We believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker and Owner of Heaven and Earth.
We believe that we do not and cannot give God anything,
but merely manage what belongs to God,
including the body and life God is lending us.
We believe in Jesus the Messiah, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
lived the life of a humble Servant without limit,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
The third day the Father raised His Son from the dead,
and declared Him Lord over the universe, time, death and eternity.
Jesus has not withdrawn His presence, but has transformed it;
and the Holy Spirit, through Word and Sacrament,
makes known Jesus’ invisible presence, His message and His mission.
While we wait for Jesus to reappear on the Last Day
when He will raise the dead and judge everyone,
we live to make Him known as Savior and Lord,
and to serve Him by serving those around us.
When He finally reappears, He will greet us in forgiving grace,
thank us for having served Him in His distressing disguises,
and then welcome us into His Eternal Home
where He will care for us forever.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church,
the fellowship of forgiven saints
striving to live in unity in Christ-like servant community.
We also believe in the existence of the unholy satanic spirit
and the unholy demonic realm that strive to seduce us
from serving God and others into serving ourselves.
We believe in the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
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3 comments:
The Apostle's Creed are just one of the key creeds that placed the frame work on the absolutes of Truth in Faith and belief. Beliefs determine behaviour and behaviour has consequences.
Therefore, Christian belief is based on the finality of Scripture and built on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles.We are saved "soley by grace, through the faith in Jesus Christ and certainly not religion(s) philosophies, feelings and rituals with heirachical orders,clebate priests, or any human infalibility.
When we identify with the expression "We believe in God the Father" there is already a "moral" identity with the person of God the Father. The next awareness is our own moral impurity and un-holiness which should be the case and the prophet Isaiah (Isa.6:1-7)is a classic case in point.
God is Holy, He is also a God of Love, but never at the expense of His Moral and Holy character.
Give this some serious thought in such a time of moral debauchery, and confusion. The Cross of Jesus Christ stands over all the sands of human efforts and empires.
My passion to return to the simplicity of "Lost Christianity" viz a viz the Church as a living breathing, witnessing,loving, discipling community as distinct from the world,has led me on one of the most important spiritual journeys of my life.
Is is, I find, iseparabel from the centrality of Jesus Christ in restoring of all things. I have been much blessed and influenced by one writer in this search named Howard Snyder. Many of his works are still available on Amazon used books.com. One from which I will soon quote is -The Radical Wesley, patterns for Church Renewal.
Born into a Methodist background myself in 1948, my mother was a Methodist Sunday School teacher, who instilled a love for books at a very early age. Having had a deep conversion experience in the turbulant 60's, I encounterd the real Jesus of the Bible and it began a journey that radically altered my life.
So here are seven points from the book that will provide you the reader not just hope, but if you are deeply longing for change and real life, especially within the simplicity of New Testament Christianity, then within the bounds of reason, give this adequate thought and consideration.
First, a word on the use of the term "radical." In truth, Jesus Christ is not radical. controversial, most definitely but radical is a life-style which is most frightning to us,in the depth and complacentcy of our sinful live. Only when one is truly set free,can one experience - the Zoe, the life of God.
So Synder writes - 1. Voluntary adult membership based on a covenant commitment to Jesus Christ, emphasizing obedience to Jesus as necessary evidence of faith in Him. Believer's baptism has usually been the sign of this commitment, but not always. The point is not, fundamentally, the form of joining the covenant community but the fact and meaning of conscious committed membership in it.
2. A community or brotherhood of discipline,edification,correction and mutual aid, in conscious separation from the world, as the primary visible expression of the church.
3.A life of good works, service and witness as an expression of Christian love and obedience expected of all believers.Thus there is an emphasis on the ministry of the laity, rather than of a special ministerial class and the church is viewed as "a missionary minority."
4.The Spirit and the Word as compromising the sole basis of authority, implying a de-empahsis or rejection of church traditions and creeds.
5.Primitivism and restitutionism. The early church is the model,and the goal is to restore the essential elements of early church life and practice.This usually implies some view of the fall of the church as well.
6.A pragmatic,functional approach to church order and structure.
7.A belief in the universal church as the body of Christ,of which the particular visible believing community is but a part.
Keep in mind, that the Church has always been the "suffering church." The church with a clear eschatological vision,pacifism, consensus in decision making, ecumenism and separation from the state.
The "creeds" hammered out by the early church fathers were not set aside, but "heirachical creeds" to bolster priestly control is set aside, since Jesus is our Great High Priest and all who are called and choosen by God are "priests and kings". Exodus 19:1-6.and Rev.1:1-10. May you be blessed and strengthened.
Bro.Max.
I'm sure Dr. Harry Wendt would appreciate you giving him proper credit for this adaptation/wording of the Apostles' Creed. See www.crossways.org
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