Christian Universalism and Unitarian Universalism

Alright, so here we are. Over the past week, I wrote about stepping away from practicing Christianity and from viewing Jesus as God.

I’m still wrestling with it, starting from ground zero and building my way from there.

There’s a lot to learn, and by no way do I have all the answers. I do feel, though, in my journey of faith and living, I have a responsibility for how I treat my neighbor and the decisions I make.

I also have an incredible responsibility for my health. I say that because over the past week, I’ve drunk alcohol and smoked weed.

It was an escape, and it allowed me not to think about the stuff I wrote about and to live in the moment.

So I don’t know if that helps my credibility of what I say or makes me human. Now I realized I don’t want to make a practice of drinking alcohol or smoking weed. Only because it doesn’t help with my schizoaffective disorder, and I have to be honest about that.

I’ve worked so hard to remain in remission and be out of the hospital, and I’ve come a long way in understanding my psychosis and my delusions.

All that to say, I’m here today returning to the Source and thinking through making wise decisions moving forward.

Now, I’m almost six weeks sober from practicing porn and about a week sober from not smoking cigarettes.

I don’t know what to believe yet. All I know is that I do believe in God, and I believe Jesus was a real Jewish teacher.

Whether he was God in the flesh, I don’t believe that now, nor do I believe I have to worship him.

HOWEVER, I do want to continue to study the New Testament and study the life of Jesus. It’s not all or nothing, or at least I don’t want to practice all or nothing.

I find that Christianity is a language. It’s a language that I have grown up in, and it has allowed me to make a lot of friends and share the human experience with strangers.

Because it’s a language to me, I want to become as fluent as possible because there are billions of people out that practice Christianity.

It allows me to have empathy for my neighbor.

Now you might say there are other worldviews out there too. I want to be fluent in all religions too. I’ve become a student of Judaism, and it’s one of my favorite worldviews to study and attempt to practice to the best of my ability as a non-Jew.

Anyway, I wanted to share what I was learning today. I was doing more research into Unitarianism, and it’s very appealing to me since I don’t believe Jesus is God.

But then I started researching Unitarian Universalism, which is an interesting religion. From what I understand, it’s welcoming to all faiths and walks of life.

Now, I’m not ready to dive into that church, but I respect it.

What’s interesting is there aren’t many strictly Unitarian churches out there. The belief is that there is One God and that Jesus is not God. A majority, if not all, churches are Trinitarian, but some churches, like Jehovah's Witnesses, don’t believe in Jesus as God.

That’s a whole can of worms, and I’m sure I’ll write about experiences with the JWs because a few of my friends were practicing JWs.

Anyway, let’s get back to something I found interesting called Christian Universalism.

Unlike Unitarian Universalism, which drops all creeds and can feel a bit too unstructured or out-there for me, Christian Universalism stays rooted in the biblical narrative.

The core idea is simple: that God’s love and mercy are so complete that ultimately, all of creation and humanity will be restored or saved.

For a long time, I felt like the only choice was between rigid traditional Christianity (where most of humanity faces eternal torment) or walking away from the Bible entirely.

Realizing that early Church history and many Jewish traditions had a completely different view of God’s justice opened up a third option. It presents a God whose ultimate goal is restoration, not permanent condemnation.

I’m not signing my name on the dotted line of any new dogma today.

But exploring Christian Universalism helps me reframe the God I grew up with, moving away from a system based on fear and toward one based on ultimate love and responsibility.

And then I used to lean toward annihilationism, the idea that God eventually erases or destroys the souls who aren’t aligned with Him.

I used to think there wasn’t much biblical backing for it, but the deeper I look, the more I see it’s actually heavily supported in Scripture. The text constantly talks about the wicked “perishing,” “turning to ashes,” or being “destroyed soul and body”, not tortured forever in hellfire.

Even so, annihilationism still leaves me wrestling.

It implies that God ultimately destroys His own image over a lack of correct theology.

When you compare eternal conscious torment, annihilationism, and universal restoration, you realize the historical Bible presents a much wider, more complex conversation about justice than modern fear-driven preaching lets on.

At the end of the day, whether I’m studying Christian Universalism, learning from Jewish tradition, or maintaining my health routine, the goal is the same: stay grounded, take care of my mind and body, treat people well, and keep seeking truth without getting lost in the extremes.

Thanks for reading and being on this journey with me. More soon.