The Temple of the Tao of Christ (TTC) is a spiritual philosophy that sees each individual believer - the Temple adherent/ Taoist Christian - as the temple itself. 

TTC does not focus so much on ministry and fellowship in physical buildings of worship, but emphasizes private worship and study with fortnightly, monthly or bi-monthly communal worship within Taoist Christians' homes or in natural surroundings, usually where there are trees and water or open skies. 

Monthly/bi-monthly worship is typically led by a Minister of the TTC, who allows at least two or three members of the congregation/ commune to speak as they are led by God after a session of praise, worship and meditation. The Minister then speaks to the messages shared and invites the discussion of the wider congregation before preaching the sermon they have prepared, seeking God's guidance to relate all the messages as they share. Ministers of the TTC are fully trained in keeping with Article 15 of the Constitution of the Temple of the Tao of Christ and then are ordained first by the Universal Life Church, Church of the Latter-Day Dude, and the Church of Spiritual Humanism before being accepted and ordained as a Minister of the Temple of the Tao of Christ - such triple pre-ordination representing the three-fold heavenly witness of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the three-fold earthly witness of the spirit, water and blood as depicted in 1 John 5:7-8 in the Holy Bible.

Taoist Christians/Temple adherents (so called because they are both the temple and adherent to the Way) are guided by the TTC's 11 Statements of Belief and the 16 Tablets. These are the guidelines and the lynchpin of our faith and philosophy.

Our Beliefs - The 11 Statements of Belief

Our beliefs are described in the 11 Statements of Belief below:

Belief 1: All Religions are from God

We believe that all divine revelations are from God and all religions serve specific purposes for specific peoples in specific time/ages, but may be applied to multiple persons and times and places, since they come from the Divine.

Belief 2: Everything that Exists is God in Being; an Extension/Manifestation of God

The universe, existence is God in being. God 'spoke' things into being and, by 'speaking' it and willing it, God became the things that are created. Thus God exists both in and through creation, but at the same time, also exists outside of creation, space and time, in eternity.

Belief 3: Human Beings, as Extensions of God, are Able to Communicate with the Aspect of God Within

God is the universe because God became everything that is, but, at the same time, God exists outside the universe. All human beings are extensions of the universe - God existing in human form as a process of the universe's being - existing in specific points as a person. We are able to reach the God in us through meditation.

Belief 4: Faith, Prayer, Worship and Love Connect Us to the Energies of God Outside of and Throughout the Universe.

We communicate with the aspect of God outside the universe through faith, prayer and worship, and we touch the aspect of God within others and allow the energies of God outside and within the universe to fill us through understanding, love, compassion, and good will towards others.

Belief 5: The Most Complete Revelation is Found in Jesus Christ/the Bible, and the Most Comprehensive Path for Our Times is Found in Christianity and the Tao (as viewed through The Secret Sayings of Ye Su), and the Baha'i Faith

All major world religions and their holy books are true - at least, for a certain time in a certain place for a certain people in a certain context, and for specific and general reasons within that time, place and socio-cultural and socio-psychological context, and these scriptures and revelations have met their purpose, although they were tainted by the personal biases and perspectives of the vessels/emissaries that revealed them.

God has spoken to humanity in many ways, but we believe that the most complete revelation for a fulfilling life that honours God is found in the revelation of Jesus Christ as can be seen in the Gospels of the Holy Bible. And we believe that a complete comprehension of who and how God is, man's natural state and how the universe works, and our place in it, can be seen most clearly in the Christian Holy Bible, the Taoist Scriptures, most notably, the Tao Te Ching, and also in the Baha'i scriptures: the Kitab-i-Aqdas and Kitab-i-Iqan. The Secret Sayings of Ye Su unifies the messages of the Holy Bible and Tao Te Ching.

Belief 6: Everything Has a Season, and We Forget This as Well as Our True Natures

The universe follows certain patterns and phases and is always changing. Everything is always becoming and, in becoming, the universe sometimes forgets its true nature. We forget that we are more than we appear to be and more than we think and feel we are, more than our bodies, more than the circumstances and the things we see and feel around us and inside us. We get in touch with our true reality through connecting with God through meditation, faith, prayer, worship, positive belief, love and goodwill for others, and maintaining a wonder and appreciation for life experiences, nature, the gift of life itself and for others as extensions and processes of the universe and therefore, manifestations and extensions of God and parts of our wider selves.

Belief 7: The Phases and Seasons of Life and the Universe May Be Fairly Predicted like the Weather, but Faith in God is Supreme

The changes of the universe occur according to established seasons, patterns and phases. These seasons, patterns and phases follow certain sequences, laws and trends. These may be seen and examined through astrology, numerology, I Ching, the tarot and other methods. These are as dependable as a weather forecast, however, which foretells likely and most probable meteorological events based on signs and systems in the atmosphere, but are not always totally accurate and definitive or unchanging. Nevertheless, they do give a fairly good picture of what energies, phases and cycles are affecting a person or events beyond what we can see, and they reveal general reasons for who or what, why and how someone is and things are as they are in a given moment.

Humanity must not rely on these too much for living and ordering their lives, however, as the purpose of life is to enjoy the journey and make the best of it while seeking to fulfil our unique purposes and honour the majesty of God.

Opening our hearts to faith, our true desire, and focussed positive thoughts, as well as goodwill to others, opens our hearts and lives for God to change even the laws, patterns and cycles of nature and the universe to work good on our behalf. Faith, prayer, yearning, focussed thought, a heart of compassion and service, and proper planning avail much. Quieting of ego and desire, and submission to the will of God and the phases of the universe, however, brings peace and unity with existence.

Belief 8: Evil, Pain and Death are Necessary, though Unpleasant

As long as we exist in the temporal material plane, there must be opposites. There must be good and there must be evil. There is no light without darkness. There is no life without death. Without pain, there is no pleasure or relief. If there is male, there must be female.

As long as we exist within matter, time and space, there must be extremes, there must be complements, there must be balance. There cannot be, nor should there be any absence of pain, loss, fear, poverty, death and evil, for that is not the nature of existence - not while we exist on this plane. There must be two sides to a coin; two (or three) sides to a story. Duality is the essence of everything. Only when we have translated from time, space and matter to eternity, to that realm outside of creation, can we be without beginning and end, without maleness and femaleness, death or life, good or evil - one with the Oneness - God; the All and Nothing. Until then, we should accept the good with the bad in this mystic dance of being, and recognize that all is part of One that is All and the All that is One.

Belief 9: We Suffer Because of Our Ego and Desires... (Yet Desires Applied with Firm Belief Brings Us What We Need)

We suffer because of our desires and expectations, because of our attachments. We desire love and get hate or indifference, and so we get heartbroken and depressed. We desire peace and meet upon war or death, and so are conflicted within ourselves. If we but learn to recognize and accept that the unfortunate and unexpected, the evil and disturbing are all part of the pattern and process, we would be much better off.

We must have strong desire to act upon God in the ether - in and outside the universe - to give us what we desire as we form and execute plans towards our goals. The thing to do is to desire strongly, fervently and totally, without attachment. We must not get so attached to people, possessions and situations so that we cannot remove personally from them without great pain or a sense of loss of the self. Though we have access to all things, nothing is ours or owed to us - though we may partake of it in time when we apply the right energy.

We must trust the processes and will of the universe and the will of God to mean us good, even in the down times, and to bring our desires on track in a way that will best suit our purposes although we cannot see or comprehend it. We must be firm and resolute in our purpose, desire and belief, yet yielding to change and understanding in perceived loss and failure.

Belief 10: We Serve and Guide Each Other, and Learn from Each Other Without Judgment

We share and support one another's opinions, perspectives, feelings, experiences, strengths and weaknesses without judgment for we realize that through knowing each other, we get to know more about ourselves and to know God; through accepting others, we accept God.  We reach out to the God in others through love, compassion and goodwill, and also through honest communication and understanding, with a view to building each other, while we connect to the God within ourselves through meditation. Thus is God's plan manifested.

Belief 11: We Seek to Know God and His Will for Us, then Forge Our Own Path and Purpose, Based on Our Understanding and Connection of God

We read the Scriptures in order to have an understanding of God's nature and plan for us. Having seen a glimpse of God and knowing what is needed, we then seek our own purpose and craft our own life plan based on our own unique God-given motivations, dreams, talents and desires. We act, looking within ourselves and relying on God for guidance, opening ourselves to Divine guidance through the Word, prayer, meditation and an attitude of positive expectation and openness to learn from our experiences and environment in all that we do.

We recognize that while some methods and some religious and ritualistic practices appeal to some people, they may not appeal to others. What works for one, may not work for all. We are creators of our own happiness and purpose. The ultimate fulfilment is to know who we are in and of ourselves and in our particular contexts, to realize Who God is and who we are in God, and to forge our own destiny and happiness while making an impact on the world.