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with the Rev. John Bostock The Senior Minister of the Christian Unitarian Church
Q. “Good afternoon, and welcome to Reverend John Bostock the founder and Senior Minister of the Christian Unitarian Church, a new church in Galveston”.
A. “Thank you, it’s nice of you to invite me here”.
Q. “Reverend John, I have read your leaflet about the Christian Unitarian Church. You say that you do not believe in the traditional view of the trinity, why?”
A. “Well, I think that the traditional Christian churches have taken the concept too far. For instance, it seems that they are advocating three different gods that somehow form a single God, and yet at least one of them is a lesser god. This just doesn’t make sense to me. I believe in one God and one God only in the universe.”
Q. “But does that mean you don’t believe in Jesus?”
A. “It certainly does not mean that! I believe in Jesus. I believe that the message he gave us was a message from God that God wanted us to follow. I believe he was guided by God. Jesus himself never once said he was the son of God, other than in the sense of us all being children of God, he only ever said that he was “the son of man”. I do believe, however, as I said, that he was sent or “chosen” by God. That is why I call myself a Christian.”
Q.” But to be “Christian” surely you must believe that Jesus was the “Christ”?”
A. “Well, to answer that, first you must understand the meaning of the words used. “Christ” is a Greek word meaning “Messiah” which in turn is Hebrew for “Anointed one” meaning one who was anointed with oil, it does not mean annointed with the "Holy Spirit". Well of course Jesus was anointed with oil; it was a common practice by John the Baptist and others around that time. But having said that, I also believe that he was "annointed" by God to do God's work. To me, as long as you follow the teachings of Jesus, you are a Christian”
Q. “You say “One God in the universe”, does that mean that, if there is other life out there somewhere, our God is their God too?”
A. “Of course, He is not only our God and their God; He is the God of all. This means He is also the God of the animals that live on the earth with us and any life form that exists anywhere in the universe, even life forms that we may not recognize as life. I find it interesting that you said “if” there is life out there, I am certain that there is, out of all the billions of billions of stars in the universe it would be arrogant in the extreme to believe that we are the only planet with life. It says clearly in the Bible that God made the universe and all that live in it, why would he only put life here?”
Q. “So you believe that animals have souls?”
A. “Yes I do. I believe that all life has a soul. You can call it a soul or consciousness or what ever you want, I don’t believe you can separate life and soul; they are one and the same. Animals have feelings. Look, if you have a cat or a dog or a horse, you can watch them thinking and dreaming, you can also watch them making choices, so they must have thought which means they must have consciousness, if they have consciousness, they must have a soul.”
Q. “In your leaflet for the Christian Unitarian Free Church, you said, and I quote: “the phrase ‘Mary mother of God’ offends me”. Why does that offend you? Does the Catholic faith offend you?”
A. “No, the Catholic faith does not offend me. If it wasn’t for the Catholic Church there would be no Christianity. That is where all Christian faiths come from. I have the greatest respect for the Catholic faith and all religious that believe in the one God. Where I differ from the Catholics is that I do not think it is right to put a human (Mary) above God. God does not have a mother; He is the Mother and Father of all creation. I would be happier if they were to say “Mary mother of Jesus”, that would be much more accurate. On the same subject, I also think it is wrong to pray to Mary or any other Saint, it clearly says in the Bible that you must pray directly to God, “talk to God and he will answer”, by praying to, or through someone else you are effectively saying that they are also a god, this is not how it should be.”
Q. “So you don’t believe in the concept of patron Saints?”
A. “No I don’t. I don’t think it is up to human beings, even the Pope, to decide if someone is a saint or not. And who is to say what their job is after they die? Certainly not the Pope that is God’s decision.”
Q. “What about the other two big religions, Jewish and Islamic?”
A. “Judaism is the mother of both Christianity and Islam. Abraham was the father of Judaism, and all three of these religions are what is known as “Abrahamic” religions, because Abraham was the one that put it all together and came up with One God who is still known in some religions as the “God of Abraham”. The Jewish Torah forms the first testament of our Holy Bible and an integral part of the Islamic Quran. All three accept the existence of the principle players in the others, for example, both the Jewish and Islamic religions accept the existence of Jesus, although the
Jews do not accept that Jesus was the messiah, and both the Jewish and Christian Religions accept the existence of the prophet Muhammad. The only difference between them is whose message they follow to get to the same God.” The largest religion in the world is Christianity (33%) followed by Islam (20%), Judaism is 8th largest (0.23%).
Q. “So you have no problem with either of them?”
A. “As I said I have great respect for all religious beliefs that are centered on the One God and advocate peace and respect for others. Only God can say who is right. Who knows, we may all be wrong - but I doubt it”
Q. “Just one last question. Do you think that the Bible is the word of God?”
A. “That is probably the most difficult question to answer. Do I believe that the Bible was written by God? No of course not. - Do I believe that it was inspired of God? Yes of course. - Do I think it contains the words of God? In many places, yes. The Bible even tells you which is the word of God by saying "and God said".
The Bible, or should I say, the books that make up our Bible were written by many different people in different languages at different times, they have been translated into ancient Greek, Latin then old English then more modern English, played around with by the Vatican and various Popes and Kings etc. So do I believe it is the exact words used? No I don’t, but I do believe that it has survived pretty well intact and it is the best book available to guide us through this life and, after this life is over, into an everlasting life with God.”
“Rev. John Bostock, Senior Minister of the Christian Unitarian Church, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with me.”
“My Pleasure, thank you for listening to me.”
minister@christianunitarian.org
