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What the Church of Spiritual Living Is About |
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by Dr. Bob Henderson |
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We are about spirituality, not religion. |
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Religion divides people,
while spirituality unites. In our country there is a
rising tide of interest in the "spiritual"
since September 11. The heroes who responded to
the emergency at the World Trade Center did not inquire
into the ethnic background or the religious views of
those in need. They were responding to human needs, not
the needs of a particular race or religion. Similarly,
our desire is to respond to the spiritual needs of all
people. |
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It is our conviction that most
people, particularly those who have not identified with
a particular faith community, are not interested in
religion. In fact, many have rejected all organized
religions. Yet the yearning for spiritual connection is
still strong, though it may be temporarily dormant.
Books on spirituality are on the best-seller lists ...
books written by authors such as Deepak Chopra, Larry
Dossey, Wayne Dyer, and many others who are not
identified with any particular religion. |
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Here's what we are ... |
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Our daily devotion is to discover God within us and to
reveal more of our true spiritual nature and
potential. |
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We are a New Thought church with Transcendentalist
roots, in the tradition of sages such as Emerson,
Whitman, and Coleridge. |
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We are affiliated with the United Church of Religious
Science, founded over 75 years ago by Ernest
Holmes, author of the spiritual classic, The
Science of Mind. |
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People of all religions attend our church and are
welcome to become members or not, as they choose. |
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Here's what we are not ... |
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We do not teach you what to think. Our emphasis is on
how to think. We support independent,
positive, life-giving, affirmative thinking as the
approach to even the most difficult life
situations. |
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We are not a cult devoted to or obsessed with a
person or principle, nor do we have a system of
beliefs which people must accept on faith. You are
invited to question everything, and try it out for
yourself. Only you can decide whether or not this
spiritual approach is for you. |
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We deplore judgment and prejudice toward any people,
whatever their race, gender, religion, or sexual
orientation. |
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We do not proselytize, evangelize, or attempt to
convert anyone. |
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We are not the same as Christian Science, and we have
no association with Scientology. We are not a
"New Age" church. |
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Here's what we think ... |
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God is all there is in the Universe. There is only One
Power, and that is God. God is Intelligence,
Energy, Love, Abundance, Harmony, Beauty, and
Creativity. |
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There is no devil as an entity or being opposed to God.
Evil is the creation of man and is expressed by
man as a result of his belief that he is separate
from his good, his God. |
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Each human being is created in God's image and
likeness, and endowed by our Creator with the
freedom to use the Laws of the Universe for good
or evil. |
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God is Spirit, and has no gender or limiting human
emotions such as anger, wrath, vengefulness, or
jealousy. Thus, God neither punishes us for
"bad" deeds nor rewards us for
"good" deeds. |
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Rather, there is a universal Law of Cause and Effect,
which decrees that every thought and every action
has an automatic consequence. Whatever we believe,
we create, or as the Bible puts it: "As a
man thinketh in his heart, so is he." What
mankind has thought of as punishment or reward is
really the consequences of this freedom of choice,
never punishment or reward by God. |
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The "Word" of God is the great Causative
Power of the Universe. God is eternally initiating
the Divine Creative Process. Since the human
spirit is One with Universal Spirit, our thought
is creative and we re-enact in microcosm the
Divine Creative process in our lives. |
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God is not only Transcendent, the Great Mystery behind
all thought, but God is also the Immanent Reality
as the heart of every person and every thing. |
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We may rely upon the presence of God within us as our
guide to right action in every circumstance, and
for the healing of body and mind. |
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We respect and honor the right of every person to
follow their own spiritual path, in the conviction
that all paths lead to the same destination, and
that by whatever name we call the Divine, it is
the same God, since God is One. |
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We respect and honor the great Avatars and Teachers
of all religions, whether called Brahman, Krishna,
Allah, Wakan Tanka, the Buddha, the Prophet
Mohammed, or Jesus the Christ. Each has taught us
to look within to find the same Spirit that
expressed Itself through them. As the Bible says, "Let
the Mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus." |
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