Your turn: Why limit religion?
Easter Sunday, April 14, alderman/physician Tim Durkee wrote an article explaining the true meaning of the holiday.
A week later, Rev. Matthew Johnson, senior minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Rockford, wrote a column stating, in essence, that if Ald. Durkee was a theologian like him, “with two academic degrees in theology,” he would have told his audience to “find the importance of Jesus not in a story of his resurrection but in his teachings.”
The Rev. went on to reassure us of the soundness of his position by stating “Contra C.S. Lewis, we agree with Theodore Parker that the truth of an ethical claim is its truth and consequence, not a miracle story about the teacher.”
What?!
He wants us to dismiss C.S. Lewis, one of the best thinkers of our time, for some mumbo-jumbo.
Your turn: Shalom is found in the true message of Easter
Your turn: Faith has many faces. Celebrate pluralism next Easter
Technically, Parker’s assertion is a rhetorical tautology — hung on an empty phrase. Or, to explain it more clearly: Parker never says what truth is. He says truth does not come from a story, which establishes nothing about what truth is, and he says that ethical truth comes from “truth and consequence” which is blather. ... Is Rev. Johnson saying that certified theologians like him depend on smoke and mirrors? Such is not the substance of true Christian theology.
The Rev. then goes on to tell us that “Universalist [is a term saying] loudly that no one is excluded.”
But, after a long, twisted misrepresentation of Christianity, which on the other hand Ald. Durkee presented without distortion, the Rev. excludes Ald. Durkee from his blessing.
In other words, the Rev., based on Universalism, will include anyone and everyone except those he thinks should be excluded. Right!
The celebration Christians have at Easter is not about faith. It is about a historical, material fact, the resurrection of the body of Jesus, the man from Nazareth.
Thus, a celebration of pluralism can never be called Easter. Celebrations of pluralism can take place on other days, but Easter is about death being conquered.
And, if pluralism is to be regarded so highly, should not he have allowed that nothing is more pluralistic than death and the conquering of death?
Rev. Johnson wrote, “…the importance of Jesus ... is in his teachings….” But, Rev. Johnson would have us nullify that importance and sabotage the body of Jesus’ teaching by considering ourselves qualified to select which teachings are to be ignored and which are to be obeyed.
Among the things Jesus taught was, “I am the truth and the life and no one comes to Father God except by way of me.”
In other words, contrary to various claims in the world, Jesus taught that no person can become part of God’s family without Jesus being involved.
Now, if Jesus was wrong about that, what worth can there be in any of his other teachings?
If someone lies about one thing, you surely cannot rely on that person to tell you when they are lying about anything else. Either our closeness to God is dependent on Jesus knowing us or it is not. There is no in between.
Christianity did not come about as a movement to memorialize Jesus’ teachings; rather, the Christian religion came about when hundreds of people who knew Jesus before his crucifixion saw him alive after he died and then talked with him and ate with him.
Christianity, first of all, memorializes his conquering of death. Thus, it is because of that Christians follow his teachings, not the other way round.
Rev. Johnson has a diminutive view of religion. He speaks as though religion is all about relief from the discomforts of life.
But why limit religion to that when Jesus showed the world that he is, as he said, the way, the truth and life, even to the point of living past death?
Donald Woolery is a retired architect residing in Rockford. He holds two patents and a Master of Divinity degree.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Your turn: Why limit religion?
