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- Thread starter .lava
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Lucian
Theologian
You're welcome. 
Nope, there's no different Bible. I don't believe in the trinitarian doctrine since it's not in the Bible, and because even the early "church fathers" held a different view. Since I believe the Most High to be unbegotten, invisible, all-knowing, almighty, immortal, and someone who has no God, then I believe someone who was begotten, was seen, who didn't know everything, who is dependent on his God, and who died, isn't the One God himself, but rather his faithful son.
Hopefully that makes sense.
Nope, there's no different Bible. I don't believe in the trinitarian doctrine since it's not in the Bible, and because even the early "church fathers" held a different view. Since I believe the Most High to be unbegotten, invisible, all-knowing, almighty, immortal, and someone who has no God, then I believe someone who was begotten, was seen, who didn't know everything, who is dependent on his God, and who died, isn't the One God himself, but rather his faithful son.
Hopefully that makes sense.
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.lava
Veteran Member
You're welcome.
Nope, there's no different Bible. I don't believe in the trinitarian doctrine since it's not in the Bible, and because even the early "church fathers" held a different view. Since I believe the Most High to be unbegotten, invisible, all-knowing, almighty, immortal, and someone who has no God, then I believe someone who was begotten, was seen, who didn't know everything, who is dependent on his God, and who died, isn't the One God himself, but rather his faithful son.
Hopefully that makes sense.
yes, it makes sense. i hope you don't mind if i ask a few questions. this is a little surprising fact for me. i always thought all Christians believe in trinity. well, until i listen to an interview with a high level Pasteur who cnvert to Islam after he translated a Bible in Greek they have in Vatican. he says that Bible that's being out in Public is not same with that old Bible they protect in Vatican. anyways...i think this is important but not our subject here.
i would like to know daily practices you do. do you perform salaats 4 times a day? what about fasting? and, do you have other names for God? how many people out there who share same belief of yours?
thank you
.
Lucian
Theologian
Don't worry, I love questions. Sometimes. Anyway, you're probably correct about what this ex-pastor is saying - he probably means with the "public Bible" the Roman Catholic Vulgata, a Bible which was translated to Latin. I don't know the details so I can't say of course. Translations always have errors, and that one isn't an exception. Another horrible translation is the "King James Bible" ("KJV"), which some people hold in an almost divine position. Koine Greek and Hebrew/Aramaic are of course the original languages.
On to the subject:
I personally don't do daily practices anymore (to which I will have to do something when my studies begin), though I think traditionally there are at the very least the morning and evening prayers. These can be in different forms depending what kind of tradition one follows. Generally no fasting either, though some might follow traditional Christian fasts. As for God's names, well, anything you find from the Bible. Generally God is just God, our loving Father. The tetragrammaton (YHWH, "Yahweh", "Jehovah") is very much in favor by some. Jews forbid its usage, even writing it. Jehovah's Witnesses use the form "Jehovah" of it, and on the contrary emphasize that everyone should use it. Nowadays I avoid saying it out of respect, though I don't think it's really a sin to use it, just something that you have to show respect for.
There are not that many Unitarian Christians I suppose. Many remain in trinitarian churches, some are Quakers, some are in free/liberal churches, and some don't really care to make a fuss about the matter. Some are without their knowledge - these are the people who don't understand or know the trinitarian dogma and just speak of "God and Jesus". They follow Christianity's simple commandment to love one another. The Unitarian Church of Transylvania is the most significant Unitarian organization in my opinion, being the oldest one. They are very practical and don't base their faith in dogmatism. They have around 65,000-100,000 members in Transylvania and 25,000 in Hungary's Unitarian Church. In the United States, under the umbrella of Unitarian Universalism, there are around 600,000 members; of these about 15% or so identify themselves as Christians, so that would be according to that 90,000. Impossible to say on global scale, though they're spreading. We have around 20 registered Unitarian Universalists here, informal members are impossible to say. These numbers might not be accurate at all since many don't join the Unitarian Universalist organizations, and may not even be involved with them at all. There are such groupings as the Biblical Unitarians, Arian Catholics, Christadelphians, Molokans, Doukhobors, and Bible Students who are not under Unitarian Universalism, yet they are also Unitarian Christians by definition (impossible to give numbers here, but all of these together number from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands). If we also counted the Jehovah's Witnesses among them, then I would know for certain that there are millions (they keep excellent statistics - I think there are 6 million members, and 15 million who attend the yearly memorial service). Unfortunately the Jehovah's Witnesses are in my opinion very "cult-like" and I don't particularly sympathise with them.
That's it in a nutshell, feel free to ask more questions.
Sometimes. Anyway, you're probably correct about what this ex-pastor is saying - he probably means with the "public Bible" the Roman Catholic Vulgata, a Bible which was translated to Latin. I don't know the details so I can't say of course. Translations always have errors, and that one isn't an exception. Another horrible translation is the "King James Bible" ("KJV"), which some people hold in an almost divine position. Koine Greek and Hebrew/Aramaic are of course the original languages.On to the subject:
I personally don't do daily practices anymore (to which I will have to do something when my studies begin), though I think traditionally there are at the very least the morning and evening prayers. These can be in different forms depending what kind of tradition one follows. Generally no fasting either, though some might follow traditional Christian fasts. As for God's names, well, anything you find from the Bible. Generally God is just God, our loving Father. The tetragrammaton (YHWH, "Yahweh", "Jehovah") is very much in favor by some. Jews forbid its usage, even writing it. Jehovah's Witnesses use the form "Jehovah" of it, and on the contrary emphasize that everyone should use it. Nowadays I avoid saying it out of respect, though I don't think it's really a sin to use it, just something that you have to show respect for.
There are not that many Unitarian Christians I suppose. Many remain in trinitarian churches, some are Quakers, some are in free/liberal churches, and some don't really care to make a fuss about the matter. Some are without their knowledge - these are the people who don't understand or know the trinitarian dogma and just speak of "God and Jesus". They follow Christianity's simple commandment to love one another. The Unitarian Church of Transylvania is the most significant Unitarian organization in my opinion, being the oldest one. They are very practical and don't base their faith in dogmatism. They have around 65,000-100,000 members in Transylvania and 25,000 in Hungary's Unitarian Church. In the United States, under the umbrella of Unitarian Universalism, there are around 600,000 members; of these about 15% or so identify themselves as Christians, so that would be according to that 90,000. Impossible to say on global scale, though they're spreading. We have around 20 registered Unitarian Universalists here, informal members are impossible to say. These numbers might not be accurate at all since many don't join the Unitarian Universalist organizations, and may not even be involved with them at all. There are such groupings as the Biblical Unitarians, Arian Catholics, Christadelphians, Molokans, Doukhobors, and Bible Students who are not under Unitarian Universalism, yet they are also Unitarian Christians by definition (impossible to give numbers here, but all of these together number from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands). If we also counted the Jehovah's Witnesses among them, then I would know for certain that there are millions (they keep excellent statistics - I think there are 6 million members, and 15 million who attend the yearly memorial service). Unfortunately the Jehovah's Witnesses are in my opinion very "cult-like" and I don't particularly sympathise with them.
That's it in a nutshell, feel free to ask more questions.
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Lucian
Theologian
I found an interesting article here on prayer: Knut Heidelberg » How many times and when should a Unitarian Pray
To summarize it, Unitarian Christians are advised by our ancestors to pray three times a day. That would be morning, noon and evening prayers. But it's important that they don't become a vain repetition of words.
To summarize it, Unitarian Christians are advised by our ancestors to pray three times a day. That would be morning, noon and evening prayers. But it's important that they don't become a vain repetition of words.
nocturnalavalonian
Seeker of Knowledge
Personally I just prefer to say the Lord's Prayer in the morning and in the evening before bed I practice various meditation techniques, but that's just me, I suppose. I do get a lot of inspiration from the Bible and other religious writing, but Unitarians do not believe in scriptural inerrency. The scriptures may be inspired by God, but they pass through the minds of their human authors, who in turn pass on their own biases and misunderstandings of God's word. Therefore the scriptures are useful but not an ultimate authority. The scripture of one's own conscience is far more important to a Unitarian, and we try to live in accordance with it.