The United Church “of Christ” is Not the Church of Christ – Part 1

The United Church “of Christ” shies away from making a united statement of faith accepting the deity of Christ. The United Church “of Christ” excludes reference to Jesus’ deity in their “Statement of Faith” stating,

“We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father, and to his deeds we testify:

He calls the worlds into being, creates man in his own image and sets before him the ways of life and death” (“Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ.” United Church of Christ. 3 Apr 2012. <ucc.org/beliefs/statement-of-faith.html>).

If you think that I’m reading too much into this, then consider further. Answering “Is Jesus God?“, the United Church “of Christ” states,

“Jesus is not God, but God is like Jesus. Life is full of mystery and much we cannot explain. But in Jesus we see that, at the heart of it all, God’s love pulses and often surprises us, turning many a grim situation upside down.

While the church has debated the doctrine of Jesus’ divinity, the New Testament is not doctrine. And the Bible is not theology: it’s an anthology of stories about God often culminating in twist endings that bring O’Henry to mind. In these narratives we see God imperfectly, ‘as in a mirror dimly.’ But we still see” (Green, William C. “Is Jesus God?” United Church of Christ. 21 July 2010.daily-devotional/is-jesus-god.html>).

The UCC is upfront that they don’t accept the Bible literally. Regarding Jesus, the United Church “of Christ” calls into question the perfection of Jesus by teaching, “Jesus and the Canaanite Woman, Matthew 15:21-28 – The Son of God gets taught a thing or two by a foreign woman full of humor, strength, and smarts” (Caldwell, Quinn G. “Twelve Great Reads.” The Bible and the United Church of Christ. 3 Apr 2012.lcm/Bible-and-the-UCC-FINAL-2.pdf>).

Therefore, the United Church “of Christ” rejects Jesus’ words about creation,

“Thankfully, creationism and intelligent design are not the only responses to evolutionary biology available to our Christian faith. Ever since Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species rolled off the presses in 1859, theologians, philosophers, and scientists have struggled to reconcile his theory and its subsequent elaborations with Christian thought. Like generations of Christian thinkers before Darwin, many have seen scripture and nature as two books of revelation, one special and one general, which are not contradictory but complementary in revealing God’s relation to the world. Many have recognized that Genesis does not purport to be a scientific treatise, and that to read it as such does not enrich science but rather impoverishes the Bible of its much richer moral, metaphorical, and even metaphysical meanings. Ironically, young-earth creationism arose decades after Darwin as a fundamentalist reaction to the growing acceptance of evolution in liberal theology; and intelligent design theory has arisen only in the last two decades as a reaction to the failure of creation science to win respect in the academy and the courts” (Schaal, Jim M. Div. “An Evolving Faith,” 26 Apr 2006. UCC. 3 Apr 2012.not-mutually-exclusive/pdfs/sermon2.pdf>).

How is evolution contrary to Jesus? Jesus said in Matthew 19:4, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female'”? Where would this be read? Genesis 1:27 states, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Mark supplements in his gospel and Jesus said, “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female'” (10:6). When did Jesus say that God made man and woman? It was “from the beginning”. Should we trust Darwin or Jesus? Man and woman did not evolve from simple organisms. Otherwise, when would man or woman have received a soul, been made in the image of God, or received virtue not invented by man for survival? Or, should we not hold “these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”?

Are these of the United Church “of Christ” without excuse? The Spirit of Christ stated, “For since the creation of the world His [God’s] invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and deity, so that they are without excuse,” (Rom. 1:20). Since when has man been without excuse to see the attributes of God’s power and deity in creation? It is “since the creation of the world”.

Should we doubt the deity of Christ? Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting” (Micah 5:2). “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”, (Isaiah 9:6). “Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit Have sent Me“, (Isaiah 48:16, cf. 61:1).

Genesis 1:1 states, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Christ’s Spirit states,

“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Col. 1:16-17).