Ship of Fools: Purgatory: Competition Entries: Credo

Thread: Purgatory: Competition Entries: Credo Board: Limbo / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Duo Seraphim (# 256) on :

Submit your suggestion for a Creed on this thread. The rules of the competition can be found here. Please read them first!

Please do not discuss any of the submissions on this thread - I've opened a discussion thread for that purpose.

Duo Seraphim, Purgatory Host

[ 02. January 2007, 19:42: Message edited by: RuthW ]

Posted by Mad Geo (# 2939) on :

I believe in spiritual experience. I believe that experience to be relevant, true, and to be cultivated. I believe in the acceptance of other’s spiritual experiences. I will strive to embrace diverse belief and to remove the fundamentalism I find in myself. I believe that no one church has constrained Truth. I believe we must live as if the gods have gone, and hope they haven’t. I believe that to look to a life beyond is to not live this life now. I will live this life now. I believe I must act to relieve suffering. I will. I believe in compassion.

Posted by Zealot en vacance (# 9795) on :

God loved this world so much he sent his son Jesus Christ to rescue us from our sinful behaviour. This grace is available to all who repent of their sinful behaviour, are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit, and take bread and wine in the commemorative meal commanded by Jesus Christ with other baptised persons. Your duty is to love God with all your being, and to love your fellow man as yourself. There is more information in the bible to help you live your life in this way, and from which these principles were drawn; just make sure that all your actions are conformable with these principles.

Posted by PeaceFeet (# 11001) on :

This isn't really unusual or wacky, but the phrasing is careful and heartfelt. I hope there are points for missing out massive sections of theology - I'm sure I've missed out an awful lot! [Big Grin]

I would also like to thank the Ship for prompting this as I found it to be an excellent exercise. I'll suggest it to my church & home group.

quote:
Peacefeet's Creed:
I believe in the true God, Three and One; the Father Almighty, the Saviour Son, and the Holy Spirit. I believe the Father created the universe and sustains it. I believe God as Jesus Christ came into the world to redeem it from our sin with one sacrifice sufficient and available to all. I believe the only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ, the Son. I believe He continues to work in the world through God the Holy Spirit.

I trust in the Lord God the Father, the King and Creator God who is Love in living form. I trust in Him as an all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful God. I trust Him to lead me and teach me to live a holy and humble life. I trust in Him and His promise for my salvation and eternal life. I live in hope that as I forgive, I will be forgiven.

I endeavour to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in all His ways. I endeavour to love my neighbour as myself, to pray for my enemies and to do good in the world. I endeavour to do justly and love mercy and to put the needs of others before my own. I endeavour to live in Unity with the Church, the body of Christ, to learn from its wisdom and to build up its weaknesses.

I listen to God the Holy Spirit, who lives in me and all members of the Church. I listen to Him to learn His will for my life, and to hear His teaching.

Amen.

Posted by Doc Tor (# 9748) on :

I am so going to burn for this...

Like Peacefeet, I've left out loads of stuff I wanted to put in. But, taking the example of Nicea, leaving stuff out means that more people can sign up to it. [Cool]

I give to you, the Creed according to Doc Tor.

quote:
We believe in a God who creates:
The Father imagined us, made us, brought us out of darkness, taught us and led us.
Through people and prophets, inspired, courageous, imperfect, a God who is just and merciful made himself known.

We believe in a God who saves:
Jesus lived with us, laughed with us, cried with us, told us the Kingdom of God was here. He gave everything he had and died for us.
But that was not the end – he was brought back to life by a God who makes all things new. Just as Jesus was first, surely all heaven and earth will follow, reborn.

We believe in a God who loves:
The Spirit of God, holy and surprising, supports us and sustains us, brings us joy, comforts us in our grief, destroys our hate and nurtures our compassion.

The community which bears God’s name is the church. We are brothers and sisters, united in one family, and indivisible by time and space. It is our holy work to feed the hungry, lift up the poor, heal the sick, visit the prisoners, fight injustice and make peace. It is our holy work to love our neighbours. It is our holy work to show Jesus to the world.

This is what we say. This is how we should live.

Posted by Russ (# 120) on :

First attempt goes something like this:

quote:
I believe that God - goodness personified - alone is worthy to be worshipped. And that this goodness is life-changingly powerful and active in the world today.

I believe in Jesus as our model in his son-to-father spiritual relationship with God.

I believe that Christians should meet together to worship God, to pray, to encourage each other to live good lives, to work to bring about the kingdom of heaven on earth, to participate in sacraments - outward visible signs at a particular moment in time of spiritual realities which develop over time - because these things help build up Christian life.

I believe we stand in a tradition of Christian witness, of saintly men and women whose lives can inspire us however much they got things wrong in their thinking. I believe that all human institutions and theologies fall short, and we err when we place too much trust in them.

I believe that all shall die. I trust that God's judgement will be fair above all human justice and enacted with a generosity above all human mercy.

Posted by Divine Outlaw Dwarf (# 2252) on :

I don't think there should be a new creed, in the liturgical or dogmatic sense. I'm quite happy with the ones we have. This is an attempt at a contemporary statement of belief, though:

I believe that the universe poses a question;
I call the answer to this question 'God'.

I believe that God lies beyond my capacity to know, grasp or name.
God lies hidden beyond every thing that is, including beyondness itself.
Because of this God, whom I can never reach out and touch, is closer to me than I am to myself.*
God lies beyond and within, and is inexhaustible mystery.

I believe that, remaining utterly mysterious, God reaches out to us.
God invites us to share in the mystery, like a mother or father reaching out with both arms.
I believe that this invitation is given in human history through Jesus Christ;
born of a virgin,
he lived,
he died,
he rose again,
taking our humanity to the heights of heaven and the heart of the mystery.

I believe that the Spirit has been sent to us
as the sign and the source of the humanity which is ours in Christ.
I believe in the Church, the People of God who journey.
I believe that our journey is towards the Kingdom.

In the Kingdom the universe, which poses a question, will be glorified.
There will be life for the dead,
bread for the hungry,
and every tear will be wiped away
by the God who answers the question.

---
*St Augustine, Confessions.

Posted by Spiffy da WonderSheep (# 5267) on :

I may play later, for serious reals, but this is the first thing that came to mind:

quote:
There was a God, He had a Church,
E-I-E-I-O!
And in that Church there was a Creed,
E-I-E-I-O!
It went, "I believe,
You believe,
Everybody be-lieves!"
There was a God, He had a Church,
E-I-E-I-O!

Posted by professor kirke (# 9037) on :

Entry Rough Draft

I believe that God is the source of everything good that we know, see, hear, feel, understand, or long for.

Nothing is before God or outside of God. All things that are flow out from God's being.

I believe that Goodness and Mercy and Grace are best understood in the person of Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save us from ourselves.

His life showed us how to live.
His death showed us how to trust in God's great love for us.
His resurrection showed us how to hope through pain and forgiveness.

I believe Christ gave us access to the Kingdom of God for now and for forever.

We the Church represent the work of Christ to all people. We look with great hope toward the renewal of all things, and to the life that God has set before each of us.

Amen.

(146 words)

Posted by PhilA (# 8792) on :

(To possibly be updated)

We believe in a creator God.
We believe our God is a law giver and that “the whole law is summed up in love.”
We believe our God came amongst us, walked with us, talked with us, lived for us and died for us.
We believe he rose from death and this we celebrate.
We believe our God is still with us and leads us and guides us.
This we believe and we shall shout it from the rooftops.

We believe our God calls us to action. We believe Jesus’ example is one to follow and this we do.
We believe God’s kingdom is here; but not yet.
We believe the hallmark of God’s kingdom is love, embodied in peace.
We believe that peace is achieved by justice and not by war.
This we believe and we shall shout it from the rooftops.
This we believe and we shall act upon in Jesus’ name.

This we believe.

This we shall do.

Amen.

(162 words)

Posted by centurion (# 11759) on :

We believe in an uncreated eternal ever loving GOD creator of all that is or will be who became incarnate for to show his love took our sins upon himself and rose from the dead to give us eternal love and life.
He came to love us and not to condemn us and by his blood we are cleansed.
We believe in a new heaven and a new earth the return of the Son of GOD who was made incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the love of GOD for all mankind and his eternal faithfulness and understanding.
We believe in the communion of saints and life everlasting.
Maranatha. Amen.

Posted by noneen (# 11023) on :

Good idea - difficult though - heres a first attempt:

I believe that the one God is, was and will be. God alone is creator and breath of life.

I believe that this God created the universe from a deep place of love, and so the universe is at its best when it accepts and enjoys that deep love.

I believe that if you want to see God, you look at Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is God and reveals all that God is, was and will be

I believe that Jesus’ embracing of Gods love, even to the point of death, broke open the divide between humanity and divinity. My hope comes, not from suffering, but from a generous trust that did not relent, even in the face of death.
I believe that Jesus resurrection reveals the majesty of Gods love for us, and bridges that divide forever.

I believe that God wants us to co-operate with Gods plan for creation and that this is possible through the Holy Spirit, who is God.

I believe that I need to learn from the wisdom of the church and the communion of saints. All things divine are revealed in Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, but I will forever be learning.

I believe that I am created for a specific purpose by God and that my life has a deep meaning, not because of anything I say or do, but simply because God chose to create me.

Posted by Doublethink (# 1984) on :

The Way

Beyond words and artifice, within us
There is a yearning, our first need, to love,
To reach outside ourselves. Revealed thus,
What some call God, Light, Soul, a part of
Truth - calling back to the substance of itself.
We can look to the wise and the blessed,
Our guides upon the path - to Christ himself
But each journey is unique, our own tread.
We must listen for truth in the silence,
Honestly bearing witness through our lives,
Our choices, that the light shines in conscience.
That we are transformed by it. All survives
To return to unity, through courage,
Through grace, we are freed from selfish bondage.

Rough draft

Posted by 206 (# 206) on :

I'd rather smoke weed

than devise a creed.

Posted by Mertseger (# 4534) on :

Mine was posted down in Limbo more than three years ago. But here it is again with one additional clause I'd like to add at this point in my journey:

I believe in God. I believe that She creates, sustains and nurtures All-That-Is. She is the Matrix of our being, and I love Her.
I believe in Jesus Christ, Her son, who lived and taught here on the Earth for while as human being. I believe He was crucified, dead and buried. I believe that on the third day thereafter He arose from the dead. He continues to live and act in the lives of human beings that through His sacrifice we can rekindle, rediscover and reconnect to our eternal life within the embrace of our Mother, God.
I believe in Sophia, the Wisdom of the Goddess, who speaks through All-That-Is. I believe humans can hear Her and speak with Her voice even though language itself is not always an adequate vehicle to convey the completeness of Her, Wisdom. She is patient as we grow towards Her.
I believe in You, the reader of these Words. I believe and trust the Goddess in you, the Jesus in you and the Wisdom in you.

Posted by Max. (# 5846) on :

A Creed based on Ephesians:

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, the inapproachable light and the creator of all that exists, to whom all knees bow, from whom all families and peoples on heaven and on earth take their names.

He sent his only son, Jesus the Christ and our Corner-stone, who lives and dwells in our hearts through faith as we are rooted and grounded in love.
In him we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.

We believe in the Holy Sprit, the giver of Life who strengthens our Inner being with Power and the fullness of God.

We believe in one Catholic and Apostolic Church which exists to bring Glory to God and in the name of Jesus the Christ to all generations for ever and ever.

Amen

Posted by TrudyTrudy (I say unto you) (# 5647) on :

OK ... after some serious trimming of words, here's my best guess:

quote:
I believe I can be certain of very little.
I believe people who are certain of everything may be dangerous. Or saints.
In the absence of certainty, I walk the path of evidence to the brink, then reach across the chasm in faith.
I choose to believe….
…in a loving, personal God who created the universe and is present and accessible within that universe.
…that the Bible is a reliable guide to what this God is like and what He expects of us.
…that Jesus lived, died and rose again as recorded in the Gospels.
…that His life was the example of how to live fully as a human being.
…that His death and resurrection represent the ultimate demonstration of God’s love for humanity and an opportunity for us to experience abundant life now and eternally.
…that this flawed system we live under will someday end and God will establish His perfect kingdom.
…that because He loves me, He wants me to be in that kingdom.
I believe …
…that God calls me to do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with Him; to treat others as I want to be treated; to love God and other people with all my heart.
…that God the Spirit gives me the grace to do this, because I’m not very good at it myself.
Help Thou my unbelief.

Posted by Duo Seraphim (# 256) on :

quote:
Originally posted by R.D. Olivaw:
I'm sorry but I couldn't help thinking of Steve Martin's classic I believe monologue.

Right - please feel free to take this to the Credo discussion thread.

For the sake of readability, we are keeping this Credo Competition thread free of interjections and discussion. Teufelchen, this means you too.

Duo Seraphim, Purgatory Host

Posted by mr cheesy (# 3330) on :

We believe in a whole heap of stuff. Some is very useful, some is probably wrong, some is probably damaging.

But most of all, we believe that God believes in us. Not because we are righteous, not because we are good. Not even because we are particularly nice, but because God is Good and to Love is his nature.

We believe that God-the-Three, God-the-All-Powerful, God-the-Lover, God-the-Good saw us in our brokenness and came to be with us, to heal us, to change us. We believe that lives inside us, changing us from the core of our being.

We believe that he made the Earth to be good, but that we royally screwed it up. We believe that his Love drove him to come and die upon a cross for us.

We believe that whilst we might look pathetic, we are meant for more than this. By his resurrection we know that he can make bad things good.

We look for the Day of New Things when we will be fully healed and be with him, but today, we must be content in the Day of Small Things and we try to listen and act as he would have us.

C

[ 21. September 2006, 10:52: Message edited by: mr cheesy ]

Posted by Flausa (# 3466) on :

I believe in the God who has revealed Himself to us in many ways so that we may know Him, love Him, give Him the honour that is due Him.

God’s creation reveals His sustaining power of the universe. In God’s creation we see His majesty, His beauty, His awesome power, His humour, and His enjoyment of diversity.

God’s Son reveals His identification with humanity. Through His life on earth, God’s Son showed us that He is perfect and complete, and that His grace holds his justice and holiness in balance with His boundless love.

God’s Spirit reveals His compassion for those who suffer. In times of sorrow, God’s Spirit provides comfort; in times of confusion, wisdom; and in times of despair, hope.

God’s Church reveals His plan of redemption for the world. God’s church throughout time and space holds the truths and traditions to be passed down from one generation to the next through word and song and action.

I believe that in this life, we do not have the capacity to know and love God completely, but what we do know should be used to promote love, justice, compassion, and truth among our companions in this life.

Posted by GrahamR (# 11299) on :

We believe in one God: Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer.

We believe in God the Creator, from whom all love and goodness flows. We believe that the universe echoes with the Creator’s majesty.

We believe in God the Son, Jesus Christ, who became human to become our redeemer. We believe his mother was the Virgin Mary and that he lived, suffered and was tempted here on earth. We believe he reveals God's love, and through his death and resurrection calls and enables us to be God's children.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit, through whom God’s love and power work in the world. We believe the Spirit comforts, sustains and empowers us.

We believe in the holy Church, God's family, who work to bring forth God’s kingdom. We believe God calls and enables us each to strive for justice, mercy and peace.

We believe in one baptism for forgiveness, the mark of a second birth. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead, and in Christ’s return, bringing a new heaven and a new earth.

Posted by chemincreux (# 10635) on :

Here's one I cooked up before.

I believe in wonder, serenity and love,
and will happily worship any God in any place
who invokes or manifests these attributes truly.

I deny the power of fear and ignorance, hate,
envy, lust and greed, and although I find all these within myself, I will not despair, because they are self-destructive and will not prevail.

I believe that every devil that ever was grew from the minds of proud and pious men. The Arch-Devil himself is just as real as they are - and as significant, in the overall scheme of things.

I believe there are no honest questions that may not be asked. There is no such thing as bad language - only bad communication. It may be that some answers are no to be had - and those that are, I may not understand.

But I believe it is vitally important to try to distinguish between genuine received wisdom and organised bullshit. Good and evil are not useful categories to judge the world by. A generous spirit does not need anything to be right or fair.

Life and death may be different aspects of the same thing. Worrying about either is less important than brushing your teeth.

Nothing is worth killing for.

I believe that I may be entirely wrong. But like you, my brothers and sisters, I'm pretty dam' sure everybody else is.

Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :

I'm glad I'll be allowed to revise this if I disagree with myself later but ...

Statement of Belief:

quote:

I believe in one single but multifaceted, God who is great but beyond human comprehension. He created us and wishes to know us. He teaches us through his word and sent his son to guide us.

I believe that we are asked to help one another, to teach one another and to work as a society to improve our world.

I believe God has expectations of each of us, both religious and secular but I do not believe he will let us damn ourselves whilst we are trying at all.

I believe God is involved in this world and in our every day lives. I believe he cares for each of us and expects us to care for each other in like manner.

Posted by Boopy (# 4738) on :

Here's a rough attempt. Don't shoot me:

I believe, at least some of the time though not all the time, in that-which-we-call-God. I believe the journey and the conversation will be worthwhile, ultimately for our good, and perhaps beyond our imagining. I believe in goodness, beauty, love and truth, and ascribe the best there can be to God, and to Jesus in whom we may encounter God. I believe that a life lived with God is a good way of learning to love. And I believe these things whether God is actually there or not.

Posted by fisher (# 9080) on :

I believe

in the Father whose love we know through the fractured wonder of our world;
in the Son, Jesus Christ, through whose death and resurrection we hope for salvation;
in the Holy Spirit whose guidance and consolation goes unnoticed in a noisy world.

I believe

that God abides with us through the strange and arbitrary intimacy of bread and wine;
in God who guides us pilgrims through community that is flawed and sinful;
that we are called to live the Gospel of peace and love: and ask forgiveness for my failure.

Posted by chemincreux (# 10635) on :

If at first you don't succeed...A new creed for 21st century post-posmodernist christian humanist agnostics:

I believe in you and me.
I believe that we shall die.
This is just as it should be.
This is not a cause to cry.

If I love you, I'll be free.
If I hate, in hell I'll fry.
This is just as it should be.
This is not a cause to cry.

You love God? That's fine with me.
But he gave his son to die.
Is this just as it should be?
Is this not a cause to cry?
This for love of you and me?
Ours is not to reason why?

Human nature's very odd.
Are we ready, yet, for God?

Posted by Pyx_e (# 57) on :

We love Almighty God the Father who created every thing we can encompass and every thing we can not.

We Love Jesus, the Christ. He is the channel of the Fathers creation and the instrument of our salvation. He emptied Himself of His Glory and in the Power of the Spirit of God became the first-born child of Mary. The story of His life taught us true Love and showed us by His passion, His Death and His Risen life the Power of God’s unbreakable promise to His children which will lead us through this earthly life to everlasting life in God. In his return to the Heavens he opened the Gate for all. He will come back, His wounded hands will hold ours and He will know us and our love for him. It is through His wounds His mercy will flow.

We love the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the ever flowing source of true life whose voice is ever heard where Love is.

We Love these three knowing their oneness from the beginning. We seek to glorify them by living lives of such harmony, honesty and community that we are true stories of the one God.

We love each other as the children of God, sanctified, reaching out to this world and seeking to bring the Christ to all, and to ourselves.

[ 22. September 2006, 14:06: Message edited by: Pyx_e ]

Posted by JimT (# 142) on :

We believe in Good. It is real because we have made it real; having made it, it now makes us at our invitation.

We believe in Evil. It is the way of Nature, full of deception, violence, usury, power; it is arbitrary, it has no sense of justice; it lives only to perpetuate itself; it does not aspire.

Evil we know; we receive it at birth. Good we do not; we must be baptized into it. Having done so, we then seek full knowledge of it, together: hungering, thirsting, in the hope and the faith that we will be filled.

And one day, we will.

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

1) God created the world & everything in it.
2) God is eternal
3) God loves the world & all the people he created
4) Jesus Christ was in some sense both God and human
5) Jesus lived a real human life which is described in the Gospels
6) Jesus was crucified
7) Jesus was raised from the dead
8) We humans are not living the life that God desires for us
9) Everybody is, in some sense, a sinner
10) God is willing to forgive us all our sins
11) God wants us to love him
12) God wants us to love each other
13) We can have eternal life in the prescence of God
14) God's method for transmitting this eternal life to us is the work & person of Jesus Christ.

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :

Love everyone and everything, and treat them well. (Including yourself!) Try to make things better. Live, love, learn, grow. And don't give up.

(First draft, off the top of my head.)

Posted by Dave Marshall (# 7533) on :

Here's one for a Church that's not too fussed about keeping the heretics out:

The Church is the people of God, eternal creator and sustainer of the universe.
The Church is the people of God, a community of hope, a network for all who search for truth, who work for justice, who celebrate life in all that is good and right.
The Church is the people of God, the product of history, the gathering of those who have heard the story of Jesus, been inspired by the person of Jesus, are drawn to the way of Jesus.
The Church is the people of God, a body of faith, a collective expression of the personal realisation of God in human experience, given form in the ritual and story of a living tradition.
We are part of that tradition.
We are the Church in this place.

Posted by marmot (# 479) on :

God knows what I believe.

five words

Posted by Gort (# 6855) on :

We believe in the world of pure emanation and undifferentiated light; that the absolute, in order to bridge the gulf between the physical world and the prime impulse, withdrew in some measure its presence and that the rigor and severity of this attribute is not diabolical but the very essence of the pure creative act. That which is withheld is far greater than that which is given.

We believe in the world of complex forms and that its contents are both intangible and real. These forms can be differentiated in that they have specific properties and behavior, whether or not they are manifest physically .

We believe in the physical world where forms can become manifest and that the essence of this world is stability, predictability and shared experience. What we perceive as imperfections are necessary components of its perfection.

Posted by ACOL-ite (# 4991) on :

I believe in the world. God made it and saw that it was good.

I believe God populated it with people made in God's own image not out of loneliness, but out of love. God is love and perfect love is to be found in the communion of the three persons of the Godhead and in God’s love for us. We are called to mirror that relationship of perfect love in our relationship with God and with eachother.

I believe we fell out of the relationship and fall short daily in our mandate to mirror it. In love, God sent his son, Jesus, to restore it. Complete in Godliness and Humanity, the incarnation knitted us closer still to God. Dying and rising to new life, the perfect expression of God's perfect love renewed the world and brought us promise of everlasting life.

I believe that God's spirit is with us now, guiding us to holiness in this world in readiness for the next. I believe God can still see the good in this world and calls us to spread it. To this end, God points our attention to several earthly objects of grace, most especially: the Bible, God’s unfailing message; the Church, which proclaims it, welcomes in Baptism and nourishes in the Eucharist.

I look at the world, and see God making it good.

Posted by MrsBarlow (# 10978) on :

God loves you.
Each one of us is made in the image of God.

The truth of love is Jesus Christ
somehow God and human
who died as a result of our sin
and who rose to new life to show God's forgiveness.

The Spirit of God calls us
to love God
to love each other
and to allow ourselves to be loved.

The church is where we celebrate this love together
and worship God
with all who have gone before and are yet to come.

Amen.

Posted by BuzzyBee (# 3283) on :

I believe in One God, Almighty and Eternal, Who is infinitely beyond all human comprehension and description, and that no creed can encompass the divine nature.
I believe that God reaches towards us...
...in our hearts when we yearn with spiritual hunger
...in our minds when we seek to learn and understand
...in all creation, in beauty and splendour and power
...in history in the lives of holy men and women who have earnestly sought the truth
...in the unrestful, challenging and turbulent example of Jesus Christ, whose love encompassed and redeemed the universe, and destroyed the barrier between us and God
I believe that the Lord God is One, and we should Love the Lord with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves, and that our inability to do this perfectly is the sin that is the brokeness of the world
I believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sin, the ultimate unity of all who praise Christ’s name, the priesthood of all believers, and the life of the world to come
Amen.

Posted by cometchaser (# 10353) on :

I believe in God.

I believe all creation is of God.

I believe in the inherent divinity of every mountain, tree, and fellow human. God resides in every breath I take. God comes to me, as the Holy Spirit, in the collective compassion of the human race. To begin to know God, I must show compassion to my fellow being.

I love God, and to love God I must love all.

I believe God has, thoughout history, shown us unfathomable love by sending us emissaries. If we listen with love, God’s words are in the voices of those emissaries. Some are known to the world; but God may chose to speak through anyone. It is within my power to listen, and to hear.

I believe the consciousness of God is beyond my ability to understand, but that God’s plan is just. I trust God to shine light into my darkness.

God may not stop the thunder and the lighning, but will dry my tears as the storm rages.

With enough faith, I can learn not to fear.

I can learn not to anger. I can learn not to want. I can let go of pain.

With enough faith, I can love God. and to love God, I must love all.

Posted by Papio (# 4201) on :

I belive that a creed which invites us to uniformity of belief is a mistaken enterprise.

I believe that in practice, thare are Christianities, not is Christianity, just as there are Islams, just as there are socialisms, just as there are capitalisms, athiesms and so on.

I believe that many voices will always be more vibrant and alive than a single voice.

I believe that that the church, like God, is at her best when she tries to pursaude, at her worst when she attempts to demand.

I believe that we are called to use our minds to their fullest extent, not to blindly mouth the words of creeds devised by other men, in other times and places, who mistakenly believed that they had a monopoly and/or the definitive handle on Truth.

I believe that diversity amoungst any religious group is simply a brute fact, and makes them stronger. Not weaker.

I believe that the doctrine that God never changes does not imply that out doctrine should never change, does not imply that we should not tolerate diversity.

Posted by mdijon (# 8520) on :

Words and statements of belief do not make our creed.
Our creed is to follow Christ.
Our belief is to consider others better than ourselves.
Our statement is to love God with all our heart, soul and mind.
And our neighbour as ourselves.
Our fruits shall be love, joy and peace.
longsuffering, kindness, faith,
Self control.

We shall love our enemies
Pray for those who hate us
We shall be concerned neither about our own life
Nor concerned to judge the lives of others
We shall revere what is sacred
But give to all who ask.
And so shall the kingdom of heaven come
The Church will advance forcefully
And the gates of hell will not stand against it.

[ 26. September 2006, 11:42: Message edited by: mdijon ]

Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :

I believe that if I try to tie my brain in knots believing lots of Stuff, then I deserve what I will get, which will be God's laughter.

I believe God invites me rather to play in his presence, and that if I say yes, then I shall have Wisdom as my playmate.

Posted by Birdseye (# 5280) on :

[I hope it doesn't sound copied -I just thought through precisely what the facts are that I believe and tried to arrange them in a way that makes it clear, even to someone unfamiliar with Christianity.]

I believe in God, the only all-knowing and merciful creator.
I believe that in His love, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, possessed of His very spirit,
To be born of an earthly virgin, Mary;
To live sinlessly and yet to suffer and die a cursed death at the command of Pontius Pilate.
I believe that on the third day after His death, sin and death were conquered and Jesus rose again, freeing all of us sinners from paying the same price of death, and instead giving us the gift of eternal life, a gift that cannot be earned, but that can only be accepted.
I believe that Jesus returned to heaven, and leaves the Holy Spirit as a link between us and God the Father.
I believe that the next time we will see Him, it will be in glory,
As He judges all souls, living and dead.
I believe that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all part of the same single God and worthy always to be worshipped.

Posted by Mudfrog (# 8116) on :

My Creed

"He is.
We are.
I believe we should all be together."

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

I believe in God, creator of the vast universe and the minuscule quark; who created Earth and its inhabitants. I believe God created each of us with deliberate love.

Because of that love, God the Son became one of us, lived with us, taught and loved us, and was killed by those who should have honored him most. Friday and Saturday he was in the place of the dead, but Sunday he became alive, welcoming us to live forever with him!

Because of his love for us, God the Son gave us the great gift of God the Spirit, who remains with us, comforting us when we weep, dancing with us when we laugh and speaking to us God's words of love and encouragement.

I believe that, after this Earthly life, we who are God's beloved children will live an eternal life of joy and excitement, surrounded by God's light and love.

[punctuation -hope there's no more]

[ 26. September 2006, 12:54: Message edited by: jedijudy ]

Posted by Doublethink (# 1984) on :

Margaret Fell, one of the early leaders of the Quakers in Britain is famously quoted as having asked, "What canst thou say ?" In trying to provide a more creed-like response than 'The Way' (earlier in the thread), I have written a statement, using the quote as a title, in reply to this question.

What canst thou say ?

I believe in the truth.

A truth beyond words.
A truth unique to each.
A truth known in the soul.
A truth created through love.
A truth demonstrated by Christ.
A truth of unity, undying, eternal.
A truth I am called to live, forgiven.

I believe in the truth, this, is what I can say.

[ 26. September 2006, 16:53: Message edited by: Doublethink ]

Posted by chemincreux (# 10635) on :

Final (?) version:

I believe in you and me.
I believe that we shall die.
This is just as it should be.
This is not a cause to cry.

If I love you, I'll be free.
So will you be - free to fly.
This is ust as it should be.
I'll not ask the reason why.

You love God? That's fine with me.
But he gave his son to die.
This is not as it should be.
Is this not a cause to cry?

Human nature wants to see
Truth and Beauty in the sky.
But the Earth's for you and me -
To know, to love, to test, to try.

Perhaps, one day, for you and me,
There'll be a light to travel by,
and hope for all eternity,
and no more need to reason why -

but human nature's very odd;
I doubt we're ready, yet, for God.

Posted by Dave Marshall (# 7533) on :

The Church is the people of God, eternal creator and sustainer of the universe, a product of history inspired by the person of Jesus.
The Church is a community of hope, those who are drawn to the way of Jesus, who search for truth, work for justice, celebrate life in all that is good.
The Church is a body of faith, a collective expression of the personal realisation of God in human experience, given form in the ritual and story of a living tradition.
We are part of that tradition.
We are the Church in this place.

Posted by Pure as the Driven Yellow Snow (# 9397) on :

I believe in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the living demonstration of a relationship of love.

I believe God through Christ enabled me to enter His Relationship and this is sustained and renewed by the Holy Spirit.

I believe I was created for the purpose to be in loving relationship with God; and flowing out of that, with all mankind.

I believe.

Posted by chemincreux (# 10635) on :

This is a really intoxicating thread!

I believe that all beliefs, but particularly religious ones, should be revisited at least three times a week, preferably before breakfast, with a view to revision, ridicule, or rejection.

This belief is no exception.

I believe that any belief held for more than a year without serious reassessment is an indication of incipient (or in some cases, perhaps, terminal) senility in the brain of the believer. This axiom should apply to both scientists and theologians, but scientists are notoriously slow to change their minds.

So are theologians, of course, which is why the the Church has been in a coma for about sixteen hundred years. But I do not believe that it is yet completely brain dead.

I believe that we have been offered the Spirit of Truth. I would like to think this was a fulfilment of a promise by Jesus.

But the Spirit of Truth is not truth itself.It's a tool, like one of the little trowels archaeologists use to examine what the past is telling us.

As are creeds, which should be kept clean and sharp, and discarded when they rust.

[ 29. September 2006, 15:49: Message edited by: chemincreux ]

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :

I believe in the Triune God.

I believe in the birth, life, death, and the bodily Resurrection of the Incarnate God, Jesus.

I believe the Bible was written and discerned as scripture by people with a special relationship with God. God did not "dictate" what they wrote nor take away their freedom.

I believe that God still speaks to his people through the Spirit rather than just through the Bible, but that it's an excellent idea to run your "revelations" past the scriptural norm in case you've drifted into lala land.

I believe that the Great Commandments (love God, love your neighbor, love yourself) are heads above "absolutely correct" theology because, I believe absolutely correct theology is an impossibility this side of eternity.

I believe it's inherently bad to put up barriers to people's relationship to God by classifying certain people as not worthy of grace, heretical, schismatic, or in any way beyond redemption until they meet a set of human expectations.

I believe our part on earth is "to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God".

I believe bad things happen to good people, but that God makes use of all circumstances good and bad so that "... all manner of things shall be well."

I believe redemption for all is eternally possible in some way by God's grace.

[ 29. September 2006, 23:01: Message edited by: Lyda*Rose ]

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

I believe.

Posted by Esmeralda (# 582) on :

I believe the facts are kind.
I believe the universe was created by love, through love and for love.
This love has been revealed to many, but especially to the Jewish nation, and most of all in Jesus of Nazareth.
He lived for love and showed us how to live for love.
He died for love, meeting the violence of hatred with the non-violence of love.
He rose from the dead, because love is stronger than death.
The spirit of love which was in Jesus can be in us, if we follow him.
God is gathering a people of love to change the world.
I believe one day, the great transformation will come, and the whole world will live for love.
I believe the facts are kind.

[ 30. September 2006, 18:15: Message edited by: Esmeralda ]

Posted by Fauja (# 2054) on :

I believe in God who is the perfect expression of love, power, and wisdom.

I believe that Jesus is our mediator, the perfect bridge between man and God, being himself one with God the Father and the one who made atonement for our sins through his life, death, and resurrection.

I believe the Bible is our God-breathed literature for understanding God's ways.

I believe that the Church is the body of people that God has chosen to be his bride and equips to make known his glory as we fulfill his purposes.

I believe in the Holy Spirit who has been given in these last days, as was prophesied, to aid us into perfection of character and understanding of truth.

Posted by professor kirke (# 9037) on :

Final Entry

I believe that God is the source of everything good, and everything that we don't understand.

Nothing is before God or outside of God. All things flow out from God's being.

I believe that Goodness and Mercy and Grace are best understood in the person of Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save us from ourselves.

His life showed us how to live.
His death showed us how to trust in God's great love for us.
His resurrection showed us how to hope through pain and forgiveness.

I believe Christ gave us access to the Kingdom of God here and now.

We the Church represent the work of Christ to all people. We look with great hope toward the renewal of all things, and to the life that God has set before each of us.

Amen.

(138 words)

Posted by chemincreux (# 10635) on :

I believe in the possibility of unconditional love

And in the Spirit of Truth

And in the man who promised it

And I deny myself the right to hate

And ask for courage, and wisdom, and perseverance

Posted by Grits (# 4169) on :

A new creed for 21st century Christianity:

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen... but I understand that God can take on many forms with different names to other people of the world, which is as important and holy to them as the name and identity of God is to me.

I believe one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through Him all things were made... but I realize that Jesus is not the core of everyone’s faith, and I will try to see how others discern this belief. I will take my belief of Jesus as the Word and use His teachings of love and grace to temper my opinions.

For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became Man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day He rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end...and I will uphold the Gospel in my life, and do things for others because of what Jesus has done for me. I will be a testimony for Him and try to make Him alive in me.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]. With the Father and the Son He is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets...but I know there are many who don’t see the Spirit as the “Trinity entity” I do. I know they are finding their path to God and relationship with Christ through other means of commune, and I can be OK with that.

I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church... and I can realize that the Church is universal and visualize us all as part of that Body, branches growing out and apart – sometimes radically – from one another, and yet grafted onto the One True Vine.

I acknowledge one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come...and as strongly and unwaveringly as I believe this, I acknowledge that God is the ultimate Giver of life and of salvation, and that He alone will judge.

Amen...Amen.

{My words are in bold, and that's all I counted. I hope that's OK.}

Posted by Duo Seraphim (# 256) on :

quote:
Originally posted by IngoB:

quote:
Originally posted by Grits:
{My words are in bold, and that's all I counted. I hope that's OK.}
I think under the particular circumstances I may make a "hostly" comment: No, it is not OK - unless you wish to submit only the bold words read on their own. Stand-alone creeds only, please.

I know you're the prize sponsor <thwack> - please read Grits entry as being the words in bold.

Duo Seraphim, Purgatory Host

Posted by Duo Seraphim (# 256) on :

HOSTING

And at the stroke of midnight CREDO came to its' not insubstantial close - we have 47 final entries.

Credo: The Vote in Council is now open for voting in the Circus. Please read through this thread and pick up to five creeds that you think best fit the brief "a creed for 21st Century Christianity" as set out in the Credo Rules.

I'd like to thank everyone for the care and thought that obviously went into the entries.

Voting closes at midnight GMT 18 October 2006.

We'll announce the results soon after that.

Duo Seraphim, Purgatory Host

[ 04. October 2006, 00:57: Message edited by: Duo Seraphim ]

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