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These are some of the most amazing stories about what a great job our Universal Life Church ministers are doing. These are stories of why they became ordained, the courses they've taken, and the great things they are doing with their ministries.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Comparative Religion

By Rev. Nick Federspiel
Lesson one's introduction states:
" … A firm grounding in comparative religion allows an individual to perceive the truth that is within all traditions. We, as human beings, have a tendency to address everything from our own perspective and assume that those we talk to understand our words as we mean them.  We all have had experiences where this has backfired.  It is imperative that as ministers, we make every effort to communicate from the perspective of those we serve. …"
Lesson three states:     
Differences between various religions and philosophies need not divide and separate, but can instead enrich our lives and deepen our capacity to love.  Any minister can do their part to eliminate religious intolerance and fear by helping those they interface with to find understanding, respect, and a common ground to interact.
Most comparative religion courses I have taken including college institutions emphasize how similar religions are. But to the credit of this course there is a clear statement that religions are not the same, but they share innumerable components differentiated by doctrine, symbolism, ceremony and legacy. On occasion the course offers food for thought conclusions such as in lesson four:
" … As can be seen, cultural and religious flood stories around the world are very similar.  Because of the consistency of this story, and current scientific geological data, the idea of a worldwide flood actually happening is very likely.  …"
Fact or not, it is my observation that today we have entered an age of instant international and cultural information communication. But 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 and even 6,000 years ago this was simply not the case considering the limited literacy and embryonic language tools.  THEN when something "similar" was reported from disassociated cultures then there either is an innate philosophical and sociological underlying human need for such a "story" or the story is not a story at all but a  REPORT!  We interpret and filter and analyze as best we can today – right or wrong as the case may be. Did we need religion?   Do we still need religion?  Science has no moment zero creation solution.  It never will.  So religion is with us and deep inside us we know that.  Is a fundamental need for divinity created by divinity why religion is functional in almost all cultures worldwide?  Is that why religion is the target of errant thinking politicians, despots and tyrants?  
This course presents many facts and thus points of view.  However, be it East or West their religious doctrines teach us that throughout history the word is mightier than the sword and the meek inherit the earth.  Who has more followers: Hitler and Stalin or Jesus Christ? Who will have more respect hereafter, Ahmedinejad or Gandhi and Mother Teresa or the atheists or the devoted?  Who were the tormentors and who were the healers? What makes a better organized institutional leader – a historian, a minister or a lawyer?  What does it mean when a word leader fails to participate in his or her fundamental cultural religious practices?   Is this course for aspiring and practicing ministers or for agnostics and atheists or for leaders and well – or everyone?  Knowledge is power this easy to read course delivers both in force.
Lesson five discusses esoteric and exoteric (ex- made available to the public) components of religion – what we should all know or what only a few of us know or are informed of.  I think this is one of the failures of the Christian religion allowing too much agnosticism and atheism to invade it worldwide as we should all have access to the same core religious information.  Today this is more possible than ever. One only needs to be motivated to learn.  This course, available to any ULC Seminary participant, significantly helps mitigate the esoteric - exoteric knowledge gap.
How about some interesting theories – consider this excerpt from lesson six: 
" … The rabbis represented this aspect of the tablets (Ten Commandments)by assuming a square shape, with the ten commandments graven in normal Hebrew right to left order, but also left to right; in normal top to bottom order, but also bottom to top. Because the commandments were carved completely through the stone, they could be read both by Moses and those facing him. …    In Tiferet Yisrael, (Chapter 35, pp. 101-102 in standard editions) R. Judah Loew, the Maharal " !!!!!  I (Ed Codish) am going to suggest a way to read Jewish sacred texts, including Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, Mishna, Gemmara, Midrash, and rabbinical commentaries on these. …"
Lesson eight and nine are a mini encyclopedia of numerous religious symbols. Lesson ten is about prayer:
 " … Although meditation, contemplation and prayer are all methods used to interact with the Divine, each has nuances of discrete differences in methodology, purpose …"  
Lesson eleven discusses eschatology and the puzzle of the ages; why do bad things happen to righteous people? Does bad beget a condemned hereafter or does one recycle and is offered a second, third fourth … chance to get it right?
" … For most religions, suffering is the result of human failing or the lack of human understanding.  In monotheistic religions, suffering is wrapped up in the concept of sin and human failing.  In the Eastern religions, suffering is the result of humankind's lack of understanding, or enlightenment. … What makes a sin depends on the religion.
Does this sound familiar – from lesson eleven:
Purification through a ritualistic baptism was required of all faithful, who took part in a ceremony in which they drank wine and ate bread to symbolize the body and blood of God…".
The above commentary is of Persian mythology of Mithras
Lesson twelve is of ceremonies. Lesson thirteen about sacred space and lesson fourteen is about reverent and lay titles. These are great summaries and if you can download the captive pictures within the text there are excellent descriptive graphics. (With my Vista browsers integrated graphic downloading was sadly hit and miss.) Lesson fifteen is a brief on the sacred texts. Like the Prajnaparamita and Diamond Sutra(s), Isalm's Hadith, the Dasam Granth and Zen-Avesta!  When one discuses 'Holy' scripture one inevitably has to explain this:
 " … insistence on … "inerrancy" raises all sorts of practical problems for interpreters, who sometimes find themselves scrambling to explain away blatant inconsistencies in factual data such as chronology or geography. …  Some religions make written texts widely and freely available, while others hold that sacred secrets must remain hidden from all but the loyal and the initiate …" ( i.e esoteric vs. exoteric knowledge).
Lesson sixteen is about those divine messengers like angles, daevas, kachinas, hunmanits, and of course human prophets.  One has to ponder the effects one ancient religion had on another. By example this statement about Zoroastrian angels:
 " … It is believed, that the Guardian Angel takes a person in an ecstatic embrace at the moment of death. 
Zoroastrians also believe that corresponding to the Lord of Light there is also a Lord of Darkness, with complementary demons and evil spirits, and it is felt that in the battle between light and darkness the forces of light will eventually win. …"
Well, there is more, but why should I give the ending away and ruin the whole movie for everyone!  I lament the course is not YET available in printed media (thus with all the graphics!) as it deserves to be complete and on my reference shelf vs. being tucked away on my flash drive – not a fitting place for such a fine effort from the ULC Seminary catalog of courses -  this one " … created by Rev. Kythera Ann."   My congratulations!
Permission to reprint this course summary is extended to ULC Seminary – Rev. Nick Federspiel
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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more. 
Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button. 
The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Religious Philosophy

"Developing a Personal Religious Philosophy"
A Final Essay for the Master of Religious Philosophy Course
By Daniel Moore
            Philosophy is the study of the questions of life like, "Who and I and what am I here for?"   It helps a person do make sense of life.  It considers what is ethical.  It investigates what is knowable.  It has many branches to include political philosophy, metaphysics, ethics, and religion.  Religious philosophy takes the tools of philosophy and delves into the region of religion in its various forms.
            This course does a thorough job of taking the tools and applying them not just to religion in general but moves into the various major (and some minor) religions of the world.  It also covers a reasonable span of history.  Also, the various regions of the world were also considered in evaluating religions so it was not limited to just religions/denominations but also the regional and cultural factors included.
            One of the challenges facing any philosopher is how to classify the world's religions.  I liked the instructor's three categories:
            1.  The Natural problem:  How does man get along with the world?
            2.  The Social problem:  How do we get along with each other?
            3.  The Psychological problem:  How do we understand ourselves and our spirituality (if there is one)?
            These are excellent categories.  Further, the instructor noted how regions/religions tended to help in categorizing religions into the broad categories.  And on the whole, it is a good starting point.  I do not like generalities but it is a good place to start when considering a personal religious philosophy.
            From the three questions noted above, it is important, I believe, that every student apply them to his or her faith or religious background.  Though I have a Protestant Christian background which emphasizes the first category, I see that merely as a starting point.  It does not negate the importance of the other two questions to be considered philosophically.  Personally, all people need to ask themselves those three questions.  Their religion (or personal belief system) should help them in guiding them to answer those in a way that enables them to live in this world.
            A great strength of this course was the "food for thought" questions that I found to be challenging.  It is good to strengthen one's mind and wrestle with the concepts given.  The instructor is to be commended for these questions.  He asks the tough questions that caused me to re-evaluate my belief systems.  In some instances, I actually found my personal religious philosophy strengthened.  In other instances, I had to go back and research the "why" of what I believed.  These questions are not for the faint of heart.
            This is a good course to complement the Master of Comparative Religion course for any ULC minister.  It is not enough to know the facts of the various religions in the world.  It is helpful to use the tools of religious philosophy to gain understanding to these religions as well.  As for me, I found this to be an excellent course and recommend it to all.
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The Universal Life Church is a comprehensive online seminary where we have classes in Christianity, Wicca, Paganism, two courses in Metaphysics and much more.
Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button.
The  ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.
Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar

Monday, December 07, 2009

A Course in Miracles

Final Essay Dr. of Metaphysics
Based on A Course In Miracles
By Rev. D.E.

I finished this course several months ago and due to some changing circumstances in my life I had to put off writing this essay.  As I reviewed the course material and reflected on the past few months I was surprised at how I had been using the ideas taught in this class.  I would like to first thank Universal Life Seminary for accepting this fine course.  I would also like to thank Rev. Loretta Siani for all the work that went into putting a course like this together.

Several years ago I had a skiing accident and spent time in the emergency room being treated for a very bad dislocated shoulder.  I was given a drug that should never be given following morphine, my breathing stopped.  During this time I experienced what I now know was a death experience.  I was in a place that I can only describe as peaceful and painless.  In the distance I saw my Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and a Sister that was still born.  Also there was a friend who I had been with during his death.  It was a place that I did not want to return from.  A voice called out my name and said D. it is time to go back.  I was arguing with this voice and the voice said, I have something for you to do and you must go back.  From that moment on I had an inner peace and my life was changed.  I changed careers and became an Instructor of Business classes at a local business college and now an ordained Minister and  Pastor of a small Church.

The one thing that I didn't have to do in studying this course was to have a shift in thinking to benefit from this material.  If everyone who takes this course does it with an open mind and can come away with an inner peace, they will surely benefit themselves and those that they serve in their ministry.  They will begin to create miracles when they share the love.

For the season of Advent this year I choose a four week series on "Imagine Peace."  Of course everyone in the Church thought it would be a series on peace in the world.  Yes, that is the overall purpose of this series but peace begins within.  Rev. Loretta's course offers so much material on how this peace can be achieved by putting ones self in a miraculous state of mind, as she states in the beginning of Lesson 6.

As I stated above I had some circumstances that developed as I was finishing the course and wasn't able to write the essay immediately and just now getting the essay written.  The material in this course was a great help in approaching a very difficult task.  It was only through meditation and approaching the decision through love and forgiveness that I was able to handle this situation.  Thank Rev. Loretta.


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Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button.

The ULC, run by Rev. Long, has created a chaplaincy program to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary.


Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar