Tag Archives: trinitarianism

12/22/14

03.2.3 Christmas Eve Message : We Forgive You, St. Nicholas!

Nicholas of Myra punching Bishop Arius at the Council of Nicaea

Nicholas of Myra punching Bishop Arius at the Council of Nicaea

The birth of Jesus Christ may be the “reason for the season,” but for millions of children the man of the moment is Santa Claus.

While it’s widely known that the Santa Claus of Christmas is derived from St. Nicholas, few know much about the original Saint Nick beyond the fact that he did not actually live at the North Pole, own flying reindeer, or employ a workshop full of elves.

Nicholas was a political ally of Athanasius of Alexandria during the Church intrigues of the 4th Century that led to Trinitarianism. And, like Athanasius, he is rumored to have come into power at an absurdly young age through dubious means.

Continue reading →

01/7/11

First Day of Defiance – St. Lucian’s Day

Today is the feast of St. Lucian, the first of the 12 Days of Defiance which begin the Winterval Season. Lucian was the teacher of both St. Arius and St. Eusebius, the bishop who baptized Constantine, finally Christianizing the Emperor after a lifetime of religious ambiguity.

St. Lucian was also the subject of a Notional Reform Unitarian Church image here at the AUR blog.

Not only was Lucian tortured and persecuted by the Romans for years, but his teachings were corrupted after his death by conflationist heretics attempting to reshape the honored Church Father in the mold of Trinitarianism. He was martyred on this day in 312 CE.

[Defiance Thursday will be on 31 January this year.]

12/9/10

We Forgive You, Saint Nick

Nicholas of Myra punching Bishop Arius at the Council of Nicaea

Nicholas of Myra punching Bishop Arius at the Council of Nicaea

The birth of Jesus Christ may be the “reason for the season,” but for millions of children the man of the moment is Santa Claus.

While it is widely known that the Santa Claus of Christmas is derived from St. Nicholas, few know much about the original Saint Nick beyond the fact that he did not live at the North Pole, own flying reindeer, or employ a workshop full of elves.

Nicholas was a political ally of Athanasius of Alexandria during the Church intrigues of the 4th Century that led to Trinitarianism.  And, like Athanasius, he is rumored to have come into power at an absurdly young age through dubious means.

Continue reading →

03/29/10

Celibacy, Catholic Sex Crimes, and Trinitarianism

Reform Unitarianism feels a particularly close kinship with the Roman Catholic Church, despite that it is the institution that adopted the apostasy of Trinitarianism.  Roman Catholicism retains the sense of the ancient pedigree of Christianity, which more recent off-shoots (which nevertheless imagine themselves reformatory) fail to project.

This is why it pains us to witness the perennial sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church, now even shaking the Throne of St. Peter.  Only a few are calling for Pope Benedict XVI to resign, but many more are questioning the Church’s policies on clerical celibacy.

For Reform Unitarians — who accept both the marriage of priests and ordination of women — it is clear that the Vatican’s sex-related troubles stem from the same 4th Century political intrigues that pinned the Church to Imperial power and the conflationist theology that eventually became Trinitarianism.

Continue reading →

01/9/10

New Banner!

AUR is proud to present our new blog banner, combing symbols throughout our history that demonstrate dedication to true Christian monotheism.

The Two Trees symbol, drawn from the allegory of humanity’s dawn in the Garden of Eden, stresses Reform Unitarianism’s emphasis on complementary virtues, which are seen in the Two Trees of Eden, the serpent and dove of Jesus’ ministry, the twin cherubim atop the Ark of the Covenant, Faith and Hope, and the Lion-Lamb/Alpha-Omega imagery associated with Christ.  It is only by reconciling what seem to be contrary virtues that one can find the One God behind all things.

On the far right is an ancient Macedonian image of Jesus praying to God in the Garden of Gethsemane, not only a key passage demonstrating the subordinate relationship between God the Father and the Son of God, but also the climax of the moral and spiritual ministry of Jesus, the moment of “Thy Will Be Done.”

On the far left is an Arian church in Ravenna (now controlled by Trinitarians and called San Apollinare Nuovo) built during the reign of Theodoric, representing the continuation of original Christianity into the early Middle Ages before the complete suppression of Unitarian theology and the beginning of the Dark Ages.

Finally, at the bottom is a portrait of Jonathan Mayhew, the Father of American Unitarianism, who coined the battle cry “No taxation without representation” and wrote a sermon against the Divine Right of Kings entitled A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers, which president John Adams later called the “spark that ignited the American Revolution.”

12/6/09

We Forgive You, Saint Nicholas

Nicholas of Myra punching Bishop Arius at the Council of Nicaea

Nicholas of Myra punching Bishop Arius at the Council of Nicaea

Today is Saint Nicholas Day!

While it is widely known that the Santa Claus of Christmas is derived from St. Nicholas, few know much about the original Saint Nick beyond the fact that he did not live at the North Pole, own flying reindeer, or employ a workshop full of elves.

Nicholas of Myra was a political ally of Athanasius of Alexandria during the Church intrigues of the 4th Century and, like Athanasius, he is rumored to have come into power at an absurdly young age through dubious means.

Fast Track to Bishop

The legend begins with Nicholas as a young man on his way back home to Asia Minor (what we now call Turkey) either from studying in Egypt at Alexandria or from visiting Jerusalem.  While still at sea, as the tale goes, he rescued an overboard sailor.  Or, perhaps he calmed a sea storm with his prayers.  To put it mildly, the stories differ.   His ship then made port in the city of Myra.

Just before Nicholas arrived, the bishop of Myra had died and one of the city’s church leaders was instructed in a dream to choose a “conqueror” as the next bishop.  You or I might be suspicious of such an instruction, not necessarily assuming its Divine origin even if we did accept it as a message from a supernatural source.  But, the church leaders of Myra were not so cynical.

The root of the Greek name Nicholas (Νικόλαος) is nike, meaning “conquest” or “victory,” so when sailors astounded at the exploits of this youth spread the name Nicholas around Myra, the leaders of the church felt they had no choice but to elect the young Nicholas as bishop.

Continue reading →

04/20/09

AUR FAQ Page Posted

Some time ago, a FAQ was promised to address the basic AUR issues better than the Introduction page.  The following questions are now up on the AUR FAQ page, clickable in the sidebar.

1. What does it mean to be Unitarian?
1.1 What significance is Jesus Christ to (Reform) Unitarians?

2. Do Unitarians reject the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as Trinitarians claim?
2.1 Why is the Reform Unitarian view more correct than the Trinitarian view?
2.2 How did the early Church view the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
2.3 Why do so many modern Christians believe that Trinitarianism is central to Christianity?

3. Don’t Unitarians not really have any specific beliefs any more?
3.1 What does it matter if the word “Unitarianism” is used for groups that no longer believe in Unitarianism?

4. What does it mean to be a Reform Unitarian?
4.1 What is Reform Unitarianism restoring and improving?
4.2 Is Reform Unitarianism only concerned with restoring and improving Christianity?

5. What is American about American Unitarian Reform?
5.1 Does American Unitarian Reform violate the Separation of Church and State?

6. What is the Reform Unitarian attitude toward Scripture?

12/15/07

Unitarian vs. Anti-Christ

Many Unitarians have asserted the unity of God merely as a means of distancing themselves from uncomfortable Christological issues, including the “Father and Son” language used to describe Christ’s relationship with God. Sadly, for many American Unitarians in the 1800s, this developed to the point of dismissing Jesus and declaring themselves non-Christians.

It is particularly ironic that Muslims take the Christhood of Jesus more seriously than many who continue to call themselves Unitarian, a theological term that makes little sense outside of the context of post-Nicene Christianity.

Still, the Reform understands the difficulties that Christology has posed for rationalist Unitarians, and particularly the difficulty that the Father-Son relationship creates for those dedicated to worship of One God.  AUR also sympathizes with the monotheistic impulse in Islám to condemn the easily misinterpreted Father-Son Christology, even as Islám recognizes Jesus as the Christ/Messiah (مسيح) and the Word of God, or Kalimat-Alláh (كلمة أﷲ ) in Arabic.

Talking about the relationship of God and Christ in such creaturely biological terms as “Father and Son” carries with it the danger of confusing the ignorant and diminishing the Creator.

However, Reform Unitarianism does not stand in rejection of Father-Son Christology, but in defense of its underlying meaning.  The theological purpose behind describing the link between God and Christ in terms of a Father and His Son is to establish an intimate but vertical relationship between the two as the very definition of Christhood.

Fathers and sons are not equals; fathers are above and sons are below. Continue reading →