Have you ever wondered what Christian’s believe in their
deepest recess’ about God, Jesus, the Universe, and the applicability of the
Christian religion to today’s complex issues? Do Christians have something
solid to live by and to give them encouragement, a reason to wake up every
morning and smell the roses? Have we somehow lost the connection of the
Christian religion to its true message and work-ability to help us through some
of these complex issues, or is the religion itself flawed in some way that
prevents it from giving us hope in a sea of discouragement and pessimism? The
Unity movement is called “Practical Christianity”. How can it be practical when
its numbers are diminishing and there seems to be such little continuity from
church to church and minister to minister?
Practical Christianity means I can use this Christian belief system to
help me in my day to day walk. It means I don’t have to search outside my belief system for answers to life’s dilemmas, and the answers are right in
front of me, in our theology. Practical means “usable, taught from experience,
inclined to action rather than theory”; and in that sense, is the Unity
Movement practical? It would seem that perhaps other denominations are more
practical, and that we are more “theoretical”. But back to my first question, “what
do today's Christians really believe about their religion?” I think the
certitude which we discussed in class is constructed around the idea that Jesus
died for your sins and you don’t have to worry about much, except accepting Him
as your Lord and Savior. This idea is not unlike the Hindu relationship of
devotee to Guru. In all situations, questions, and complexities of life, FOLLOW
YOUR GURU’S TEACHINGS. You don’t have to think for yourself, just follow the
lead of your Guru. Now, doesn't that make life a little simpler? Try and find a
flaw in it theologically. Your Guru, in the case of Christians, Jesus, has
experienced your same difficulties, your same problems, your same circumstances
in life. In fact, He existed to show you the Way to Freedom. The truth is, I
believe, we all need some power beyond our selves to lean on, to rely on, to
cry to, to shout to, to play with, to love and to follow, yes, to follow. The
Jesus of today might say something like, “follow me and I will show you the way
to the God of your own understanding, the One Presence and One Power in the
Universe. I am not that Power; however, I can show you how to discover it within
yourself.” Now that is something I can rely on, that is indeed Practical
Christianity.
John, great post and insight on how we approach life from what we believe as Practical Christians!
ReplyDeleteI suspect most Gurus are actually more flexible than you describe. The "wise teacher" is a cultural artifact in many lands, across many centuries. Some Christian thinkers would say Jesus is not a wise teacher, even though he taught wisdom, because the primary requirement in being a Christian is not attaining wisdom but establishing a relationship between an individual and Jesus Christ. Unity has wrestled with this since the early days. Are we followers of Jesus becaue we admire his teachings, or because he is the supreme example of the Christ, perfect God-man, second person in the Mind-Idea-Expression of the economic Trinity espoused by Chrales Fillmore?
ReplyDeleteWe'll spend more time with these ideas during our study of the triune God-concept of Christianity later in the course.
The difference between what I thought before Unity and what I think now regarding the primary requirement in being a Christian is that before it was very much about establishing a relationship with Jesus Christ (a.k.a. being born again). Salvation was a gift, but we had to accept it or else. Now, it is just awakening to what is and always has been, the truth of what we truly are. For me the difference between accepting a gift and waking up to the fact that we already have it, isn't a big difference, but my former fundamentalist associates would say that Jesus is the only Christ and I am a heretic because I believe that the Christ is the truth of who we all are. However for me there is an even more important part to being a Christian and that is the necessity of being in relationship with others, which to me is the core of Jesus' teaching----to love one another. And that is impossible without being in relationship with others. God as God does not need our love, worship, praise or anything else, but God as our neighbor needs much----compassion, love, comfort, a listening ear, not to mention very basic things such as food, shelter and clothing. I like to say that as a Christian this is the most important thing for me, but then I look at Jesus' parable of judgment and the separation of the sheep and goats found in Matthew 25:31-45 and I honestly have to ask my self what am I truly doing for my neighbor and I feel like one of the goats.
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