My Theological Snapshot: Into the Wilderness

My Theological Snapshot: Into the Wilderness 
Ok let’s get this clear right here and now. Probably the biggest piece of embedded belief is my clinging tenaciously to the fact that I am a Jewish woman, was born a Jew, and even though I am no longer a practicing Jew, I still believe I am a Jew.  Even though I don’t know what that means in total, I just know I am and there’s nothing I can do to change that.

With that said, I believe Unity is a Christian movement: the Fillmore’s believed they were Christians, they taught Practical Christianity following their interpretation of the teachings of Jesus the Master Teacher.  The difference is the Fillmore’s taught a very nontraditional Christianity.  And as a result I find myself perfectly comfortable believing five basic Unity Principles. In fact, as a result of many life challenging and life changing experiences, I love them, breathe them, believe them, and work on the fifth Principle every moment of my life to the best of my ability.  God (whom I often refer to as Sweet Spirit) is One and All.  Jesus is the teacher. Prayer is a way to quicken my mind.  Meditation a way to quiet my mind when I able do it.

At this point in my life, the only time I experience conflict between my being Jewish and being a part of the Unity movement is when I experience, as another piece of embedded ness – the idea that I must make a choice between Judaism and Christianity.  For me and my belief system, there is no need to make a choice. I can be both and the fact that Jesus was a Jew (and never converted to Christianity that I’m aware of) just makes my journey into Unity all the more seamless.

The Bible for me is a wonderful testament to the power of story telling and metaphor to convey a history of ethical and moral development of people.  Even though Jewish orthodoxy and Christian traditional view leaves me cold, and their view of God (or is it my parent’s view) is not mine – I love the sacred texts as interpreted metaphysically.  I love the perspective of seeing them as my story and the development of my consciousness.

I view the church as a center for community and connection with people to reinforce my beliefs, to help me in my unbelief, to learn new perspectives and to ask questions.  I believe people are inherently good and yet, can behave in horrific ways. I believe in accountability but not damnation.  I don’t believe in a concept of Evil. I believe people can be so out of touch with whom they are that they do things that are despicable and that to me can be called evil. I believe life provides opportunities for growing spiritually and we do have a choice every step of the way.

I titled this site “Into the Wilderness” because I suspect this is where I’m headed, just as the Israelites and just as the first century Christians when they ventured out into the unknown. I affirm I will emerge in less than 40 years of wandering. Shalom!