Posts belonging to Category Defining Religious Langauge
Posted by Rev. David on May 3, 2008
Some words have so many meanings that they become near incomprehensible, and almost unusable. When I use the generic word “meditation”, I usually mean Zazen meditation, or sitting on a cushion and following my breath. But “meditation” means about a thousand different things, from concentration on a passage of scripture to leaving the body behind [...]
Categories: Defining Religious Langauge, God, Principles and Purposes, Spiritual Practice
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Tags: Defining God, faith, God, practice, Zazen, Zen
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Posted by Rev. David on April 25, 2008
Social Action, Social Justice, and Social Witness… forms of Social Engagement These three phrases are used interchangeably by many in Liberal Faith, but to me they are very distinct kinds of engagement with the social problems of the world. Social Action is the effort to address the direct needs of people. Examples of social action [...]
Categories: Defining Religious Langauge, Prophetic Voice, Social Engagement
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Posted by Rev. David on April 11, 2008
I am a Unitarian Universalist who believes deeply that salvation is an inherent aspect of my faith. Not just my own personal salvation, though through this faith that has happened, but the salvation of the world. My faith is not about the salvation of individual souls for a perceived afterlife. I believe that whatever happens [...]
Categories: Defining Religious Langauge, Prophetic Voice
| Tags: Jesus, kingdom of god, mission, religious langauge, salvation, vision
| 1 comment
Posted by Rev. David on March 31, 2008
Good and Evil are reflections of human perception, through a particular lens of human moral judgment. There is no universal metaphysical nature to Good and Evil. They do not equate to divine beings. They do not have metaphysical locations (i.e. Heaven and Hell). They do not inherently have divine nature. Good and Evil do not [...]
Categories: Defining Religious Langauge
| Tags: evil, good, ideals, judgement, perception, principles, religioius langage, values
| 3 comments
Posted by Rev. David on March 24, 2008
War simply is. It is not a choice, it is not a spectrum between pacifism and Just War theory. It is a basic fact of human existence, and will be so until human nature evolves. War is the result of a need for conflict that lies deep within human nature. War is the result of [...]
Categories: Defining Religious Langauge, Military, Spiritual Practice
| Tags: human nature, Military, peace, religious language, war
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Posted by Rev. David on March 22, 2008
Faith is not about belief. Faith in fact has very little to do with what beliefs you hold, other than that it allows you to hold them. Faith is a sacred, deep, emotionally involved kind of trust. Faith is the kind of trust that you enter into with your whole being. Faith is the kind [...]
Categories: Defining Religious Langauge, Spiritual Practice
| Tags: faith, religious language
| 2 comments
Posted by Rev. David on March 21, 2008
Of all of the religious language that I have worked over the past few years to define for myself, these two words and concepts have by far been the hardest. I think there are three reasons for that. First, they are probably the two most sensitive words in the Christian faith. Second, they are words [...]
Categories: Defining Religious Langauge, Prophetic Voice
| Tags: crucifixion, faith, hope, Jesus, love, resurrection
| 5 comments
Posted by Rev. David on March 20, 2008
I remember in the Baptist church I grew up in that, as Easter got closer, the sermons about sin would become more and more strident. We all sinned, or violated God’s laws for us… and it was only through the cross that we fallen humans could be redeemed from that sin. Long before I became [...]
Categories: Defining Religious Langauge, Principles and Purposes
| Tags: atonement, ideals, principles, redemption, sin, values
| No comments
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