I have been considering the Unitarian Church lately, which I find ironic since my father has been a life long member and I was always inwardly against such a belief system. I miss the community of church, just not the theology and doctrine of my former faith. Unitarian churches are made up of atheists, agnostics, Christians and many other philosophical and spiritual people. They are often an educated bunch, as far as I am able to determine, and they are very inclusive and non-judgmental. In the old days, when I was an Evangelical Christian, I would have looked down my nose at Unitarians. I’d have said, or thought, that Unitarians are blinded by sin and they are attempting to escape accountability for their unchristian behaviors and beliefs. Unfortunately, I viewed their beliefs as watered down facsimiles of the real truth.
I used to look at everything from the perspective of my Evangelical belief system. I judged everything from that perspective and my thinking, feelings and actions were influenced by that perspective. I was right because I had the real truth and everyone else was either wrong, or deluded by sin. After all, the Bible is very clear that unsaved people are darkened in their understanding of the gospel by Satan. "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God." (2 Corinthians 4:3-4 RSV).
There is a kind of personal high or sense of control that comes from thinking you know something the rest of the world doesn't. It can lead to pride and color your attitude toward beliefs different than yours. Even though you try and push pride away, repent of it and vow never to do it again, it has a way of coming back when your belief system is exclusionary and insists on its righteousness. It influences how you look at things, people, even facts. Thinking back, I realize now that my perspective influenced my interpretation of facts and data. I allowed some information in and rejected information that was contrary to my religious beliefs. Sometimes I even found ways to make seemingly contrary information fit into my religious world view. In the Evangelical Christian world there is a similar form of self-delusional thinking used to describe how some Christians try and make something fit into Christianity that isn’t considered standard conservative Theology, we called it theological gymnastics.
I used to say, all truth is God's truth, so I believed I had and open mind toward beliefs other than mine. I just thought other faiths were mislead and used by Satan to blind people from the truth. I used to say that other religious beliefs had just enough truth to pull you in, but lacked the real truth about Jesus Christ and the need for redemption. I felt sorry for them and would take every opportunity to share the good news about Jesus. Every conversation was an opportunity to guide them to Christ and God's truth. I didn't just make friends with unbelievers for friendships sake. I carefully manipulated them toward Christ. Of course I would never in a million years think that my "soul winning" was manipulative or dishonest. I was trying to save them from Hell and more importantly, open their world up to the amazing love of God.
As an Evangelical I'd have explained someone's denouncement of our faith as a result of un-confessed and unresolved sin. I'd have interpreted their actions as a result either pride or hurt resulting in anger and un-forgiveness believing the person to be blinded by their sin. I’d have thought them unable to be rational about their actions and current false beliefs until they confessed and repented from their sin. Of course I'd have tried to help them uncover the pride, or hurt believing my motivation pure and loving. If they didn’t repent, I’d have either stayed friendly, but at a distance, or written them off until God chastised them, or Satan had his way with them as Paul the apostle instructed the church to do with wayward Christians. Even if I did stop to consider that I could be wrong in my estimate of their motivations, which I often was willing to reconsider, I’d have felt secure in my core theological beliefs. Doubting the reality of the Christian god and Jesus Christ was never an option for me.
Judgment comes in all shapes in sized as I've discovered. It tends to follow certain lines of thinking and even though one may believe and feel they are right to believe as they do, they are actually disparaging toward others. Which appeals to you more, the person who believes in certainty and refuses to question their core beliefs, or the person who is open to being wrong about their beliefs?
As a former Evangelical Christian and Theist, I was willing to talk, but inwardly I didn't believe you could really understand and know the truth unless you had Jesus in your heart, so to speak. If you were a back sliding Christian, for lack of a better term, you had to acknowledge your inner hurt and sinful pride first and then repent to be able to see the truth of the matter.
I guess one could say I've seen the light, I’ve seen the unethical behavior in my former actions toward both non-evangelical believers and unbelievers and I've repented, or changed my mind and behavior for the better. I've also grown more open minded and accepting of views that don't promise certainty, ultimate truth or demand uniformity and solidarity in belief. You could rightly say that I've become a liberal, someone who is generous in thought and behavior, tolerant of difference and not restricted or literalistic. I'd like to think I'm in a better place in life, one that is less judgmental, less unethical, and less obtuse and one that is more honest, ethical and open minded. I no longer feel the need to be certain of my beliefs; meaning, I no longer need to believe I am right and that there aren't alternatives that are more thoughtful and reasonable then mine. I also don't feel the need to make friends to please anyone or anything, win points toward that mansion in the sky, or earn crowns to place at the feet of Jesus.
If I befriend someone, I do it for more earthy reasons, or simply because I like you. I’ve discovered that my loyalty to my friendships need not be based on a mutual belief system, instead it needs to be based on mutual respect, an openness to consider new ideas and a healthy dose of contact and communication.
Love,
Bill
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