| Wherever you are on life's journey, you are welcome here! |
| Riviera United Church of Christ |
| 451 Riviera Drive NE ● Palm Bay, Florida 32905 ● 321-723-3963 |
Christians don’t have to believe that
Christianity is the only valid path to God.
The Bible teaches that God respects other faiths. Indeed the
nature of God in Jesus includes holding dialogue with other
faiths and respecting and loving people of other religions or
paths to God. Jesus respected the non-Jewish Canaanite
woman’s faith (Mt 15:28). Jesus validated Judaism and the
commandments by declaring that “whoever does [the
commandments] and teaches them will be called great in the
kingdom of heaven.” A lawyer asked Jesus ‘‘what must I do to
inherit eternal life?’’ [and Jesus] said, ‘‘What is written in the
law? What do you read there?’’ [The lawyer] answered, ‘‘You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind;
and your neighbor as yourself.’’ And [Jesus] said to him, ‘‘You
have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’ To make
the point, two Jews, Jesus and the lawyer, both declare that a
good neighbor can be a non-Jewish Samaritan. This ties in
nicely with Jesus’ claim that anyone who feeds the hungry,
clothes the naked, tends to the sick or visits the imprisoned will
be in the Kingdom of God. In other words, Jesus respected non-
Christian paths to God, and we can too. Christians don’t
have to believe that Christianity is the only path to God.
Christians don’t have to believe that science
conflicts with religion.
Science seeks truth through reason and experience to
understand how creation works. Religion seeks truth through
reason and experience to understand our relationship with
creation and that which created it. Both are limited by human
understanding and experience. Both cannot explain it all. Both
begin with an aim toward truth and end in mystery and awe.
Reasoning that the universe began as a big bang of light and
cosmic dust does not have to conflict with reasoning that the
universe began with God’s Light and the creation of humans
from metaphoric dust. Scientists, thinking openly, have brought
us to a way of great wisdom, inventions and medicines. Jesus,
thinking openly, has brought us to a way of great wisdom, love
and morals. God, Messiah, morals, medicine, discovery and
methods of science need not be understood as mutually
exclusive. Christians don’t have to believe that science
conflicts with religion.
Christians don’t have to believe that
homosexuality is a sin.
Scripture need not be read to prohibit homosexuality. Jesus
made no mention of it, and it is not otherwise expressly
mentioned in the Bible except by putting modern words in
ancient texts (like you see in modern translations). If you want
proof, check out the older King James Version of the Bible. It
does not use the word, “homosexuality” at all! Moreover, even
passages in Leviticus, often interpreted to deal with
homosexuality in America, amount to old laws expressly
intended for application in ancient Israel. Christians do not
have to believe homosexuality is a sin.
Christians don’t have to believe that God is
male.
Many insist that we must believe God is male. Yet the Bible
itself suggests female images of God. Females are created in
God’s image. God first appears in the Bible as “ruah,” a female
word meaning “Spirit.” It is natural to think of a female image at
the birth of the world. There are other female images of God in
the Bible. In Isaiah 42:14 God “cries out like a woman in labor.”
Psalm 22:9 refers to God as a midwife; “it was you who took me
from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.” In
Hosea 13:8 God is a protective “like a bear robbed of her
cubs.” Jesus refers to God in a mother image noting wisdom
(another female word) “is vindicated by all her children” and
that God acts like a hen, protecting the children of God, pulling
her brood beneath her wings. If the Bible – and Jesus– imagine
God as other than male, then so can we. Christians can, but
do not have to, believe that God is male.
Christians don’t have believe that God is all
powerful.
This is sometimes the hardest thing for folks to allow others not
to believe. We want God to be able to override bad things in
life. We want to hope for instant resolution of catastrophic
troubles. But if God is love and all-powerful then shouldn’t God
swoop in and instantly resolve suffering, end calamity and
prevent things like genocide and war? If we had the power, we’
d do it with our little bit of love. We know that God does not
instantly fix bad things, so it’s fair to understand that either God
is not all powerful or God’s power is limited. God doesn’t snap
giant fingers to instantly stop evil and suffering. We know that
to be true. This is hard to accept for those of us brought up
thinking of God as wielding any power we humans can imagine.
Our experiences however suggest that it is reasonable to
understand that God does not coerce creation in any way and
that God cannot overrule our freedom or nature’s laws. While
God’s power is not coercive, we can understand God has the
persuasive power of Love which causes us to react and
respond. Responding as God’s instruments we can stop evils
like genocide, as we did in World War II, or with slavery in the
1860’s. We can stop some catastrophes too, like we did with
polio in the 1950’s. If we choose, we can stop hunger and
genocide and oppression today. Maybe we can even one day
stop AIDS, cancer, and many other forms of suffering. But, it is
God working through us that has that sort of power. It is not
God with the magic snap, but God with the magic of LOVE. This
is how God can be understood to work, so Christians don’t
have to believe God is all powerful.
Christians don’t have to believe that God sent
Jesus to earth to be tortured and put to death
as a sacrifice required by God.
At Riviera UCC, we tend to center theology around these three
words from 1 John: “God is Love.” Those words are in direct
conflict with the idea that God personally required human
sacrifice to redeem us from a sinful state, and that God
intentionally sent his only son Jesus to be sacrificed and
brutally killed. As puny mortals with a thimble full of love
compared to God’s oceans of love, we know that sacrificing
humans is not a mark of Love. If we are images of God, what
sort of image does a human sacrificing God make us? What
sort of God of Love could do that? Jesus certainly sacrificed his
life and God made the best of it — even resurrected him for us
to find our Way to Love, but you do not have to accept that
God planned and demanded Jesus’ death from the start to
fulfill some Divine need, some hallowed blood thirst for human
sacrifice. Christians don’t have to believe God sent Jesus
to earth to be tortured and put to death as a sacrifice
required by God.
Christianity is the only valid path to God.
The Bible teaches that God respects other faiths. Indeed the
nature of God in Jesus includes holding dialogue with other
faiths and respecting and loving people of other religions or
paths to God. Jesus respected the non-Jewish Canaanite
woman’s faith (Mt 15:28). Jesus validated Judaism and the
commandments by declaring that “whoever does [the
commandments] and teaches them will be called great in the
kingdom of heaven.” A lawyer asked Jesus ‘‘what must I do to
inherit eternal life?’’ [and Jesus] said, ‘‘What is written in the
law? What do you read there?’’ [The lawyer] answered, ‘‘You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind;
and your neighbor as yourself.’’ And [Jesus] said to him, ‘‘You
have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’ To make
the point, two Jews, Jesus and the lawyer, both declare that a
good neighbor can be a non-Jewish Samaritan. This ties in
nicely with Jesus’ claim that anyone who feeds the hungry,
clothes the naked, tends to the sick or visits the imprisoned will
be in the Kingdom of God. In other words, Jesus respected non-
Christian paths to God, and we can too. Christians don’t
have to believe that Christianity is the only path to God.
Christians don’t have to believe that science
conflicts with religion.
Science seeks truth through reason and experience to
understand how creation works. Religion seeks truth through
reason and experience to understand our relationship with
creation and that which created it. Both are limited by human
understanding and experience. Both cannot explain it all. Both
begin with an aim toward truth and end in mystery and awe.
Reasoning that the universe began as a big bang of light and
cosmic dust does not have to conflict with reasoning that the
universe began with God’s Light and the creation of humans
from metaphoric dust. Scientists, thinking openly, have brought
us to a way of great wisdom, inventions and medicines. Jesus,
thinking openly, has brought us to a way of great wisdom, love
and morals. God, Messiah, morals, medicine, discovery and
methods of science need not be understood as mutually
exclusive. Christians don’t have to believe that science
conflicts with religion.
Christians don’t have to believe that
homosexuality is a sin.
Scripture need not be read to prohibit homosexuality. Jesus
made no mention of it, and it is not otherwise expressly
mentioned in the Bible except by putting modern words in
ancient texts (like you see in modern translations). If you want
proof, check out the older King James Version of the Bible. It
does not use the word, “homosexuality” at all! Moreover, even
passages in Leviticus, often interpreted to deal with
homosexuality in America, amount to old laws expressly
intended for application in ancient Israel. Christians do not
have to believe homosexuality is a sin.
Christians don’t have to believe that God is
male.
Many insist that we must believe God is male. Yet the Bible
itself suggests female images of God. Females are created in
God’s image. God first appears in the Bible as “ruah,” a female
word meaning “Spirit.” It is natural to think of a female image at
the birth of the world. There are other female images of God in
the Bible. In Isaiah 42:14 God “cries out like a woman in labor.”
Psalm 22:9 refers to God as a midwife; “it was you who took me
from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.” In
Hosea 13:8 God is a protective “like a bear robbed of her
cubs.” Jesus refers to God in a mother image noting wisdom
(another female word) “is vindicated by all her children” and
that God acts like a hen, protecting the children of God, pulling
her brood beneath her wings. If the Bible – and Jesus– imagine
God as other than male, then so can we. Christians can, but
do not have to, believe that God is male.
Christians don’t have believe that God is all
powerful.
This is sometimes the hardest thing for folks to allow others not
to believe. We want God to be able to override bad things in
life. We want to hope for instant resolution of catastrophic
troubles. But if God is love and all-powerful then shouldn’t God
swoop in and instantly resolve suffering, end calamity and
prevent things like genocide and war? If we had the power, we’
d do it with our little bit of love. We know that God does not
instantly fix bad things, so it’s fair to understand that either God
is not all powerful or God’s power is limited. God doesn’t snap
giant fingers to instantly stop evil and suffering. We know that
to be true. This is hard to accept for those of us brought up
thinking of God as wielding any power we humans can imagine.
Our experiences however suggest that it is reasonable to
understand that God does not coerce creation in any way and
that God cannot overrule our freedom or nature’s laws. While
God’s power is not coercive, we can understand God has the
persuasive power of Love which causes us to react and
respond. Responding as God’s instruments we can stop evils
like genocide, as we did in World War II, or with slavery in the
1860’s. We can stop some catastrophes too, like we did with
polio in the 1950’s. If we choose, we can stop hunger and
genocide and oppression today. Maybe we can even one day
stop AIDS, cancer, and many other forms of suffering. But, it is
God working through us that has that sort of power. It is not
God with the magic snap, but God with the magic of LOVE. This
is how God can be understood to work, so Christians don’t
have to believe God is all powerful.
Christians don’t have to believe that God sent
Jesus to earth to be tortured and put to death
as a sacrifice required by God.
At Riviera UCC, we tend to center theology around these three
words from 1 John: “God is Love.” Those words are in direct
conflict with the idea that God personally required human
sacrifice to redeem us from a sinful state, and that God
intentionally sent his only son Jesus to be sacrificed and
brutally killed. As puny mortals with a thimble full of love
compared to God’s oceans of love, we know that sacrificing
humans is not a mark of Love. If we are images of God, what
sort of image does a human sacrificing God make us? What
sort of God of Love could do that? Jesus certainly sacrificed his
life and God made the best of it — even resurrected him for us
to find our Way to Love, but you do not have to accept that
God planned and demanded Jesus’ death from the start to
fulfill some Divine need, some hallowed blood thirst for human
sacrifice. Christians don’t have to believe God sent Jesus
to earth to be tortured and put to death as a sacrifice
required by God.
Christians don’t have to believe that
Jesus was not fully human.
Lots of people seem to think of Jesus as a sort of
Superman in a robe and sandals fighting oppression
and healing people with super powers, but the gospel
stories do not mesh with that super human notion.
Jesus lived, slept, breathed, drank, ate, got hungry,
got angry, bled and died. In the synoptic Gospels,
Jesus never calls himself “Son of God” and it is
doubtful he ever called himself “Messiah.” You can
believe that the Jesus of history was super-natural.
However, it is also okay to believe that the Jesus of
history was not supernatural, but rather an amazing
human who found a Way to God that is within us all;
that he let God shine in all he did; and that he taught
us the Way to do it too. Boiled down, Jesus’ Way is not
about this belief or that, it’s about Love. It’s about
feeding the poor, clothing the naked, visiting the
imprisoned. It’s about getting our God spark stoked
and glowing to the point where our body burns brightly
as the voice and ears and the hands and feet of God.
We are to be the instrument of God doing love-
oriented things in the world; seeking justice, and
loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. Jesus
as a human showed us that God could be incarnate
not in a super man, but in a just, kind humble human.
Christians do not have to believe that Jesus was
not fully human.
Christians don’t have to believe that
Jesus was born of a virgin.
There are, of course, many Christians who believe the
story of the virgin birth as historic truth. A number of
us hold this belief, and it is dear to us. There can be
much meaning in trusting that Jesus was conceived
and born of a virgin. There is, though, no requirement
that to be a Christian you must believe it literally
happened. The Bible does not list this as a
requirement. Jesus does not mention it as a
requirement and neither does Paul. Indeed, the Bible
makes it clear that Christ is a gift from God, and there
are no requirements to receive that gift. In short, there
is no mandate that we must believe Jesus had no
earthly father. This does not mean the story of the
virgin conception has no meaning to those unable to
believe it happened. After all, why is a virgin birth
necessary to Jesus’ life, death and resurrection? What
cosmic truth could there possibly be in that event? A
miracle birth? All birth’s are miracles. And Jesus’ birth
is not the only virgin birth story in history. Alexander,
Plato, Augustus and Buddha all have virgin birth
stories connected to them. But even still in the age of
reason, we can hear the story of Mary’s virgin
conception of God as wondrously full of symbolic
meaning. Meaning, not historic accuracy, is the point
one way or the other. For example, Gabriel tells Mary
she will “conceive” Jesus. “Conceive" can mean to
become pregnant, but it can also mean to apprehend
or to have a conception of something. So, Mary’s story
can speak truth to all conceptions of God. Isn’t every
single person’s ultimate conception of God between
only them and God? And don’t we all bear the spark
of God within us that needs to be birthed? The virgin
birth story has a lot of meaning, but need not be
considered history. Christians can, but do not have
to, believe Jesus was literally born of a virgin.
Christians don’t have to believe that
The Bible is the inerrant word of God
that must be read literally.
The Bible does not claim we have to believe such
things. Not even all churches claim it. In fact, Jesus
challenged Scripture. He touched lepers, women and
the unclean. He worked on the Sabbath. He forgave
sinners. In doing so, he did justice, loved kindness
and walked humbly with God. If we can get the same
results by challenging Scripture, noting the fallibility of
its authors, translators, cultures and ideas, then we
should do so. Or, if by reading scripture
metaphorically, instead of literally, we can discover
truth, then we should do that as well. Christians
don't have to believe that the Bible is the
inerrant word of God that must be read literally.
Jesus was not fully human.
Lots of people seem to think of Jesus as a sort of
Superman in a robe and sandals fighting oppression
and healing people with super powers, but the gospel
stories do not mesh with that super human notion.
Jesus lived, slept, breathed, drank, ate, got hungry,
got angry, bled and died. In the synoptic Gospels,
Jesus never calls himself “Son of God” and it is
doubtful he ever called himself “Messiah.” You can
believe that the Jesus of history was super-natural.
However, it is also okay to believe that the Jesus of
history was not supernatural, but rather an amazing
human who found a Way to God that is within us all;
that he let God shine in all he did; and that he taught
us the Way to do it too. Boiled down, Jesus’ Way is not
about this belief or that, it’s about Love. It’s about
feeding the poor, clothing the naked, visiting the
imprisoned. It’s about getting our God spark stoked
and glowing to the point where our body burns brightly
as the voice and ears and the hands and feet of God.
We are to be the instrument of God doing love-
oriented things in the world; seeking justice, and
loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. Jesus
as a human showed us that God could be incarnate
not in a super man, but in a just, kind humble human.
Christians do not have to believe that Jesus was
not fully human.
Christians don’t have to believe that
Jesus was born of a virgin.
There are, of course, many Christians who believe the
story of the virgin birth as historic truth. A number of
us hold this belief, and it is dear to us. There can be
much meaning in trusting that Jesus was conceived
and born of a virgin. There is, though, no requirement
that to be a Christian you must believe it literally
happened. The Bible does not list this as a
requirement. Jesus does not mention it as a
requirement and neither does Paul. Indeed, the Bible
makes it clear that Christ is a gift from God, and there
are no requirements to receive that gift. In short, there
is no mandate that we must believe Jesus had no
earthly father. This does not mean the story of the
virgin conception has no meaning to those unable to
believe it happened. After all, why is a virgin birth
necessary to Jesus’ life, death and resurrection? What
cosmic truth could there possibly be in that event? A
miracle birth? All birth’s are miracles. And Jesus’ birth
is not the only virgin birth story in history. Alexander,
Plato, Augustus and Buddha all have virgin birth
stories connected to them. But even still in the age of
reason, we can hear the story of Mary’s virgin
conception of God as wondrously full of symbolic
meaning. Meaning, not historic accuracy, is the point
one way or the other. For example, Gabriel tells Mary
she will “conceive” Jesus. “Conceive" can mean to
become pregnant, but it can also mean to apprehend
or to have a conception of something. So, Mary’s story
can speak truth to all conceptions of God. Isn’t every
single person’s ultimate conception of God between
only them and God? And don’t we all bear the spark
of God within us that needs to be birthed? The virgin
birth story has a lot of meaning, but need not be
considered history. Christians can, but do not have
to, believe Jesus was literally born of a virgin.
Christians don’t have to believe that
The Bible is the inerrant word of God
that must be read literally.
The Bible does not claim we have to believe such
things. Not even all churches claim it. In fact, Jesus
challenged Scripture. He touched lepers, women and
the unclean. He worked on the Sabbath. He forgave
sinners. In doing so, he did justice, loved kindness
and walked humbly with God. If we can get the same
results by challenging Scripture, noting the fallibility of
its authors, translators, cultures and ideas, then we
should do so. Or, if by reading scripture
metaphorically, instead of literally, we can discover
truth, then we should do that as well. Christians
don't have to believe that the Bible is the
inerrant word of God that must be read literally.
Christians don’t have to believe that
questioning Church traditions is a sin.
That’s right. In Micah 6:6-8 we are told that all – ALL –
God requires of us is “to do justice, and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with [our] God.” This is what the Lord
requires. The rest of religion needs to help us do this.
Church traditions can be very helpful in tying us into the
past, linking us with Christians through the ages. Of
course the point of such traditions is to help us better
experience the Sacred, leading us to do justice, love
kindness and walk humbly with God. For instance, there
are differences about how churches give Communion
indicating that there are questions about it. For most
Christians, Communion helps connect them with one
another and with God, in the end helping us to do justice,
love kindness and walk humbly with God. It’s an effective
tradition, a very Sacred tradition, but we can question it
and questioning it does not make us un-Christian. For
many of us, Communion is a wonderful ritual proven over
the years to work. There are, however, traditions that
might not work for us. We ought to be able to question
them too. For example, the Church has a tradition of
keeping women from leadership and ordination despite
the fact Jesus brought women into his movement as
equals and as leaders. The tradition of holding women
back continues today in many denominations and women
face difficulties even in churches where they do lead. It’s
not just women that Church tradition has oppressed.
Church traditions have oppressed Jews and Muslims,
promoted slavery and racism, discriminated against non-
heterosexuals, even burned witches and heretics. Such
awful traditions need questioning. How loving-of-neighbor
can such traditions be? Where is the justice and the
kindness and the humble walk with God in these
practices? Jesus questioned traditions and modeled for us
faith that is unafraid to challenge the status quo whenever
it oppressed anyone. Lepers. Women. Strangers. Hungry.
Poor. Imprisoned. Those of other faiths. Christ loved them
unconditionally– and still does! Bottom-line: Christians
don’t have to believe that questioning Church traditions is
a sin. And thank goodness, because the other nine things
on this list do just that!
Copyright © Scott Elliott 2009 - All Rights Reserved
