Do you believe that Jesus is the only way?
We believe that the teachings of Jesus are a way to God. Many people at Red Hill follow the teachings of Jesus.
What Bible or religious text do you believe in?
While we look to the Bible for wisdom, we also value our own experience and the experience of others in discovering what we believe. So respect many sources of wisdom, including our own experience to discover eternal truths and to figure our how to live those truths in our lives.
“Do you believe in God”
Individual UUs have different opinions based on their reason, intuitive feeling and experience. In general we don’t believe in a God with a long white beard controlling our lives; making judgments and meeting out punishment. Rather to paraphrase UU minister Forrester Church: God is not God’s name but our name for that which is in us, between us and greater than us.
Do you believe in sin?
Generally we don’t believe that particular behaviors are sins in and of themselves. Sin, rather, is the state of separation from our best selves, from one another and from God as we understand God. When people are in this state of separation their actions can bring about evil in the world.
“Do you believe in eternal life?”
Again individual UU’s have different answers to this question. Some might even say “I don’t know yet, but my faith tells me that’s okay.”
UU minister Barbara Wells puts it this way: “While we may have varying opinions about the possibility of life beyond death, our faith teaches us that it is in this life that we can make a difference.”
“So, you can believe anything you want?”
No, we are responsible for discovering our deepest values and beliefs and living our lives in accordance with them. We believe that you can tell what people really believe by the way they live their lives.
Again The Rev. Barbara Wells puts it this way: “For some religious people, beliefs are what bind them together. But for Unitarian Universalists, what binds us together is not belief but rather shared values, our shared perspective or attitude toward life. We do not set people apart into groups of saved and unsaved, but rather we affirm the dignity and worth of all people.” With this perspective, we are compelled to treat others with compassion and to work for justice for all people.
“Well if you all don’t believe the same thing or follow the same scripture why do you gather on Sunday morning?”
We gather on Sunday, as opposed to any other day because, just like the Baptists, our roots are in the Protestant reformation, Sunday morning services are part of our tradition.”
“What happens there?”
The order of service itself follows a traditional Protestant format with hymns, readings, a time for prayer or meditation, and a sermon. The sermon may be based on a text from the Bible or on another inspirational text. Like other communities of faith we come together to be challenged and inspired; to affirm our deepest values and to hold each other accountable for reflecting those values in our lives.
This is a little confusing can you put it in a nutshell?
These are the basics:
Our faith is the affirmation of life and the conviction that we can each choose to live life fully, completely, authentically; that we can make a difference. This is the transforming message of our faith. It is our gospel, our good news!
