Free Republic

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light... Do these words sound familiar? I hope they do. These words, which have been recited in liturgy, at church councils, in battles, and at dinner tables in hundreds of languages, echo to us today through nearly 17 centuries of continual use. This creed is what has united the church (except perhaps in 1054 when it...

Creedal Differences Q: Why is the phrase “He descended into hell” in the Apostles’ Creed but not in the Creed that we pray at Mass?John, via email A: A creed is not a catechism and hence we should not expect that every possible truth is set forth in them. Creeds were a feature, primarily, of the early Church and generally were written to clarify Catholic teaching and refute errors of the time.Most of the disputes at the time the Nicene Creed was written centered on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the truth of the Incarnation and, to some degree,...

Beyond creeds. All attempts to articulate the Triune Godhead that I have seen focus on inconsequentials. The nature of the Trinity is rather simple but I can't come up with a way to express it compactly so please bear with me. You will acknowledge that God in His Omnipotence has the power to create a perfect copy of me, a color Xerox of me if you will. Such a copy might be so perfect that the copy would be convinced that he actually WAS me. My family couldn't tell the difference either because he would share every single attribute I...

Featured Term (selected at random:NICENE CREED There are two creeds that have the same name. The original Nicene Creed was issued in A.D. 325 by the Council of Nicaea. It was composed by the Fathers of the Council in their conflict with Arianism and contains the term homoousios (consubstantial). It is comparatively short, ends with the phrase, "and in the Holy Spirit," and has attached to it four anathemas against Arianism. The more common Nicene Creed is more accurately the Nicene-Constantinople Creed. It came after the first ecumenical Council of Constantinople (381), is the creed now used in the liturgy,...

The grand council of atheist Mormon bishops have met and codified the Creed of Practical Mormon Atheism, a list of things that both atheists and Mormons can largely affirm together: Even if Mormonism is false, it is still worth believing and ought not be refuted.Faith is ultimately irrational.Even if you don’t believe in God, you should still stay on the membership rolls and consider yourself a Mormon.If the LDS Church isn’t true, there is no God.How you live your life is more important than what you believe.I can’t believe in a God who demands worship.It doesn’t matter if it’s true....

The Nicene Creed The Apostles Creed | The Athanasian Creed The Nicene-Constantinopolitan or Nicene Creed draws its great authority from the fact that it stems from the first two ecumenical Councils (in 325 and 381). It remains common to all the great Churches of both East and West to this day. -Catechism of the Catholic Church §195 Note: Credo is a Latin word meaning "I believe". The English translation that appears below, an ecumenical version from the late 1960s used in Catholic churches in the United States. New translation for Roman MissalThis is the new translation of the original...

Steven Nichols over at the Reformation21 Blog shared a passage from Leo Tolstoy in which Tolstoy said Christians can not believe in the Christ who preached the Sermon on the Mount and the Christ of the Creeds. Tolstoy wrote in The Kingdom of God is Within You:

Denominations and Christian Truth Question: I have a question about Christianity. I once heard that there are thousands of different Christian denominations. The exact number is not important. Each denomination has its own, unique interpretation of the Bible, and each denomination asserts that its interpretation is the correct one. Not every denomination can be right; someone has to be wrong. With respect to the OPC and John Calvin, how do you know that the OPC's interpretation is the correct one? Answer: It was Solomon who wrote "this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have...

The Nicene Creed: Ancient Symbol of the Catholic Faith By David Bennett The Nicene Creed is the symbol of belief for Christians in all regions and most denominations. The Nicene Creed is also called the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, because the complete present form of the creed was defined by bishops at the Councils of Nicaea (AD 325) and Constantinople (AD 381). Catholics, Orthodox, and many Protestants accept the ancient Nicene creed. The Nicene creed was written in AD 325 and completed in its present form in AD 381. Over 300 Church leaders from all over the world gathered to write the...

The following article, written by a friend of mine, Gene McCoy, is an unpublished paper. He gave me permission to use it as I saw fit. He Titled it, Back to the Beginning: Restoring the Church to the New Testament Pattern. I think it very worthy of consideration and discussion. Here it is. It was in Junior High School that I began to notice changes in my vision and first began wearing eyeglasses. Over the years, my vision gradually worsened, making stronger prescriptions necessary. When I was thirty-nine years old, the eye doctor told me to prepare for more drastic...

Catholic Biblical Apologetics Apologetics without apology! What does the Roman Catholic Church teach about ...? ... and why? This website surveys the origin and development of Roman Catholic Christianity from the period of the apostolic church, through the post-apostolic church and into the conciliar movement. Principal attention is paid to the biblical basis of both doctrine and dogma as well as the role of paradosis (i.e. handing on the truth) in the history of the Church. Particular attention is also paid to the hierarchical founding and succession of leadership throughout the centuries. This is a set of lecture notes...

Part One:  The Apostles’ Creed 12.   “ Life Everlasting” Table of Contents     The closing article of the Apostles’ Creed is also the opening door to our spiritual life. In fact, in one sense everlasting life is the spiritual life. As understood in the Sacred Scriptures, eternal life begins at baptism (Romans 6:4). It is a new life, initiated by union with the death of Christ, which is symbolized and effected by baptism (Romans 6:4). It is death according to the flesh (Romans 8:12), but it is a resurrection from the life of sin (Romans 6:13). It is therefore a life...

Part One:  The Apostles’ Creed 11.   “ The Resurrection of the Body” Table of Contents     We not only believe that the human soul is immortal, but that the human body is destined to rise immortal from the grave. Unlike our souls, which as spiritual substances are naturally immortal, our bodies are mortal by nature. They were not created subject to death, according to God’s original plan for mankind. But the sin of our first parents deprived them and their descendants of the gift of bodily immortality. All of us must die because we are all sinners.One of the great benefits...

Part One:  The Apostles’ Creed 10.   “ The Forgiveness of Sins” Table of Contents     It is deeply significant that the Apostles’ Creed affirms our belief in the forgiveness of sins immediately after professing our faith in the holy Catholic Church. These two mysteries belong together. On Easter Sunday, Jesus told the two saddened disciples on the way to Emmaus: “You see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that in His name repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem”...

Part One:  The Apostles’ Creed 9.   “ The Holy Catholic Church: the Communion of Saints” Table of Contents     Having professed our faith in the Holy Spirit, we continue by professing to believe in the Holy Catholic Church, of which the Holy Spirit is the soul or source of her corporate life. In one sense, the Church began with the origins of the human race. God wants to save people not only as individuals but as members of society. Consequently the Church corresponds on the level of grace to our social existence on the level of nature.The foreshadowing of the Church...

Part One:  The Apostles’ Creed 8.   “ I Believe in the Holy Spirit” Table of Contents     The best way to understand what we mean by our profession of faith in the Holy Spirit is to compare it with our faith in the Son of God. In God there is intellect and will, corresponding to thinking and loving in human beings. Scripture identifies the mind of God with the Word of God, as St. John tells us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). “So, just as the Word...

Part One:  The Apostles’ Creed 7.   “ From Thence He Shall Come to Judge the Living and the Dead” Table of Contents     There is only one final judge of the human race. It is God by whom the world was first created and to whom we are destined in eternity to return. What may be less obvious is that this same Almighty God became man in the person of Christ. Consequently, Jesus Christ has the divine right to judge all mankind. Immediately we distinguish between the Lord judging us individually at the moment of death, and judging us as the...

Part One:  The Apostles’ Creed 6.   “ He Ascended into Heaven, and is Seated at the Right Hand of God, The Father Almighty” Table of Contents     Jesus Christ arose from the dead and remained upon earth in visible form for forty days. On the fortieth day, He ascended into heaven. As described by St. Luke, Jesus had just finished telling His disciples they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit: When He had said these things, while they looked on, He was raised up. And a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they were beholding Him...

Part One:  The Apostles’ Creed 5.   “ He Descended into Hell. On the Third Day, He Rose Again from the Dead” Table of Contents     There are two truths of faith affirmed in this article of the Creed. The first is that after Christ died, His soul – separated from the body – visited the souls of the faithful departed in what has come to be called the Limbo of the Fathers. The second truth is the Resurrection of Christ from the grave on Easter Sunday. While the Resurrection of Christ is far more significant, His descent “into hell” deserves to...

Part One:  The Apostles’ Creed 4.   “ Suffered Under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified, Died, and was Buried” Table of Contents     We get some idea of the importance of this article of the Creed from St. Paul’s statement to the Corinthians, that “I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (I Corinthians 2:2). Christ’s Passion, death, and burial should be deeply understood. They are the crowning proof of God’s love for us. They are also the most powerful motive for our loving God, and the model of how we are to love Him in...