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The Creed We Need
Touchstone Magazine ^ | June 2006 | David Mills

Posted on 10/22/2013 4:45:20 AM PDT by don-o

God is “agapic love,” the preacher said, and paused. “God”—I knew what was -coming, the man being mired in the -sixties—“is a verb.” He assured the congregation that as long as they were “doing agapic love,” that—left -undefined—was all they needed to do. I could hear around me the sighs of people who have heard something they wanted to hear.

“God is a verb” is about as much doctrinal complexity as many American Christians seem to want, vague and useless as it is. They do not want anything too precise and specific, for that means exclusive, intellectual, and binding, nor anything too old, for that means irrelevant.

Average Agnostics

The average American thinks that when lots of nice people follow different religions, no religion should claim to be true in such a way that the others must be false. Everyone is happier, and no one will start fighting, when religion is a matter of taste, enjoyed privately, like an ethnic food. No one minds if a Scotsman eats haggis, as long as he eats it behind closed doors, but no one would tolerate his attempt to make it the sole main course in the high-school cafeteria.

The non-religious will explain their dislike of doctrines by saying that we ought to live and let live, that people are different, that religion is a private matter, and the like. The religious will explain it in two ways. One type (the believer) will say that Christianity is a matter of the heart, or a personal relationship with Christ, or that he has no creed but the Bible.

(Excerpt) Read more at touchstonemag.com ...


TOPICS: Apologetics; History; Theology
KEYWORDS: creed
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To: Biggirl; smvoice

Honey, referring us to a post that says nothing can not be a valid reply to an inquiry.


41 posted on 10/22/2013 6:25:53 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof .... but they're true)
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To: smvoice

The creeds do sum up that Christ DID DIE for our sins by dying on the Cross.

The question I ask is WHY the big deal over words?


42 posted on 10/22/2013 6:29:32 AM PDT by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: knarf

All I am asking kindly is to look at the posting, that is all.


43 posted on 10/22/2013 6:31:12 AM PDT by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: knarf; Biggirl
knarf, would you like to take post 42?

:)

44 posted on 10/22/2013 6:32:51 AM PDT by smvoice (HELP! I'm trapped inside this body and I can't get out!)
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To: smvoice

That is what the BIBLE is there for to explain it. The creeds work with the Bible to sum it all up.


45 posted on 10/22/2013 6:34:58 AM PDT by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: Biggirl; smvoice
Both The Apostle's Creed and The Nicene Creed state Jesus WILL COME IN THE FUTURE to judge the living and the dead, which is not the Gospel

Jesus came in the past to declare that we can be saved, on the spot, when we receive Him.

Yes, it is for our sins, but the amazement of the Gospel is .. it is immediate and permanent and we don't have to do anything (unless you consider receiving a work ... which is an argument some people like to have)

According to both creeds ... you won't know if you're saved until Jesus returns ... and that is an unscriptural tenet

46 posted on 10/22/2013 6:39:19 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof .... but they're true)
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To: smvoice

too late ... y’already DUN it.


47 posted on 10/22/2013 6:40:09 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof .... but they're true)
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To: knarf

The full answer on this thread is post number 24. It goes into detail.


48 posted on 10/22/2013 6:42:37 AM PDT by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: knarf

I accept BOTH the Bible and the creeds.


49 posted on 10/22/2013 6:43:40 AM PDT by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: knarf

AMEN, knarf.


50 posted on 10/22/2013 6:44:28 AM PDT by smvoice (HELP! I'm trapped inside this body and I can't get out!)
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To: Biggirl; smvoice

Mormons accept the Book of Mormon and The Bible and will say they both work hand in hand.


51 posted on 10/22/2013 6:45:26 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof .... but they're true)
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To: knarf

....Yet St. Augustine is one of the greatest Christian saints. He is correct.


52 posted on 10/22/2013 6:46:01 AM PDT by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: knarf

That is just an opinion.


53 posted on 10/22/2013 6:46:59 AM PDT by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: don-o

Thank-you don-o for that posting and URL.


54 posted on 10/22/2013 6:47:39 AM PDT by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: don-o

Thank you for this link!! Perfect timing - my daughter (16) has to do a paper explaining the Creed for her confirmation class. I was going to research what the doctors and early church fathers have written, and this a great start! I printed it out for her - also I’m pretty sure St. Thomas Aquinas has a treatise on the creed as well.

Many thanks.

PS St. Augustine is one of the greatest minds of the western world, also Aquinas. (as no doubt you are aware).


55 posted on 10/22/2013 6:48:58 AM PDT by stonehouse01 (Equal rights for unborn women)
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To: don-o

You know, if people are getting so worked up about the two creeds being discussed I’ve gotta wonder how they’d react to the Athanasian Creed... which can be conveniently read on my profile page.

Don-o there’s something for you at the bottom of that page that should help.


56 posted on 10/22/2013 6:51:02 AM PDT by Legatus (Keep calm and carry on)
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To: knarf; Biggirl
Honey, referring us to a post that says nothing can not be a valid reply to an inquiry.
Honey is for tea and for bees to make, not to address someone you're debating with and don't even personally know. It's no wonder why you need that "I'm saved" assurance...
57 posted on 10/22/2013 6:51:27 AM PDT by mlizzy (If people spent an hour a week in Eucharistic adoration, abortion would be ended. --Mother Teresa)
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To: Biggirl
"....Yet St. Augustine is one of the greatest Christian saints. He is correct."

We've come so far in this conversation, I'm disappointed you would fall back to a bland statement like that.

There is neither male nor female in heaven, and God is no respecter of persons here on Earth that the comment .. "one of the greatest Christian saints .. " has no meaning in this dialogue.

He was smart, well read, a Catholic and wrote a lot.

All whom are born again are saints and the last shall be first, the first, last, etc., ... there is none greater ... NOR LESSER.

58 posted on 10/22/2013 6:51:59 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof .... but they're true)
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To: mlizzy; Biggirl
I deserved that ... you're correct

I apologize, BigGirl

59 posted on 10/22/2013 6:53:15 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof .... but they're true)
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To: Legatus

That creed you have posted on your profile page is a rare gem. You do not see it that much anymore. Honest.


60 posted on 10/22/2013 6:54:26 AM PDT by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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