Ask a Unitarian Universalist

  • Thread starter Thread starter NowHereThis
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Interesting. So the Reverend Fred Phelps, who espouses vile and despicable beliefs, need not renounce his current beliefs in order to join the UU.

Curious.
I doubt he can join. But participating in UU activities without trying to impose his views on his hosts appears OK. I think the idea is to learn from others. If there is anything admirable about what Phelps is saying, my guess is that UU is willing to listen.
 
I doubt he can join. But participating in UU activities without trying to impose his views on his hosts appears OK. I think the idea is to learn from others. If there is anything admirable about what Phelps is saying, my guess is that UU is willing to listen.
But whether or not what Phelps is saying is “admirable” is subjective. Shirley Phelps-Roper might find his preaching quite admirable, while others may disagree. Therefore, it appears UU congregants are only interested in learning from those with whom they agree (or whose words they find “admirable”).
 
How do you go from visit to join?
Is there a substantive difference, from a UU perspective? If one visits a UU “church”, is that person not also joining other UUs in their pursuit of “truth”?
 
Interesting. So the Reverend Fred Phelps, who espouses vile and despicable beliefs, need not renounce his current beliefs in order to join the UU.

Curious.
But the Church is a place for sinners is it not? I don’t think that Mr. Phelps would get very far with some of his more controversial views in a UU congregration and he would begin to feel uncomfortable as people expressed their disagreement with him.
 
Actually, the “Universalist” component of Unitarian Universalism came from a separate, Christian offshoot that later merged with the Unitarian church to form the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association).

This “universal” relates to the idea of universal salvation, from a questioning of the Christian notion of an eternal hell.

Is there a “Universal” truth…? In Catholic doctrine, I believe that truth regarding the creation hasn’t been completely revealed. That is, one Catholic can believe in a literal seven-day creation, and one Catholic can read Genesis symbolically, correct? So, from one truth, there are two perspectives that are acceptable to people in your faith. Similarly, we acknowledge other faiths, and the varied ways that they have experienced God.
Personally, I like the phrase “One light, many windows”.
But what about thing’s that totally matter. Do you not agree. Like Sin. Like not knowing about creation is one thing. Its not a sin to believe one thing over another, what I am saying thats not going to send one to hell.

But abortion. Can killing a inocent baby send ones soul to hell? And not repenting and regretting that mistake.

The real problem here is accepting sin and rejecting sin.

The Commadment of God is quite clear. Thy shall not kill.

It never said one can kill if the baby is one day in the womb. Christ was quite clear on killing an inocent child for no reason.

Now if the Mother is in danger or the child cannot make it in the womb or is somehow out of the womb, its a different story. And like self defense there are different reasons/

Like Pope John Paull said its not sin today as much as rejection of sin.

When people can go out of their way to make excuses to kill an inocent baby something is wrong.

Like saying I cant give up my job. etc… You are putting self not only before God you are putting self between your own flesh and blood.

Trust me it will come back to haunt you as long as you live.
 
This is why liberal interpretations of the bible are wrong, every different contradictory interpretation is not as valid as the other, when these things were written, only one interpretation was intended. So in other words, UU encourages people to twist the word of God in order to suit their own whim and fancy?

How many times do you come accross people on these forums who say things like “That’s not what I said” or “that’s not what I meant” or “your misinterpreting what I said” ?
Since the Bible is a collection of writings by people with different perspectives, it is natural to have inconsistencies. Why is killing people OK for Joshua but it is not OK in the NT? Why did the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah deserve to be slaughtered rather than be given an opportunity to repent?

The Bible is difficult in the original Hebrew and Greek. Then translation into Latin and then into English (as the Douay-Rheims Bible does) introduces inaccuracies. In certain portions of the Bible, translation of the Septuagint (Hebrew to Greek) into Latin gave rise to more inaccuracies. This final Vulgate Bible was the official version used by the Catholic Church.

The Eastern Orthodox faiths have adopted the Septuagint version. So, will the real Bible stand up?

Because of these step by step translations, the King James Version (from Hebrew & Greek directly into English) is often regarded as the most accurate version among English speaking churches. Many puzzling statements occur there that still have people confused. Individual interpretations have resulted in differences of beliefs. Thus Truth still eludes us.

How about the translations into Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Polish, Arabic. My guess is there are different Bibles for each of these languages.

Why are there four Gospels instead of only one? It seems to me that the Word of God would justify only one Gospel.
 
Is there a substantive difference, from a UU perspective? If one visits a UU “church”, is that person not also joining other UUs in their pursuit of “truth”?
I visited a UU last weekend to see what it was about. I did not join their congregation.

I also visited a Mass, in the parish where my new house is, no less, and a daily minyan at a synagogue. Have I joined all three groups without knowing?

This is from a use of the English language perspective. I am not UU, so I cannot answer from that perspective.
 
I visited a UU last weekend to see what it was about. I did not join their congregation.

Again, from a UU perspective, what is the difference between joining and visiting? It was my understanding that one does not need to formally join a UU church in order to participate.
 
Again, from a UU perspective, what is the difference between joining and visiting? It was my understanding that one does not need to formally join a UU church in order to participate.
Nor does one need to convert to participate in Catholic Mass, except for Eucharist.
 
But the Church is a place for sinners is it not?
Yes. And we must conform our views to God.

Not find a church that conforms to our own views, esp in light of the fact that we are sinners and have a tendency to be attracted to views that are tarnished.
I don’t think that Mr. Phelps would get very far with some of his more controversial views in a UU congregration and he would begin to feel uncomfortable as people expressed their disagreement with him.
That’s exactly my point.

Why are UUs allowed to draw a line in the sand and say: we will not tolerate these types of viewpoints!

yet seem to object to the Catholic Church doing the same.
 
Since the Bible is a collection of writings by people with different perspectives, it is natural to have inconsistencies. Why is killing people OK for Joshua but it is not OK in the NT? Why did the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah deserve to be slaughtered rather than be given an opportunity to repent?
For the same reason that a parent might swat a toddler’s behind when he runs into the street, but wouldn’t do that to a teenager who may have placed himself in danger in a different situation.
 
Why are there four Gospels instead of only one? It seems to me that the Word of God would justify only one Gospel.
Because the Church discerned that these texts were the inspired Word of God, but that the other gospels were not.

I think your question ought to be: why are there only 4 Gospels instead of 400? There were over 400 different Christian texts that the Catholic Church discerned to be apocryphya, and you only know that 4 of them are Gospel because you defer to the authority of the CC.
 
I visited a UU last weekend to see what it was about. I did not join their congregation.

I also visited a Mass, in the parish where my new house is, no less, and a daily minyan at a synagogue. Have I joined all three groups without knowing?

This is from a use of the English language perspective. I am not UU, so I cannot answer from that perspective.
The question was whether someone with what Catholics consider to be a vile and despicable viewpoint would be allowed to preach at a UU church.

I am, of course, quite sure that he would not be permitted.

And I want to know what paradigm is used to exclude certain viewpoints, while being “tolerant” to all sorts of other viewpoints.
 
And I want to know what paradigm is used to exclude certain viewpoints, while being “tolerant” to all sorts of other viewpoints.
It’s just a guess on my part, but perhaps it is the paradigm of common sense.
The following viewpoints might be excluded: Viewpoints that discourage a world of mutual care and concern or that discourage hope in attaining peace, justice, humanity, or those aimed at increasing suffering of others.
On the other hand, generally UU would be expected to encourage the fullest possible development of each individual so that he or she would be able to enjoy the joy and beauty of life and contribute cooperatively to a peaceful and non-violent society which enriches the lives of others and reduces suffering while protecting our precious environment.
 
It’s just a guess on my part, but perhaps it is the paradigm of common sense.
I don’t understand.

Who gets to decide what is a permissible point of view?

And does it not seem inconsistent to you that the UU church espouses tolerance, yet is also being intolerant to certain viewpoints?
 
Interesting. So the Reverend Fred Phelps, who espouses vile and despicable beliefs, need not renounce his current beliefs in order to join the UU.

Curious.
Whoa, I missed something. When did Fred Phelps enter this conversation…?

In five-ish years at my congregation, I don’t think I can recall our pastor discussing abortion at the pulpit. A few times, obliquely, in anecdotes illustrating other points, I think. Just sayin’.

I really don’t see how this is that difficult to get. The guideposts on our side of our road are farther apart than the ones on your road. Doesn’t mean they don’t exist. We can ponder whether the trinity is a valid concept… whether God exists at all… does he have a plan for us? And without prefacing all of them with “heresy” before the discussion gets going.

And where do the standards begin? The seven principles. Posted on page 1.
 
Whoa, I missed something. When did Fred Phelps enter this conversation…?

In five-ish years at my congregation, I don’t think I can recall our pastor discussing abortion at the pulpit. A few times, obliquely, in anecdotes illustrating other points, I think. Just sayin’.

I really don’t see how this is that difficult to get. The guideposts on our side of our road are farther apart than the ones on your road. Doesn’t mean they don’t exist. We can ponder whether the trinity is a valid concept… whether God exists at all… does he have a plan for us? And without prefacing all of them with “heresy” before the discussion gets going.

And where do the standards begin? The seven principles. Posted on page 1.
Fair enough.

I am heartened to hear that you do indeed have borders or barriers–those points of view to which you say, “This is not consonant with Truth and therefore ought not be espoused.”
 
Fair enough.

I am heartened to hear that you do indeed have borders or barriers–those points of view to which you say, “This is not consonant with Truth and therefore ought not be espoused.”
And I hope that UUs never object to the Catholic Church having borders or barriers as well.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top