Tag: #orthodoxy

Comparative Religions – Christianity 4

In a way, Unity is regarded a ‘protestant movement’ because it finds its roots partly in Christianity. Unity’s forefathers, the Fillmores, created the Unity Movement combining the theology of different Christian, Jewish, Arabic and Eastern traditions.

So I started a series on introducing different faiths and traditions to show you how Unity embraces them all in a way that it can provide a home for anyone regardless of beliefs, culture, religion, race, etc.

INTRODUCTION
These are many different approaches to the Oneness with God or the Divine Presence, don’t let words mislead you! Everyone is right! All faith and spiritual movements, religions included, were created by a group who were in search for God following the example of someone inspiring.

We must always remember that everyone is in search for God in their own way. It is because what we call God is an energy source that is pure Love and Compassion amongst many other wonderful qualities.

Everyone wants to be Loved unconditionally, however, that kind of Love only exists in the realm of the Spiritual. No human being can love another person unconditionally. It is because of our own personal limitations and karma (issues to learn or let go of). Our vision is blurred by these therefor we cannot see anyone in their purity of Spirit.

What we can do is to have compassion; compassion for self and others, knowing that regardless how it may look, we are all in search for our best selves and for God’s Living Loving Spark within.

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It is important to mention, that one of the most relevant element of Gnostic Christianity to Unity is that in philosophical thought, logos (“word”) was the principle of rationality that connected the highest god to the material world. In Unity, you will find that we place emphases on the words we use. We create positive affirmations and so-called denials to elevate  our consciousness.

Personally, among all Christian traditions, I feel the closest to Gnostic Christianity. I highlighted parts of the text below that felt meaningful to me.

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Antient Christianity – The Gnostics 

Gnostics: those who embody the highest ethical and spiritual values, such as temperance, diligence, humility, chastity, generosity, etc. and who can at will have personal experience with divinity.

Continue reading Comparative Religions – Christianity 4

Comparative Religions – Christianity 3

In a way, Unity is regarded a ‘protestant movement’ because it finds its roots partly in Christianity. Unity’s forefathers, the Fillmores, created the Unity Movement combining different the theology of different Christian and Eastern traditions. 

So I started  a series on introducing different faiths and traditions to show you how Unity embraces them all in a way that it can provide a home for anyone regardless of beliefs, culture, religion, race, etc.

 

I found this fascinating and rather thorough article on the Protestant Churches. I hope you find it revealing!

 

Christianity was born out of the teachings of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. More specifically, his disciples began to spread The Gospel, or ”good news,” of Jesus after Jesus was crucified and resurrected. After Christianity had spread for centuries, Christians began to disagree on certain minute theological beliefs. These disagreements spawned different denominations or branches of Christianity. Each denomination slightly differs from the next based on each one’s theological beliefs. Such disagreements include different beliefs on baptism, the means of salvation, and God’s sovereignty.

The Protestant Churches

Protestantism was born in response to what many saw as the rigid teachings and traditions of Roman Catholicism. The spark that began the Protestant flame was Martin Luther’s “95 Theses,” critiquing the legalism within the Roman Catholic Church. Martin Luther was a monk who had extensively studied the Bible and Christian tradition. In his view, Roman Catholicism was the antithesis of Christ’s teachings of salvation through grace alone because Roman Catholic church leaders were selling indulgences as absolution to sin. In addition, Luther believed that Roman Catholic leaders were abusing their power and that they had lost focus on the gospel of Christ. After Martin Luther tacked his “95 Theses” on the door of the Wittenberg Castle church, Catholicism would be permanently divided.

Source

Continue reading Comparative Religions – Christianity 3

UNITY and Christianity

I created this document as part of my Unity Ministerial training. I read Rev Roach’s book and made notes on my observations on how the 5 Principles of Unity is compared to the theology of the main stream Christian Churches. 

Notes

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31

This chapter seeks to understand Christianity and Jesus through the lens of Unity’s five principles. Rev Roach looks at how each Unity’s principle understands or differs from the traditional Christian perspective.

As part of Christian history, it was interesting to learn that only 4 of the original 45 gospels made it to the final version of the New Testament and by 325 A.C. Jesus was clamed to be fully God and fully human by the Council of Nicaea. After the Great Schism in 1045 which was mostly about the disagreement on the Holy Trinity, the Christian churches shattered into numerous divisions in 1517 when Marin Luther placed the 95 Thesis on the church door of Wittenberg. Part of this thesis was about the nature of Jesus.

Continue reading UNITY and Christianity

Comparative Religions – Christianity 2

INTRODUCTION

These are many different approaches to the Oneness with God or the Divine Presence, don’t let words mislead you! Everyone is right! All faith and spiritual movements, religions included, were created by a group who were in search for God following the example of someone inspiring.

We must always remember that everyone is in search for God in their own way. It is because what we call God is an energy source that is pure Love and Compassion amongst many other wonderful qualities.

Everyone wants to be Loved unconditionally, however, that kind of Love only exists in the realm of the Spiritual. No human being can love another person unconditionally. It is because of our own personal limitations and karma (issues to learn or let go of). Our vision is blurred by these therefor we cannot see anyone in their purity of Spirit.  

What we can do is to have compassion; compassion for self and others, knowing that regardless how it may look, we are all in search for our best selves and for God’s Living Loving Spark within.

Because the Unity Movement finds its roots in Christianity I decided to start investigating different aspects of Christianity and see how relevant they are to Unity today.

PREVIOUS ARTICLE in the series

We have just celebrated Orthodox Easter. I have been investigating the differences between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.I found this amazing article. I have copied out some of the article that I found interesting. You can read the entire article HERE (CLICK)

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ORTHODOX AND CATHOLIC CHURCHES

Continue reading Comparative Religions – Christianity 2

Comparative Religions – Christianity 1

These are many different approaches to the Oneness with God or the Divine Presence, don’t let words mislead you! Everyone is right! All faith and spiritual movements, religions included, were created by a group who were in search for God following the example of someone inspiring.

We must always remember that everyone is in search for God in their own way. It is because what we call God is an energy source that is pure Love and Compassion amongst many other wonderful qualities.

Everyone wants to be Loved unconditionally, however, that kind of Love only exists in the realm of the Spiritual. No human being can love another person unconditionally. It is because of our own personal limitations and karma (issues to learn or let go of). Our vision is blurred by these therefor we cannot see anyone in their purity of Spirit.  

What we can do is to have compassion; compassion for self and others, knowing that regardless how it may look, we are all in search for our best selves and for God’s Living Loving Spark within.

Because the Unity Movement finds its roots in Christianity I decided to start investigating different aspects of Christianity and see how relevant they are to Unity today.

Eastern Orthodox vs. Roman Catholic

Modernly, the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches remain separated with key doctrinal differences between them. The primary theological difference is that the Catholic Church believes the Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father to Jesus Christ the Son, and the Orthodox Church believes the Holy Spirit proceeds only from God the Father. The second major theological difference is that the Catholic Church believes the Pope has supreme authority over the Christian faith, while the modern Orthodox Church has no doctrinal authority. Aside from these key theological differences, modern religious practices and beliefs vary between the two churches. For example, the Orthodox Church allows for divorce, while the Catholic Church does not.

The primary organizational difference between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches is the question of Papal Primacy. The Catholic Church believes that the Pope is the bishop of Rome and heads the Catholic Church. Papal Primacy is a doctrinal belief concerning the respect and authority that all Catholics and members of the Catholic Church must afford the Pope due to the belief that he has primacy jurisdiction over the governance of the church.

source

 

Continue reading Comparative Religions – Christianity 1