A Perfect Creed
I am an active member in a Lutheran church. But I must confess that I no longer subscribe to the creeds we recite.
For years I happily parroted the various creeds I had to memorize as a child without a second thought. But, as I got older, the whole notion started to bother me. I say I believe, yet I don't really believe... am I misrepresenting myself? If I do not believe in these particular creeds, what sort of creed would I feel comfortable with?
Typing out loud for a moment, maybe the 'perfect creed' would look something like this:
Looks good to me. But Creeds are a tricky thing. While they are usually designed to facilitate peace and unity, historically creeds seem to bring about controversy and division. (The split between the Roman and Eastern church began with a disagreement over a single word.) Even with something as simple as my 3-bullet 'perfect creed' I'm certain there are many who would find fault. Perhaps the only real 'perfect' creed would be one resulting from self-reflection; an elastic creed that mirrors the place and time in which one lives. IOW, a personal creed.
It's interesting to note that words hold different meanings to different people. For me, the meaning of the word "God" has a low probability of matching anyone else's meaning of the same word. But not only do meanings change from person to person, meanings change over time. With this in mind, while creedal statements were once intended to unify belief, perhaps, in our modern society, they do a better job as representing a form of community. Or, perhaps we've outgrown our need for creeds all together.
For years I happily parroted the various creeds I had to memorize as a child without a second thought. But, as I got older, the whole notion started to bother me. I say I believe, yet I don't really believe... am I misrepresenting myself? If I do not believe in these particular creeds, what sort of creed would I feel comfortable with?
Typing out loud for a moment, maybe the 'perfect creed' would look something like this:
- I believe it's always good to face the facts.
- Whatever God happens to be, I am not Him/Her/Them/It.
- I will seek the best for others as for myself. Not only does it make good evolutionary sense, I'll feel better too.
Looks good to me. But Creeds are a tricky thing. While they are usually designed to facilitate peace and unity, historically creeds seem to bring about controversy and division. (The split between the Roman and Eastern church began with a disagreement over a single word.) Even with something as simple as my 3-bullet 'perfect creed' I'm certain there are many who would find fault. Perhaps the only real 'perfect' creed would be one resulting from self-reflection; an elastic creed that mirrors the place and time in which one lives. IOW, a personal creed.
It's interesting to note that words hold different meanings to different people. For me, the meaning of the word "God" has a low probability of matching anyone else's meaning of the same word. But not only do meanings change from person to person, meanings change over time. With this in mind, while creedal statements were once intended to unify belief, perhaps, in our modern society, they do a better job as representing a form of community. Or, perhaps we've outgrown our need for creeds all together.
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