Unity and/or Truth

Discussion in 'Religion & Philosophy' started by yangforward, Dec 21, 2023.

  1. yangforward

    yangforward Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Avoiding a schism is key to keeping numbers up,
    whether it's a 'big tent' political party or what is
    effectively a 'big tent' religion.

    The Church of England / Anglican Church and
    it appears most of the Episcopal communion, has
    a cop-out: 'lets agree to disagree'.

    Truth takes a back seat, if any seat at all, and
    staying together in one church is the top priority.

    I will agree that accepting each other and being hospitable
    and friendly are essential qualities to a church, but if a
    church has no clear direction, no aims, and no priorities,
    and no basic truths, then it is really just a social club.
     
  2. Nwolfe35

    Nwolfe35 Well-Known Member

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    And a social club serves more of a purpose than a church.
     
    Jolly Penguin and yangforward like this.
  3. yangforward

    yangforward Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I think the churches need to compromise on just
    being tolerant and include some interest in the truth
    into the faith.

    A lack of concern about what is true led to
    the century long decline in church attendance
    measured by percentage of population attending.

    The CofE lost a lot of attendance as a result of
    telling young men to go serve God in WW1.

    In a record of an address the Lord Bishop of
    London gave to the departing troops in 1915
    he stated: "you are fighting for Christ and
    against the anti Christ". There is also a record
    of him stating that every German killed would
    help preserve civilization.

    After the war the man in the pew discovered the
    German churches were prompting their flocks
    in a similar way, 'you are fighting for truth,
    and therefore you will win'.

    The optics of this are bad, with old churchmen
    sending their young charges off to die for no
    good reason.
     
  4. yangforward

    yangforward Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I wrote a bit about the failure of the churches
    to be truthful in a previous thread: 'Do you
    trust your church?', but I did not consider
    the balance between truth and keeping
    people together - unity.

    I changed churches partly as a result of
    the Episcopal Church blaming the war in
    Ukraine on the Russian Federation, while
    it is accepted in diplomatic circles everywhere
    that the expansion of NATO into central
    and eastern Europe and then finally crossing
    the most vivid of red lines by moving NATO
    weapons into Ukraine on the border of
    Russia and then attacking civilians in the
    city of Donetsk finally got a response from
    Russia.

    All this is well-known but how can a church
    follow the truth when most of the congregation
    believe the news?

    That could lead to some fission.

    My suggestion was they should have just
    kept quiet.
     
  5. yangforward

    yangforward Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    yes, it usually does.
     
  6. yangforward

    yangforward Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    This is also a pretty hot political question because
    I recall people claiming Trump was causing
    disunity, but in my own experience Joe has caused
    more as a result of going in the wrong direction.

    By analogy more people are getting off the train
    because with the Biden administration Joe more
    people feel it is going the wrong way.

    I was thinking that good leadership, whether in
    a church or politically, is the best way to keep
    the flock together.
     
  7. yangforward

    yangforward Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yes, from today I will treat the church I go to more as a social club than as a church.

    They are amazingly tolerant so I will drop in the very occasional bit of truth, but just one item per month approx.

    I can't expect more of anyone in a country where the propaganda is two miles deep.
     

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