News spread fast about the shooting that occurred yesterday, July 27, 2008, at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church (TVUUC) in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is tragic to see one more example of random violence claim the lives of unsuspecting individuals. To get more understanding about this particular church, and what they teach, I checked out the beliefs section of the TVUUC website. Unfortunately, I was dismayed when I read the following from this page:
WE BELIEVE in the freedom of religious expression. All individuals should be encouraged to develop their own personal theologies, and to present openly their religious opinions without fear of censure or reprisal.
WE BELIEVE in the authority of reason and conscience. The ultimate arbiter in religion is not a church, nor a document, nor an official, but the personal choice and decision of the individual.
WE BELIEVE in the unity of experience. There is no fundamental conflict between faith and knowledge, religion and the world, the sacred and the secular, since they all have their source in the same reality.
When I read that they believe in people developing their own personal theologies, that the absolute power to decide truth is left to the individual and that all of this originates from the same source, the only conclusion is that they don't believe in anything which means they accept everything. Ultimately, this theology will lead to chaos because truth is decided by personal experience. Before long one belief will collide with another and either one person will have to yield to the others belief or conflict arises. You have to have a standard of truth, in which to determine who is right, or else there is none. While everybody's experience may be true, it doesn't determine truth. And all you're left with is a never ending search for answers you will never find.
"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth." Genesis 11: 1-8
At one time on earth everybody spoke the same language, according to Genesis 11. In this particular example, all the people got together in an attempt to build a tower that would reach the heavens. Because of their common language and shared beliefs they were able to decide on a common goal and begin to work towards it. God, realizing that they were trying to build this tower to reach up to Him, confused their language. The result being no unity, no communication, no tower and people scattering over the entire planet. From this beginning you eventually have people who, based on their experiences, began to create their own personal theologies in which to guide their lives by. They created their own standard of truth regardless of whether it was true or not. Have you ever walked into a room full of strangers? When you do, you find yourself drawn to people you think share your values or experiences. As an African-American, I have found myself searching out the blacks in the room, because we have at least one thing in common; our race. People from all walks of life, regardless of race, religion, color or creed tend to gravitate towards that which is most familiar to them. The problem with this is that it prevents the unity everybody strives for because we don't all have the same experiences. This is why the beliefs of the TVUUC cannot lead to unity. Everybody has different experiences, therefore, everybody has their own truth.
"Every man's way is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts." Proverbs 21:2
When everybody does what is right in his own eyes they are actually saying that they are their own god. The only person they are accountable to is themselves. In this way nobody has any accountability for what they do or what they believe. Pretty convenient. You can't have unity when everybody can decide for themselves what is right, what is wrong and what is true. By nature they won't submit to another's "truth" if it means giving up their own. Ever wonder why their are so many religions? At the root of them all is man's effort to reach up to God by their own merits or create a god of their own who allows the individual to decide what is truth. Eventually, you have a person or persons who disagree with one set of agreed upon truths and then establish their own faith based on a new set of truths. This has been repeated over and over for thousands of years with no end in sight. Most of these belief systems will call for unity, but only if everybody agrees with what they believe. This won't happen.
"Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. " Ephesians 4: 11-18
The only way to have unity is through faith in Christ Jesus. While we all may have different experiences which lead to us creating our own separate truths, there is one thing that all of us have in common. We all are born into this world spiritually dead in sin, without the life of God indwelling us, and separated from God. Because we all are descendants of the first man Adam, we have inherited his spiritual death through the sin that entered the world. That is one inescapable truth that effects us all whether we know it or not, whether we acknowledge it or no, whether we like it or not. But God, who desired to unite all of us, made it possible by sending Jesus Christ to bridge the gap between mankind and God. The salvation offered by Jesus Christ is the restoration of the life of God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. While all our experiences may be unique to us, they are not the standard by which we determine truth. Once a person comes to Christ, their experiences become their testimony of how they found Christ. And in turn, they use that testimony to reach others, with similar experiences, with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Truth isn't ours to determine, but rather it is the prerogative of God to tell us what truth is. And, in Christ, we can take to heart the words of the Apostle Paul when he said...
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3: 26-29)
Amen!
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