| Here is a brief description from the introduction to Rev. Ricky’s “What I Believe” curriculum. |
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Introduction to “What I Believe”
By Rev. Ricky Hoyt |
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| I commonly see people go through an evolution in their relationship to religion, spirituality, and the questions of theology. |
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| The first step in the evolution is Tradition. This is where we learn the beliefs developed historically among the members of our birth faith. Even those of us raised in secular households still inherited a constellation of attitudes and opinions: a worldview that created our first description of reality: our beliefs. Children, because they’re children, even when they have well-educated, responsible, religious teachers available, learn a simplified version rather than the best of their tradition. Unfortunately, this simplified introduction to religion almost inevitably causes problems later. |
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| So step two is Doubt. We notice the problems and contradictions in the simplified theology we've been taught. It doesn’t make sense, or it doesn’t fit with our world today and our lives right now. We start to ask questions, and may reject the notion of religion altogether. It's easy to get stuck in doubt and never return to spirituality. But it’s also important to note that what we’re rejecting at this stage is a children’s theology, not a mature theology. |
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| Step three is Spirituality. Questioning or rejecting the traditional religious beliefs we still find ourselves spiritually hungry. We church shop, try meditating, take up yoga, or read new age books. The task of this stage is to find an alternative belief system that satisfies our spiritual intuitions without betraying our reason or our need for relevance. |
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| This course is a resource for people who have entered the third stage of spiritual evolution and are looking for guidance. In seven weeks the course lays out a framework for developing spiritual beliefs, then fills in the framework with the significant spiritual issues and concerns. |
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| Each week during the class session I present ideas and exercises designed to draw out the deeper considerations of the spiritual questions. Between classes the students read a short essay to inspire their thinking and complete a writing assignment asking them to come to articulate their belief about that question. |
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| The goal of the course is to finish with a written document where students have considered most of the significant questions of theology and developed their own answers. I provide some tools during the last session to help students evaluate the adequacy and coherence of their beliefs, but it isn’t the goal of the class to teach the right set of beliefs, but for the student to develop their own set of beliefs. |
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| By the way, there is for many people a fourth stage of theological evolution. That’s a return to tradition, but now a tradition in which the subtleties and depth of the religion have superseded the childhood beliefs. |
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| This course may help you reclaim your original faith, or lead you toward an entirely new faith. In either case you will discover what you believe: solid and satisfying beliefs you can claim unreservedly as your own. |
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