A statement of faith:
As deconstructed as my faith has become I still have foundational beliefs. This is the Nicene Creed and it is stuck up on our study wall and I read it most days and it encompasses those foundations. I thought I would share.
- I believe in one God the Father Almighty,
- Maker of heaven and earth,
- And of all things visible and invisible:
- And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,
- Begotten of his Father before all worlds,
- God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God
- Begotten, not made,
- Being of one substance with the Father,
- By whom all things were made;
- Who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven,
- And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary,
- And was made man,
- And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.
- He suffered and was buried,
- And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures,
- And ascended into heaven,
- And sits on the right hand of the Father.
- And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead:
- Whose kingdom shall have no end.
- And I believe in the Holy Spirit,
- The Lord and giver of life,
- Who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
- Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified,
- Who spoke by the Prophets.
- And I believe in the gathering of believers for fellowship
- I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins.
- And I look for the Resurrection of the dead,
- And the life of the world to come.
- Amen
- Maker of heaven and earth,
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2 Comments»
jON
10. November 2008 | 03:42 hyou know i actually ran across the nicene creed in some personal study last year. i found out something very interesting about it. well, at least *I* think it’s interesting.
the statement: “Begotten, not made,
Being of one substance with the Father,”
was included as a political move on the part of the council. as a matter of fact, if i understand the story correctly, the entire coucil was called to gether for this very reason.
there was a man named Arius who was causing concern among the leadership because he believed that jesus did not exist from all eternity and that he was created like everything else. i could go on with the history, but the link tells the story if you’re interested.
what fascinated me about this is that even 1700 years ago, the church body was rife with politics and polarization. for some reason we are lead to believe that “back then” everything was coherant and inspired and true. but in reality, what has been passed down to us is not “what’s true” but simply “what was approved by the political structure as true.”
by seeing those parallels in my own day and age, it helped me to learn to take the “creeds” with a grain of salt and instead of leaning on other humans for my perspectives and beliefs, doing my own personal studies and praying for wisdom.
which is not to say that the things included in this “creed” aren’t true. just that it is better to study them for myself, than to simply believe what i was taught based only on the fact that it is being taught in a building called “church.”
lou
10. November 2008 | 17:19 hHey Jon
Thkx for the history lesson. I agree that we musnt pay to much attention to the thoughts of others especially those in the church We came from a church where these statements of faith were seen as evil and religious. As Matt and I began to deconstruct iour faith we returned to some tratinional ways of worship. I put this on my blog becasue ut bests sums up what I beleive and I am not very eloquant with my own words
But I will think about what you have said