Salvation

From the Hebrew Scriptures, the Book of Daniel (12: 2-3): Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

From the Koran (89:27-30): O soul at peace, return unto thy Lord, well pleased, well pleasing! Enter thou among My servants! Enter thou My Paradise.

From the Bhagavadgita (8:6): Moreover, whatever state of being he remembers when he gives up the body at the end, he goes respectively to that state of being; transformed into that state of being.

From the Christian Bible, the Book of John (3:16): For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

Salvation. So many religious beliefs reward faith and righteousness with a promise of eternal life; a continuity of the mind, of the body, or of the spirit; or some combination of these. Our Universalist cousins get their name from their outlook on salvation. They believe salvation is universal. Everybody gets to heaven. But we Unitarians make no promise about an afterlife. Such a promise is just not consistent with the rational science on which we¹ve learned to depend. We as a faith community seldom use the words, salvation; eternal life ­ or heaven. Many of us find some comfort in our potential capacity to live on through our children; through our influence; or through our legacies. But the notion of individual consciousness after death is usually deemed unknowable or is rejected outright. So does Unitarian discourse on the subject of salvation make sense?

In the face of violence; war; injustices; carelessness toward our planet; and the irrational use of rational science, the survival of our species often seems in jeopardy. Our seven Unitarian Principles speak implicitly toward a means of a collective salvation ­ a continuity of humanity. From our assertion of the worth and dignity of every person; to a goal of world community; to the respect for the interdependent web of all existence, these affirmations are constant reminders for us to protect the future of humankind ­ to work for its salvation. We have covenanted to use our seven principles as guides in our individual and collective actions.

So when we Unitarians speak of salvation, we can consider ourselves as individual agents of a collective effort to literally save humanity. I believe it is that which we often refer to as the spark of the divine in each of us, that ultimately motivates us to follow the course mapped by these principles. It is this spark of the divine that stimulates that which is uniquely human in each of us ­ the ability to empathize and to love. And it is these uniquely human qualities that can lead to the salvation of future generations.

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