Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
19 April 2011
Christianity Part Eight
SALVATION ARMY
William Booth started the Salvation Army in England in 1865. He was a Methodist preacher,
and he didn’t think 
the church was doing enough for the poor and the outcasts of
society.
The Army came to Canada in 1882 and very quickly established itself and its social welfare mission across the country.
The “Sally Ann,” as it’s popularly known, held noisy, exuberant, “hallelujah joy-
Today, The Salvation Army operates Grace hospitals, addiction centres for alcoholics, Sunset lodges for seniors. It does drug addiction counselling, works with the homeless, and offers a willing hand to anyone in need. There are about 125,000 Salvation Army members in Canada.
According to the Army, in one year it:
- provided 6,300 shelter, addictions, detox, and mental health beds for vulnerable men, women, and families in Canada;
- served 2.1 million meals; and,
- assisted 994,000 persons with food, clothing, or practical assistance.
SEVENTH-
William Miller (1782-
When the end didn’t happen on cue, another calculation was made. Finally, an Adventist
follower said that 1844 marked only the beginning of an investigative judgement.
This is a time when Christ will judge the dead and the living on Earth for righteousness.
She predicted that this would soon be followed by the Second Coming of Jesus.
Seventh-
Eternal life in a new world is a gift which God will give only to righteous Christians; the rest will be annihilated. Thus, they do not believe that a person goes to Heaven or Hell immediately upon death.
They believe the Second Coming of Christ is close. Believers should be ready at all times to be removed from Earth to be with God in Heaven; others will be destroyed by Christ.
Righteous Christians who had previously died will be resurrected at that time and taken to Heaven. For the next 1,000 years, only Satan and his angels will be living on Earth.
A second resurrection will occur at the end of that period. The righteous will then return to a cleansed Earth, and establish the New Jerusalem. The unrighteous who died before the Second Coming will be resurrected and be consumed by fire and by God, along with Satan and his angels. The universe will then be free of sin and sinners.
Seventh-
Adventists promote plans to help people quit smoking and drinking alcohol. They sponsor
cooking classes, heart disease teams, narcotics education, and disaster relief teams.
There are hundreds of Seventh-
At the start of the 21st century the church had more 10 million members worldwide.
This has grown steadily to 16 million in 2009. It is said that more than 25 million
people attend Seventh-
In Canada, there are 62,500 Seventh-
UNITARIANS
The origins of this denomination can be traced back to 16th century Europe.
Unitarianism asserts that God is one person, the Father, rather than three persons in one, as the doctrine of the Trinity holds.
As significant has been the Unitarian confidence in the reasoning and moral abilities
of people -
Unitarians say they offer “a life-
UNITED CHURCH
In 1925, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, Canada’s Congregational Churches, and the General Council of Local Union Churches joined to form the United Church of Canada.
The United Church is, in general, the most liberal Protestant denomination; congregations are free to choose their own style of worship.
The United Church is often outspoken on moral and social issues, sometimes at the expense of dividing its own congregations. One example being its support for ordaining homosexuals.
It is the only “Made in Canada” Protestant Church, and it is the country’s largest with 3,093,120 members, according to the 1991 Census. However, this number dropped to 2,839,125 by 2001 showing a decline of 8.2%.
UNITY CHURCH
Charles and Myrtle Fillmore (below) got things going in the late 
1880s when they
began publishing a magazine called Modern Thought, eventually, it changed its name
to Unity.
The Unity Church values the inspiration and progress made by all the great religions of the world especially Christianity from which it gets most of its beliefs.
The United Church of Canada swallowed up some Unity Church congregations in 1925, but others journeyed on. The movement underwent something of a revival in the late 1970s.
They have abandoned the popular image that God 
is a elderly, superhuman male with
a white flowing beard who lives in a remote place “up there.” They do not look upon
God as a deity to be feared.
One fundamental attribute of God is that He is good. We are created to be “healthy, happy, prosperous, loved and loving, courageous and strong.” If we fall short of these goals, it is because we have separated our mind from God, and allowed negative thoughts to intrude.
God is within each one of us; he is directly accessible. We need only to quietly turn within ourselves to contact Him.
Unity also believes that God exists in all things. He is present throughout creation: in humans, plants, animals, the earth itself, etc.
They believe that Jesus is not a God, pointing out that at no time did Jesus tell his disciples to worship him. Rather, they look upon Jesus as a great healer, miracle worker, and mystic who had a direct access to God.
Sources used in this series
Religions in Canada, Directorate of Human Rights and Diversity, Government of Canada.
The Encyclopedia of World Religions, Robert S. Ellwood (ed.) Facts on File, 1998.
Religion for Dummies, Rabbi Marc Gellman and Monsignor Thomas Hartman, For Dummies Publishing, 2002.
Religious Tolerance, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Religion, CBC Montreal
Return to Christianity Part Seven
More to come
© Canada and the World, April 2011
All rights reserved
FESTIVALS
Christians observe many special dates throughout the year, some being more important to some branches than others. The major festivals are:
Lent. A period of repentance and fasting leading up to Easter. Lent begins on the
seventh Wednesday before Easter -
Easter. The holiest festival in the Christian calendar, Easter marks the crucifixion
of Jesus on Good Friday and his resurrection three days later. Easter Sunday, which
commemorates the resurrection, is a celebration of the spiritual rebirth of believers.
It is a remembrance of the power of Christ to conquer death itself. Easter is celebrated
on the first Sunday after the full moon on or following 21 March. (According to the
Venerable Bede, the name Easter is derived from the pagan spring festival of the
Anglo-
Pentecost. The second most important Christian festival, Pentecost marks the gift of the Holy Ghost on the disciples of Jesus. Christians believe this gift places them in union with Jesus Christ, who, through the Holy Ghost, guides, upholds, comforts, and enlightens the faithful on Earth. Pentecost is celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter.
Advent. This festival begins on the Wednesday nearest 30 November, and marks the period leading up to Christmas.
Christmas. A celebration of the birth of Jesus, Christmas was not widely accepted until the 4th century. In the Western world, the religious nature of this festival has been largely eclipsed by commercialism in the form of gift giving and parties.
Epiphany. On 6 January, Christians mark the visit of the wise men to the newborn Jesus. This also commemorates the Baptism of Jesus and his first miracle, the turning of water into wine. These three events are seen as examples of the manifestation of Jesus in the world.
In its hundreds of
different translations, the Holy Bible is the most widely
distributed book
in human history..
The Salvation Army
motto is “With heart to God, and hand to man.”
Seventh-
Adventists follow the Old Testament
practice of observing Saturday as their
Sabbath (from Friday sunset to Saturday
sunset). They accepted this from the Seventh Day Baptist church
in the 19th century.