[HarleyD]

Why would you need to pick one interpretation organize that into a statement of belief?

The early church used catechisms to sort out heresy such as the Apostle Creed or the Nicene Creed. These were simple statements of doctrine. When the Reformation occurred, there was such a division of doctrinal difference with the Catholic Church that Protestants found it very important to state their beliefs in extreme detailed through catechisms like the Heidelberg Catechism, the Westminster Confession, or the London Baptist Confession of Faith. They not only stated their belief, but they were used as a teaching tools. Our Catholic friends countered with the Council of Trent statement of beliefs. Many of our arguments often goes back to what is stated by the Council of Trent and Protestant beliefs found in the catechism. (Trent is dated first but the doctrinal differences were known.)

I think you may be saying it’s just a different wording or organization; but isn’t it also to say what you believe versus what others believe - based on the same scripture, alone?

If you read through the documents you will find there's not two hoots of difference between the Westminster Confession (Presbyterian) and the London Baptist confessions. It is because these define Protestantism-not denominational differences. If you compare one of these documents against the Council of Trent, then you will find Protestant confessions based their statements on scripture and provides the references-much like the Heidelberg Catechism that Gamecock posted. The Council of Trent based their statements on the sediments of the Church. There is no scriptural justification for many of their pronouncements.

Today many of these grand documents are all but forgotten. It is good to be reminded of them. Statements like the Heidelberg Catechism isn't about denominational differences but about what defines Protestants from Catholics. It is our belief in general about the natural of God using sola scriptural as our guide. Regrettably, the reason many Protestants today find nothing wrong with Catholic belief is they have simply have forgotten these documents. They read through these documents disagreeing with portions-even though the scripture references are right in front of them. But there were good reasons the Reformation occurred.

These confessions and catechism are important. Most Protestant church website may have at most 5 or 6 statements of beliefs. These are usually generic and may (or may not) have a piece of scripture attached. ("We're a caring church.", "We're an inclusive church.", etc.) Before I attend any unknown church I usually read their Statement of Beliefs on their website. But it becomes hard to know what any church believe anymore. Even among denominational churches, there are some very off the wall beliefs. Most church statements are extremely generic because they want to get you "in the door". Totally dishonest.

Protestants should embrace documents like the Heidelberg catechism-not shy away from them. They contain the foundational truths of Protestants.

[D-fendr]

I see your point here: to separate, distinguish from Catholic.

But, a lot of Protestants have the same creeds and there are definitely confessional arguments and distinctions between them.

My main question still is the one I think Luther ran into: if your doctrine is all you need is scripture and it’s meaning is obvious, what happens when someone gets a different meaning than you from it?

CF: Luther and Zwingli.