When speaking to someone not
long ago about our different experiences in finding a church every time we
move, this person suggested that we join a Unitarian Church instead of seeking
out a Non-Denominational or Evangelical Free Church. I said that the Unitarians are not something
acceptable to us as a family and they do not preach the Gospel. This individual said that's the beauty of it
because people from all walks come together in a spiritual nature to
worship. My question is this: what are
they worshipping?
This is what I previously
knew about the Unitarian Church: there is a church building in Oak Park,
Illinois built by the famous Frank Lloyd Wright. It is a Unitarian Church called the Unity
Temple. It is a beautiful building on a
main stretch of road through Oak Park.
I
also knew that my aunt was married by a Unitarian Minister for her second marriage
because her soon-to-be husband was a Buddhist and she was a non-practicing Catholic. From my understanding at the time, a
Unitarian Minister could marry anyone of any faith. That led me to believe that Unitarians were
not really part of any organized religion nor did they believe in one God. I have recently
come to the conclusion that they look to themselves for their
enlightenment and guidance, and are wishy-washy in what they believe as truth.
Romans 2:8 NIV
But for those who are
self-seeking and who reject the truth and who follow evil, there will be wrath
and anger.
Instead of having a mission,
foundations, pillars and beliefs, they have principles and sources. Their beliefs are all beliefs.
Here is an example of the
Mission of a Christian Church:
"Our mission is to
glorify God by making mature disciples of Jesus Christ through the power of the
Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20, Colossians 1:28-29)."
There is no mission for a
Unitarian Church.
Jesus Christ and His
Word (1 Corinthians 3:11, Matthew
7:24-27)
PILLARS
Loving God and one another
in deed and truth. (Matthew 22:37-39, 1
John 3:16-18)
Declaring the truth of God's
Word without compromise. (2 Timothy 4:2,
Acts 20:32)
Offering our lives to Jesus
Christ in worship. (John 4:23, Romans
12:1)
Calling upon the Lord
through fervent prayer. (Ephesians 6:18,
Jeremiah 33:3)
Sharing the Gospel with
boldness and grace. (Ephesians 6:19-20,
Colossians 4:2-6)"
1st Principle: The inherent
worth and dignity of every person
2nd Principle: Justice,
equity and compassion in human relations
3rd Principle: Acceptance of
one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregation4th Principle: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning
5th Principle: The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregation and in society at large
6th Principle: The goal of the world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all
7th Principle: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part
"GOD
We believe in the
only true God (John 17:3), the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew
28:19-20). He created all things
(Revelation 4:11) and upholds all things by the power of His WORD (Hebrews
1:3). In Him we live and move and have
our being (Acts 17:28). He is a God of
truth and without iniquity, He is just and right (Deuteronomy 32:4) and He
shall judge the world (Psalm 9:8). We believe that the Godhead eternally exists
in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, having precisely the
same nature, attributes and perfections, and are worthy of precisely the same
homage, confidence and obedience (Mark 12:29; John 1:1-4; Matthew 29:19-20;
Acts 4:3-4).
JESUS CHRIST
We believe in the
total deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe He is the manifestation of God
in the flesh. We believe He was
conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We believe Him to be true God and true man
(John 1:1, 1:14, 1:18; John 14:8-9; 1 Timothy 3:16).
HOLY SPIRIT
We believe in the
total deity of the Holy Spirit and that His ministry is to glorify the Lord
Jesus Christ (John 16:14). Holy Spirit
indwells, guides, instructs, fills, comforts and empowers the believer for
godly living (Mark 13:11; John 14:26; John 16:13; Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians
3:16). The Holy Spirit convicts the
world of sin, of God’s righteousness and of coming judgment (John
16:8-11).
SCRIPTURES
We believe the
Scriptures of the Old Testament and New Testament are verbally inspired by God
and inerrant in their original writings.
We believe the Old Testament and the New Testament are God’s complete
and sufficient revelation and therefore carry God’s authority for the total
well-being of mankind (Psalm 119:97-104; Psalm 119:160; Matthew 5:18; John 5:46-47;
John 10:35; 2 Timothy 3:15-16).
MAN
We believe man was
created in innocence under the law of his Maker but, by voluntarily
transgressing, fell from his sinless and happy state. Consequently, all mankind is sinful. All people are sinners not only by
inheritance, but by their own choice and therefore are under just condemnation
without defense or excuse. We believe
that without exception every man and every woman is totally depraved and needs
a Savior (Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 3:10-19; Romans 1:18, Romans 1:32; Romans
5:1-2).
SALVATION
We believe that the
Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a
representative and substitutionary sacrifice.
We believe that each person who by faith receives Him as personal Savior
is justified on the basis of Jesus Christ’s shed blood on Calvary. Each person who receives Christ as personal
Savior is born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby becomes eternally secure as
a child of God. We believe the Holy
Spirit baptizes each believing person into the body of Christ at the moment of
salvation and that there is no second baptism of the Holy Spirit (Romans
8:37-39; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 12:13).
RESURRECTION
We believe in the
resurrection of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, His ascension into heaven
and His present life for us as High Priest and Advocate (Acts 1:3; Acts 1:9;
Hebrews 7:25-26).
HEAVEN, HELL &
THE RETURN OF CHRIST
We believe in the
“blessed hope”: the personal, premillenial return of the Lord Jesus
Christ. His return has a vital bearing
on the personal life and service of the believer (1 Thessalonians
4:13-18). We believe in the bodily
resurrection of both the saved and the lost.
The saved are raised to eternal, conscious bliss in heaven (Matthew
25:34; John 14:2; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Revelation 2:7); the lost are raised to
eternal torment in hell in conscious separation from God. (Matthew 8:11;
Matthew 10:28; Matthew 13:49-50; Mark 9:47-48; Luke 12:5; Revelation
21:8)."
Worshipping in our congregations you may
hear a reading or perspective shared from any one of these sources from which
our living tradition is drawn:
· Direct
experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures,
which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which
create and uphold life;
· Words and
deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and
structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of
love;
·
Wisdom from
the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
·
Jewish and
Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our
neighbors as ourselves;
·
Humanist
teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of
science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit;
·
Spiritual
teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of
life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.
With all of the above said, the only
similarities that I can see is that whatever portion of the Unitarian Church is
liberal Christian focuses on principles of the New Testament such as "Love
your neighbor," and are really focusing on the Humanism side of the doctrine
that the Unitarians follow. Isn't that
just a common sense kind of thing? Don't
all churches teach you to love your neighbor no matter what tradition you
follow? Aren't we all humanistic in that
sense?
Besides all of that, the most disturbing
part is the Unitarian "Sunday School" for children. They have their classes about helping people,
living in a community, singing about nature, and art. They also have a Sunday School curriculum
called: Our Whole Lives which is a series of sexuality education
curriculum for six age groups grades Kindergarten through adult. That's all well and good, but two arguments
should be made against this: first, it's the parents’ responsibility to teach
anything about sex and second, which I also don't agree with but many people
will, children learn this in school. Why
over-step this topic that much more by imposing a liberal "spiritual"
twist on something that isn't any of their business. The curriculum teaches things like the names
of body parts, reproduction, friendships of all levels, how things feel good or
bad, sexual orientation, options for birth control, and options for when you
aren't ready to have children. This is a
"church," right? This topic is
not a discussion point to be had. Church
should only promote traditional marriage.
Outside of that, "Church" has over-stepped. Unitarians accept all beliefs such as Christianity, Buddhism, Atheism, Naturalism, Humanism and Islam. From my clear understanding, at least two of those traditions don't believe in several of the things that the above sexual education curriculum teaches.
There are no Bible verses about being a Unitarian. Unitarians argue that even Jesus denies His likeness to God. They just believe that Jesus was a lucky man with more gifts than others. However, the Bible is full of verses claiming the Trinity. Here are just a few:
Matthew 28:19 KJV
Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost
John 1:14 KJV
And the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Hebrews 1:3
ESV
He is the radiance
of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the
universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat
down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Without making any further argument into
why Unitarianism is a place for lost souls to head towards when they are either
jaded or feel that they are socially unaccepted, and that Christianity preaches
truth and life, I will go back to my beginning thoughts.
We have moved a few times over the past
14 plus years. I grew up Catholic until
I was ten years old and then became a Christian. I always believed that Christ was the savior
of the world and never questioned God's laws. The first place we lived as a married
couple was in the "Bible Belt" and had a difficult time finding a
church home. I attended a few different
churches but couldn't find a place we belonged. I
stuck to attendance on holidays at the church down the road and visited
friend's churches when invited. I wanted
to belong, but the Southern Baptist and Pentecostal Influences abounded. I was also afraid to venture too far from
home on my own in search of a church since my husband was often gone on
deployment.When we moved four years later, we found a church within a few months. It was Evangelical Free and had sound doctrine. We quickly became members and submerged ourselves into service. We made wonderful friends and will always call it our first church home as a family.
Three years later we moved again. The church we attended the very first Sunday we arrived became our church home immediately. We flourished in our faith. Our children "grew-up" there, at least for five years. We served in their Out Reach programs, had play dates, were apart of children's ministries, made lifelong friends, and very much miss everyone and everything about the church.
When we moved again, we struggled. I found a church that was recommended by a
college friend. She was a Pastor's
wife. After I checked it out a few times,
we decided to attend as a family and seemed to like it. Awhile later we saw how it was trying to work
its way towards "Mega-Churchdom" and stretched their unsound doctrine,
so we left.
We tried out my friend's church and
immediately kicked ourselves in the pants for ever attending the previous
church. We found home, again. The above church beliefs, pillars, and
mission are all examples from this church that we now call home for the time
being. Our children have grown and are
great examples of God Fearing human beings.
I serve in the ministry and the children volunteer when needed. We are growing and learning and loving life
by serving God.
Why would we ever attend a wishy-washy,
non- Gospel speaking church in order to feel like we belong? There is no sense of belonging when no one
speaks the same "language."
This person who suggested this doesn't agree with the choices of worship
that we have made. She felt it peculiar
that we have changed churches so frequently.
Well, we change churches every few years because we move around the
country. Church is a priority so we have
to find a new one. We only changed
churches inside of one duty station because of a huge over-step by the church
leaders in their beliefs.
I am a Christian. My husband and children are Christians. We believe in the Trinity: Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. God created man and Christ
died for our sins to give us eternal life.
All we have to do is accept this great gift in the belief of Jesus to be
in eternity with our Father. The Holy
Spirit is now here to guide us as we wait upon the return of the Son.
Joshua 24:15 NLT
But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will
serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or
will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me
and my family, we will serve the LORD."And I conclude with this: people trust in many things, but should not lean on their own understanding. They trust in the government, the laws, the church, and themselves. As for me,
Psalm 20:7
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of
the LORD our God.
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