The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Statement of Faith

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#1

Our discussion at GM’s Blog has raised several issues concerning this subject.

  1. Q.socne wrote
    I would love such an environment to exist, but I wouldn’t be able to participate if it had a statement of faith. I left evangelicalism largely because of suffering and hell. Christian Universalism would help hugely with those issues so I would really appreciate being able to discuss these things openly and fairly. By all means have a “Holy Huddle” area but an open area would be really appreciated.

Before a Statement of faith is drawn out perhaps we should discuss Q’s concern. I believe this is similar to GM’s concern on creating too strict of a board.

I do want to ask this question to Q.socne and others. Even if we wrote out a statement of faith for the site, does that mean only those who adhere to the statement of faith can participate?

If we affirm the above then I agree it is too strict. My vote is to move forard with a statement of faith but allow Q.socne and others to participate in an open area.

A closed area for EVU subscribers is very much doable…I think :smiley:

Gene

#2

Q.SocNE = Qohelet!

Thanks for thinking of me (and others). I think it would be great to have an EU area and then perhaps 2 different areas - one for EU&Other Christians to dialogue and another for EU&Non Christians to dialogue. Just a suggestion.

You might just want to keep this site as mainly a community thing for EUs though.

#3

Gene,

I agree that we can have a statement of faith but not make belief in the statement a requirement for participation in the forum. For example, I would like to dialog with more than Evangelical Universalists while we keep it clear that the purpose of the board is discussions related to EU. For example, I’d love to dialog with non-theists, Evangelicals who want to challenge Evangelical Universalism, and Universalists who reject Evangelicalism.

Blessings,

#4

I agree with the general direction of this conversation. I think that the site should pin its colors to the mast and explain a minimal definition of ‘evangelical universalism’ but that it should be an area where those who may not hold to that position but are interested in some open-hearted discussion on it can participate.

My inclination is not to have a special zone for the EU believers and another open area. I’d have all areas open - to start with at least (things may develop such that we need a members-only area). EU-believers will be able to discuss with each other even if others can join in.

#5

We’re gonna have to give it a few weeks to establish this. Meanwhile, if anyone has any objections to Mcdonalds point, please state so.

Aug

#6

I want to explain why the actual home page is a directory. I purposefully put the forum into a subdirectory because I want to create a few pages which has brief explanations of what we do embrace as EU’ists.

I am already working on a small piece and will get feedback from everyone.

However, even in doing so (putting our colors on our mast) we can leave the forum open to start if no one does object and make a great case for it.

Sincerely,

Gene

#7

Gene and GM, I agree with your direction.

#8

Ok how do we go about this. Perhaps we should start point by point.

Aug

#9

I think a statement of faith is a good thing, but the site should have forum guidelines and forums open to non-Christians (after all we are an “evangelical” religion). Obviously this is a more focused site than general Christian forums; however, I still think there should be forums where the site can attract a broad spectrum of people. I also agree with the consensus that all forums should be public; however, with guidelines (for instance, someone cannot go onto a universalist forum and deride universalism as heresy or use similar harsh language). Obviously there also has to be general profanity prohibitions (perhaps this already exists)?

To some Christianity isn’t the good news we think it is – however, some of the perspectives on this board might convey it as “even better news” – in other words, say someone is an atheist, raised in the church, but the idea of hell tormented him or her. Well, perhaps this fresh perspective might bring them back? So I think it would be a mistake to not recognize the potential value of this tool God has given us. The next job is making sure it ranks high on Google & Yahoo searches when people run a search on Christian universalism (not overly difficult). There are virtually no good universalist forums (at least “Christian” universalist forums) out there. Most of the ones I’ve seen are Unitarian forums – although there are a few Christian universalist congregations out there.

My two cents