MORE ON de-Xing Xmas - continued

Subject: RE: MORE ON de-Xing Xmas - continued
From: Dani
Date: 14 Jan 02 - 05:02 PM

If anyone is interested in reading about Unitarian Universalism, uua.org is a good place to begin. In a denomination of such great diversity, it's tough to generalize, and always easier to say, "This is what we aren't" than "this is what we are."

But earlier comments work well. Most UU folks I know have respect for Jesus as a great teacher, but not as part of a Trinity. Actually, the term 'Unitarian' was intended to distinguish from 'Trinitarians'. There are, however, many Unitarian Universalist who consider themselves Christian, including many of this country's founding fathers and mothers.

Dani

Subject: RE: MORE ON de-Xing Xmas - continued
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 14 Jan 02 - 04:25 PM

Hi, Nicole: For the issue at hand, I guess it's a moot point whether Witnesses consider Christ a member of the Trinity or not. Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate Christmas, or any Holiday...
Jerry

Subject: RE: MORE ON de-Xing Xmas - continued
From: wysiwyg
Date: 14 Jan 02 - 03:33 PM

In our family, equally diverse in feelings about spirituality, it finally became clear that it was NOT about diversity or tolerance, for us-- it was about family communication and people being at different places in their recovery from family-of-origin dysfunctionality.

We too went through a period of trying to make everyone comfortable, but it didn't work because no one actually had that at as a pesonal agenda!! If you looked at people's behavior, which is the best clue-- it was still about people needing one another to understand what had been old wounds delivered out of each one's own pain. Losing battle!

When we moved on, it became more about turf. Hosting rotated. Whoever hosted set a tone. Each year someone got to have it their way, tempered by however well they understood others' comfort zones. No one bitched anymore. Each year we got better at making it not comfortable, but SAFE.

I don't think spirituality is the issue here, and I think it's time to look at the wounds, not the means of receiving them. Mrrzy, you have shared repeatedly that this is an area of pain for you, or I wouldn't "go there" on this. I don't think how you celebrate a family holiday is going to heal these wounds, and I think that the holiday has to happen while whatever you ARE doing to heal them goes on. Putting the onus on the holiday or how it is celebrated... it's gonna be a shoe that won't fit each year, because each family member will be in a different place each and every year. See?

Didn't learn that in church, BTW.

~Susan

Subject: RE: MORE ON de-Xing Xmas - continued
From: NicoleC
Date: 14 Jan 02 - 03:28 PM

Jerry,

You're wrong, Jehovah's Witnesses do believe that Jesus is the son of God. I think you are thinking of the doctrine of the trinity -- they don't believe in the Trinity, they believe as his son he is inferior to God.

Subject: RE: MORE ON de-Xing Xmas - continued
From: CapriUni
Date: 14 Jan 02 - 03:16 PM

Mrrzy (How do you pronounce that, anyway? something like a mumbled "mercy"? ;-)) --

You wrote:

"And CapriUni, if it's REALITY, whether Ultimate or not, it DOES NOT apply to the supernatural. By definition. "

Actually, "Ultimate reality" is the official theological term used by scholars of world religions to apply to whatever the person or culture they're studying believes is the root cause behind existance, whether that cause is supernatural or natural.

(hey! Don't give me such a wierd look! I didn't make the term up, I learned the term when I took a course in world religions in college)

Subject: RE: MORE ON de-Xing Xmas - continued
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Jan 02 - 02:12 PM

OK, I looked it up. Don't close that chevron yet!

Let's try this: The Old One's getting old.

Subject: RE: MORE ON de-Xing Xmas - continued
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Jan 02 - 02:10 PM

Bugger the html, I lost my little shortcut I used to have on my computer and tried it from memory. Oh well, if you cut and paste you can see the old thread... here's another stab at it:

The :"http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=42962&messages=104"'s getting long...

Subject: MORE ON de-Xing Xmas - continued
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Jan 02 - 02:08 PM

The old one's getting long...