FAQ

FAQ

We keep asking questions so we will keep finding answers!

Frequently Asked Questions:

exploring and expressing our Unity faith

“Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks,
the door will be opened
(Matthew 7:7-8).

Asking questions helps us find answers that open the way to greater spiritual understanding. Unity students welcome questions and our search for better, more complete and satisfying answers is a continuous journey of faith.

Questions of ultimate concern involve the nature of Being and beingness, of the soul, of the soul’s relationship with Infinite Being, of effective means to affirm this relationship, of the soul’s destiny (life, ethics, afterlife).

Here are some questions of ultimate concern to many Christians along with some half answers we’ve heard before and some suggested answers based on the traditional teachings of Unity. Rather than saying No to questions that call for deeper thought, we can examine ways that we can honestly say, Yes! and therefore find common ground in discussions of faith. We can learn a great deal by asking questions, and we can share meaningfully by thinking deeply about our answers!

Remember, we do not have to think alike to love alike.

BASIC QUESTIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF MAINSTREAM CHRISTIANITY:

“Half” Answers that might seem clever, but could be misleading to others, since these ”answers” do not quite express the whole spirit of the Truth in Unity and miss the real meaning of our teachings.

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb (baptized as adult)?

“No (blood, yuck); we neither dunk nor sprinkle in Unity.”

Do you accept Jesus Christ as divine the Word made flesh, your personal Savior, the only Son of God?

“No more divine than anyone else; only I, myself, can save me, and Buddha and Mohammed are ‘saviors,’ too.”

Do you belong to a soul-saving church that accepts Jesus Christ?

“No, we don’t believe souls are lost.”

Do you believe in and practice the sacrament of communion?

“No, we don’t practice communion (we have outgrown the wafers and Welch’s).”

Do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God?

“No, it is human-made and full of errors.”

Do you believe that you are a sinner?

“No, we are all perfect children of God, right now, just as we are.”

Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and that He saves you?

“No, there is no vicarious atonement (or vicarious unfoldment).”

Do you believe in the physical Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

“N/A, because of #7; but He might have reappeared in an astral body.”

Do you believe that Jesus Christ is going to return to earth?

“N/A, and no, we don’t talk about the so-called second coming.”

Do you believe in heaven and hell, Satan or the devil, and angels?

“No; we like angels, but don t believe in the devil or demons.”

Do you believe that you are going to heaven after this life?

“No, we believe in reincarnation.”

Are you saved (born again)?

“No; see #3; I have been born many times (but always as royalty or somebody really cool!).”

Instead of giving those misleading half answers, we turn to more complete answers inspired by study of Unity s basic textbook: the Bible.

MORE COMPLETE ANSWERS BASED ON UNITY’S TRADITIONAL TRUTH TEACHINGS:

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb (baptized as adult)?

“Yes, I am baptized by the Holy Spirit, as promised in Scripture (Mt. 3:11, Mk. 1:8, Lk. 3:16, Jn 3:8)!”

Do you accept Jesus Christ as divine the Word made flesh, your personal Savior, the only Son of God?

“Yes, the Christ is the perfect Word or divine idea of God in every person; Jesus Christ my Way Shower expresses the Christ perfectly, revealing the one true way to the realization of eternal life (Jn. 14:6)!”

Do you belong to a soul-saving church that accepts Jesus Christ?

“Yes, Jesus Christ is the Head of His assembly (ecclesia) to which I belong; through my church, souls are being saved from useless and unnecessary suffering and receiving eternal life by the Truth and grace of Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:16-17)!”

Do you believe in and practice the sacrament of communion?

“Yes, we believe prayer is communion with God; we partake of God’s substance (can be symbolized by bread) and life (can be symbolized by wine) as we do all things ‘in remembrance’ of Him (Lk. 22:19)!”

Do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God?

“Yes, for the Bible reveals God’s nature and divine purpose to us, to the degree that we are spiritually inspired and awakened. The Bible is our basic textbook in Unity (Jn. 5:39)!”

Do you believe that you are a sinner?

“Yes, in the sense that we have not yet perfectly realized nor fully expressed our divine potential, therefore we may sin, or ‘miss the mark’ (I. Tim. 6:21) the target/focus of life. Yet we are constantly growing and unfolding our spiritual potential!” [Greek: Hamartano – missing the mark, translated as sin (error) in the New Testament, as in Mt. 18:21.]”

Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and that He saves you?

“Yes, in that through His crucifixion and resurrection He demonstrated as no other has done the crossing out of the mortal to reveal for us the immortal (Mt. 10:38)! Jesus is the Hero of our story!”

Do you believe in the physical Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

“Yes, definitely! We believe that Jesus Christ literally overcame death (Mt. 28:7)!”

Do you believe that Jesus Christ is going to return to earth?

“Yes, although as He promised, He is with us always; we believe we shall indeed see Him in the midst of us as we become ready (Mt. 28:20)!”

Do you believe in heaven and hell, Satan or the devil, and angels?

“Yes, we believe that heaven and hell (as states of consciousness) are very real; and that the devil (Mt. 16:23), or devils (error thought personified), can be just as real to us as angels (true thoughts personified) (Mt. 4:11)!”

Do you believe that you are going to heaven after this life?

“Yes, and we affirm in prayer, ‘Thy kingdom come, they will be done, in earth as it is in heaven’ (Mt. 6:10). ‘The kingdom’ is in the midst’ of us right here and now (Lk. 17:21) and we are all ‘heaven bound’ (Mt. 4:17)!”

Are you saved (born again)?

“(This must be answered by each individual.) “Yes, I know that I am saved from useless and unnecessary suffering, for the Truth has made me free. And yes, I am always being born again into a greater consciousness of my unity with God, the Good omnipotent, the one Presence and the one Power in and through all (Jn 3:6)!”

 

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