tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1501317456508509460.post5026744167953163144..comments2023-11-30T01:20:00.093-08:00Comments on The Book Shelf: Unitarianism & Universalism - 100 Books to DownloadHeinz Schmitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12578443886290066202noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1501317456508509460.post-45018283768925184572015-10-21T13:20:30.840-07:002015-10-21T13:20:30.840-07:00A Paraphrase of John 1:1-18 by Evangelion on http:...A Paraphrase of John 1:1-18 by Evangelion on http://www.thechristadelphians.org<br /><br />In the beginning, there was a pattern for everything.<br />The pattern was God’s; the pattern was divine.<br />The pattern was God’s from the beginning.<br /><br />Everything that exists, came from that pattern. There is nothing that exists now, which did not first exist in the mind of God.<br />The pattern is both the source of new life and the meaning of life.<br />It is a way of being alive in opposition to death, and death cannot overcome it.<br /><br />God sent a man named John to tell people about the possibilities of this way of being alive so that everybody would trust the agent of God, through whom this new life would come. <br />John was not this agent, but he taught people how to recognise the one who was.<br />The agent of new life was coming into the world.<br /><br />To some people, however, this new life is unrecognisable. <br />Some who could be expected to see the possibilities of this way of being alive, select death instead. <br />Others embrace life. They trust what God has to offer. <br />God made this offer to His entire creation. Its source is heavenly, not earthly.<br /><br />God is not only the source, but also the meaning of life itself. <br />God’s divine pattern was embodied in a man who lived among us.<br />No man has seen God literally – but they have seen His only-begotten Son Jesus – the agent of new life, and the representative of God.Heinz Schmitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12578443886290066202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1501317456508509460.post-16793048446250014512015-10-02T15:44:14.794-07:002015-10-02T15:44:14.794-07:00Subject: Unitarian Statement on the Bible and the...Subject: Unitarian Statement on the Bible and the Trinity<br /> <br /> <br />Excerpt from 100 Scriptural Arguments for the Unitarian Faith, by<br />the American Unitarian Association:<br /><br />There are in the New Testament 17 passages wherein the Father is<br />styled ONE or ONLY God, while there is not a single passage in which<br />the Son is so styled.<br /><br />There are 320 passages in which the Father is absolutely, and by way<br />of eminence, called God; while there is not one in which the Son is<br />thus called.<br /><br />There are 105 passages in which the Father is denominated God, with<br />peculiarly high titles and epithets; whereas the Son is not once<br />denominated.<br /><br />There are 90 passages wherein it is declared that all prayers and<br />praises ought to be offered to Him, and that everything ought to be<br />ultimately directed to his honor and glory; while of the Son no such<br />declaration is ever made.<br /><br />There are 1300 passages in the NT wherein the word _God_ is<br />mentioned, not one necessarily implies the existence of more than<br />one person in the Godhead, or that this one is any other than the<br />Father.<br /><br />There are 300 passages wherein the Son is declared, positively, or<br />by clearest implication, to be subordinate to the Father, deriving<br />his being from Him, reciving from Him his divine power, and acting<br />in all things wholly according to His will.<br /><br />In a word, the supremacy of the Father, and the inferiority of the<br />Son, is the simple, unembarrassed, and current doctrine of the<br />Bible; whereasm that of their equality or identity is clothed in<br />mystery, encumbered with difficulties, and dependant, at the best,<br />upon few passages for support.<br /> Heinz Schmitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12578443886290066202noreply@blogger.com