, but there has also been significant human input.

These are the people who are most often looking for a nontraditional church or whatever you want to call it.

 

I think we all understand that definitive answers are not available to us. Otherwise there would be no reason for any discussion about religion whatsoever. (says captain obvious). Faith, non-faith and agnosticism abide.

 

and in that they are horribly wrong, no two ways about it.

All one has to do is read the New Testament without preconceived notions about what it says, but actually consider what is written and you will quickly see any resemblance to Buddhism is superficial and is the same similarity you will find in all cultures with any degree of moral teachings, some things are simply universal.
BUT, the majority of Jesus' teachings and such are completely in opposition to Buddhism.

Jesus very plainly claimed to be God, very plainly said he was the means of salvation, very plainly said many things that can ONLY be interpreted to mean exactly what he said.

But, as I already said, that is the bone that sticks in the throat, Is Jesus divine and God incarnate?
Check it out, just about every off-shoot of Christianity diverged because of the issue of whether or not Jesus is God, same with Islam. That was the main thing that Mohammad couldn't agree with.

Funny thing is, when you remove the element of Jesus being divine, the religion falls flat, considering that is the central crux of the entire New Testament.

So taking things from a religion or professing oneself to be an adherent of that religion while at the same time not accepting one of the main tenets of the religion is just lame and so arrogant.

Why is it that people are so invested in "re-interpreting" Jesus teachings to suit themselves?????

Kind of putting the horse before the cart in my opinion.

 

All of us? I want to move to your neighborhood! :sunny:

Scholars (summarizing this very briefly) consider Christianity, Judaism, and Islam to be exclusive religions, meaning that they promote themselves as the one true religion. Most academics classify Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Wicca, paganism, and New Age spiritualism as inclusive religions. In other words, they don't spend any energy trashing other belief systems, and just offer whatever they have to offer, take it or leave it.

I think we're living in a time in America when more and more people are finding things in exclusive religions that make them increasingly uncomfortable, and they are not tempted to jump all the way to atheism. They aren't giving up on their being a Higher Power.

 

Definitive. Not beliefs, regardless of title.

 

I've read the new testament several times. I've also experienced that emotional "calling" a few times growing up, so I get what it is all about.

I guess the reason why I was confused is I've always considered at least two of the three friends that converted recently to be logical people. I didn't think they would be susceptible to an emotionally charged religious experience.

 

Moral teachings are superficial? I haven't heard that one before. Many people think they are extremely important.

Once again, you are writing as if everyone on earth is convinced that every word in the Bible came directly from the creator of the universe. You know there is no such consensus. You can't take that for granted in a logical debate. I have no idea what Jesus actually said. I wasn't there.

Every religion except one says no. You know that too.

So, I guess you need to find the nearest New Age store and start carrying protest signs out front. How dare those people have their own opinions!

 

I've known some pretty logical people who were also religious. Those two traits don't have to be mutually exclusive, although I often find myself surprised when I find both of them in a single person.

 

It is two separate parts of a person's brain or psyche, that's why..

 

I was talking more about my own bias against religious people. Which I've come to find isn't fair and it is something that bothers me about myself.

 

Trust me, I know where you're coming from there. That's something I've worked on getting past myself in recent years. I've done pretty good at it- to the extent where now I start to get mad when people bash on all Christians when I know some Christians who are nothing like the typical conservative ones and more like hippy Christians, or something... lol... yea, I don't know but I've found my views changing in recent years...

 

My church has been the rivers forests and mountains of the pacific northwest. We are hard wired to find our good/god, our sincerest impulse being there is good in the world for us and we must have it.