It may be important to know what we believe in. I am continuing to have trouble figuring it out, as I mentioned back in April.
The Nicene Creed constitutes a brief summary of the Christian faith. I suppose you could think of it as a kind of "Cliff Notes" version that hits the main points. It definitely gives those who profess it something to refer to, when questions about belief start coming to mind. I grew up in the Episcopalian Church, so I said the Nicene Creed regularly:
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in 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,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with 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
We 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.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
As you know I grew up reciting this too...but here's my skepticism about it: These "cliff notes" were written several hundred years after the death of Christ by a bunch of bishops in long robes after a religion had already been organized and these words are meant to be a kind of formalization of beliefs. A sort of limitation, really. Once a revelation gets tamed down to the point of being just another human business venture, I think it loses its veracity!
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