CUL:Unitarianism - The Doctrine of Reason  by Harold J. Berry

   (This article is taken from the book "Examining the Cults" by Harold
J. Berry.)

   Unitarianism, as we know it today, developed out of opposition to
Puritanism in the New England states. This reaction against Puritan
doctrines and practices led religious freethinkers to the belief that
no truth is absolute; therefore, they concluded, it is impossible to
establish a standard which should be kept by all men. These reaction-
aries took the emphasis from God and put it on man himself, teaching
that all life revolves around man. Unitarianism is basically a man-
centered religious philosophy--not a Christ-centered Christian faith.

   HISTORY OF UNITARIANISM

   Unitarianism began with denials of certain doctrines of historic
Christianity. The main denial was of the teaching that man is totally
depraved and is incapable of doing anything to merit salvation before
God. Historic Christianity teaches that salvation can be obtained only
by receiving it as a gift. In denying the total depravity of mankind,
beginning Unitarianism was denying a basic teaching of the word of God.
This truth is set forth in such passages as Ephesians 2:1, which
declares unbelievers to be "dead in trespasses and sins".

   Men who first lifted their voices against the historical theological
beliefs of their day and who were looked to as leaders in the early
Unitarianism movement were Jonathan Mayhew (1720-1766) and William
Channing (1780-1842).

   Mayhew was the minister of the West Church in Boston from 1747 until
his death. Many consider this church to have been the first Unitarian
Congregational Church in New England. Mayhew's liberal views led to his
expulsion from the Boston association of Congregational ministers.

   During the early years of William Channing's ministry, the Unitarian
controversy was raging in the Congregational Church, and many
Congregationalists became anti-Trinitarian and anti-Calvinistic in
their beliefs. Channing placed his influence with the liberal group and
became its recognized leader from 1810 onward.

   It is significant that while both Mayhew and Channing were con-
cerned with religious issues, they majored in the social problems of
their day rather than the theology of the word of God. In the book,
"Unitarianism in America", the Unitarians admit that "Dr. Mayhew
accepted without equivocation the right of private judgment and
religion, and he practiced it judicially and with wise insight. He
unhesitatingly applied the rational method to all theological problems,
and to him reason was the final court of appeal for every- thing
connected with religion"(pp.62, 63).

   We refrain from referring to the teaching of the Unitarians as being
"beliefs" or "doctrines" since it is a basic unwritten creed of the
Unitarians that they do not believe in creeds; therefore, their views
are not set forward as a doctrinal statement. This reveals their
thinking that all truth is relative and that no one truth should be
binding upon all. However, it is apparent when reading their books that
they do have some very definite beliefs--even if those beliefs take the
form of denials. Revealing the Unitarian hesitancy to place their views
into a formal statement, Jack Mendelsohn states in his book:"I am
willing to call myself a Christian only if in the next I am permitted
to say in varying degrees I am also a Jew, a Hindu, a Moslem, a
Buddhist, a Stoic, and an admirer of Akhenaten, Zoroaster, Confucius,
Lao-Tse and Socrates"(Why I am a Unitarian, p.68).

   THE WORD OF GOD

   The Unitarians are unable to accept a creed based on the Bible
because they do not accept the Bible itself. Mr. Mendelsohn, minister
of the Arlington Street Church in Boston when his book, "Why I am a
Unitarian", was published in 1960, says, "Churches,Bibles and creeds
are the creations of men who once exercised their freedom to create.
(p.37).

   It is the opinion of Unitarians that Protestants manufactured the
belief of an infallible Bible during the 17th century in order to
combat the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church (Unitarianism-Its
Origin and and History, p.276). This is not an accurate statement,
since the belief that God's Word is without error has been in existence
since God first spoke to man. Historic Christianity accepts the Bible
as the inspired Word of God (II Tim.3:16) and the authors of the
Scriptures as men who were moved and controlled by the Holy Spirit as
they wrote (IIPet.1:21).

   Mendelsohn's opinion of the Bible is that it "is replete with
inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and errors" (p.125). Many have made such
accusations against the Word of God, but after centuries of attack the
Bible still remains a valid historical document but also a revelation
of God"s way of salvation for those who place their trust in Him as
Saviour. Although a superficial reading of the Bible might make some
passages seem contradictory, a careful study reveals that the Bible
fits together as a unit without any inaccuracies. Things predicted many
years in advance have been literally fulfilled, which would not have
been the case if the Bible were not the Word of God.

   THE SON OF GOD

   Unitarians do not believe that Jesus Christ is God. William Channing
"objected to the doctrine of the Trinity, holding that Christ was sent
to earth as a great moral teacher rather than as a mediator" (Who Was
Who in Church History, p.83). Unitarian author Jack Mendelsohn believes
that Christ's followers claimed more for Christ than Christ did for
Himself. In "Why I am a Unitarian" Mr. Mendelsohn writes: "Most
Unitarians believe that on the basis of the evidence available to us,
Jesus, at most, thought of himself as the Jewish Messiah. It was later
followers and interpreters, like the Apostle Paul, who transformed
Jesus into a Christian Saviour atoning to God for the sins of mankind"
(p.43).

   The Unitarians are greatly disturbed even when the World Council of
Churches speaks of Christ as being the answer to the world's need,
although the World Council does not refer to Christ in the sense used
in the scriptures. Mendelsohn speaks for the Unitarians when he says,
"We know that a theological Christ is not the hope of the world made up
in large part of people who will never be Christians" (Why I am a
Unitarian p.72).

   The Scriptures teach that Jesus Christ existed as God but that He
gave up the outer manifestation of His attributes in order to come to
earth and take on the form of mankind so He might die on the cross
(Phil.2:5-8). After His death He was highly exalted by the Father in
order that "every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father" (Phil.2:11). The Scriptures are referring
to those that deny the deity of Christ when they declare: "No man can
say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost" (I Cor.12:3).

   SALVATION

   Since Unitarians deny the deity of Christ, it is to be expected that
they would also deny the possibility of receiving salvation through
accepting Christ as Saviour. In commenting on the Apostle Paul's answer
to the Phillippian jailer, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shall be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:31), Mendelsohn says, "Here was
the track of authoritarianism on which Orthodox Christianity would run
from Paul's day to our own. It did not occur to Paul that the jailer
might have some thoughts and insights of his own worth probing and
nurturing. Paul saw no reason whatever for encouraging the man to
think, to use his own mind, to exercise his reason, to ponder the
experiences of heart and conscious for satisfying religious answers.
Paul said none of the words that might have moved Christianity in the
direction of freedom and personal responsibility . Instead he uttered a
dogma. He said, in effect,that this is not something to discuss, to
weigh, to test by experience. No, this is simply something that you
will accept. Unitarians will have none of it" (Why I am a Unitarian,
pp.29,30). Because of holding such views, the Unitarians feel free to
attack even the inspired authors of the Scriptures. Unitarians do so
because they consider the Bible to be only a work of man as any other
book. To deny that salvation is through Christ alone is to deny the
authority of God's word.

   In speaking of those who believe in the teaching of salvation,
Mendelsohn admits, "Unitarians speak warmly of salvation also, but in
terms of character. We prefer to think of it as an achievement
dependent on deeds rather than creeds" (Why I am a Unitarian, p.28).
Thus, Unitarianism is a system which presents self-salvation.

   Salvation to them, however, is not salvation from a condemnation in
hell, because they do not believe that a loving God would ever send
anyone to hell. Unitarians are "universalists" in as much as they
accept the teaching that someday everyone will be in right relationship
to God. However, the Scriptures teach that God sent His Son to die on
the cross for sinners and that only those who receive Him as Saviour
will be delivered from condemnation (John 3:16-18). To refuse God's Son
is to refuse God's love. Those whose names are not written in the book
of life will someday be "cast into the lake of fire" (Rev.20:15).

   MISSIONS

   Since the Unitarians do not believe that man is in need of
salvation--other than a development of character--they do not see the
need of missions in order to evangelize the world. In his book "Why I
am a Unitarian", Mendelsohn writes in behalf of the Unitarians when he
states: "By deliberate choice we send no missionaries over the face of
the earth to convert others to our way of believing... We generally
feel that people of other religions have as much to teach us as we have
to teach them"(p.147).

   Christianity admittedly is more than a creed--it is a right
relationship with the Person Jesus Christ and the realization that
salvation is found only in Him. The Unitarians are not Christians in
the biblical sense of the word because they do not believe in salvation
through Christ. Theirs is a salvation of character with no creedal
statement based on the Scriptures. Their belief allows every man to do
whatever is right in his own eyes, and as long as he is sincere, the
Unitarians must say that he is right.

   Unitarianism is extreme liberal theology, for it denies most of the
historical beliefs of Christianity as presented in the Word of God. Not
all Unitarians are in Unitarian churches, for there are many who
believe in the liberal theology of the Unitarians who are in other
churches not called "Unitarian".

   The basic need of the Unitarianis to realize that the Bible is God's
Word; and if he believes this truth, he will recognize the deity of
Christ, that salvation is only by grace through faith in CHrist, and
that there is eternal condemnation awaiting those who rejects God's Son
as Savior.
