I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
In my older years now, and one only gets older if you are lucky it seems, I can only speak for myself and my own Creed of Science Done Well. I appreciate science well done. Highly educated human beings today are not in the business of trying to make fools out of themselves or be considered as such. While there is always "fringe science" much like the reality of "fringe religion", it is not the goal of scientists in any field to muck up or come to wrong conclusions. I assume it is also not the goal of literalist theologians either. If they do, the research goes into the pool of knowing and the search continues. I have grown up in a time where we have learned more in the last 50 years about the how and why of origins than in the previous 100,000 years. My parents were taught the galaxy WAS the Universe. Now we know better through the hard work of science done well.
For decades I soaked in religion. As a child, I soaked in Sunday School and Church and knew most of the Bible, the stories and the characters very well, Old Testament and New, before ever going into the Worldwide Church of God. As a child I had shelves of astronomy and dinosaur books. I spent countless hours as a child and teen at the local library looking sideways at books that may catch my interest. I libraried in the mornings and played hockey all afternoon anywhere I could find a good game. I don't think I have changed much at all since being a kid and the ministry of the Worldwide Church did not change much of my perspectives on such things along the way. The stories of creation and Adam and Eve had meaning to the Hebrews who wrote them which I have written about elsewhere, but they were not meant to be scientific in meaning. The "science, falsely so called, " was not the science of today. Whatever the writer of Timothy (it was probably not the Apostle Paul) was getting at, and they always never seemed to actually tell us what the problem actually was or the topic of that problem, it was something that still after 2000 years was not something about science well done. The problem could have been astrology or the ideas of well read pagan philosophers of the day, but it is not stated.
I can only think off hand of three problems actually defined in the New Testament as troublesome to the church. Some were teaching the resurrection was already past, go figure. Some were teaching that Jesus had not really come in the flesh which seems odd at such an early date and some were mockers concerning the delayed coming of Jesus. There were other problems of course, but these three stand out as odd problems for the young church. I always thought thinking Jesus had not really come in the flesh was like denying Elvis or John Kennedy of just a few years ago and that those who got antsy about the promises of Jesus coming again were correct after all. I have no idea why one would teach the resurrection was a thing of the past in such an early stage of the church but then again I have never figured out just how "nature itself teaches us it is a shame for a man to have long hair." Go tell Mr. Lion.
At any rate, here is MY Creed. It does not have to be YOURS. We are all where we are on whatever the path is. There is NO chance in this life that any group of people on this earth, religious or otherwise can "all speak the same thing." There is almost no other more ignorant verse in the New Testament as to how people actually are. To "all speak the same thing," one would have to be brain dead and hold no personal views. To "all speak the same thing," one would have to lie to themselves and be one way to the group and hide personal beliefs and doubts about the group way of being behind a mask of compliance. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE IF NOT DEPRESSING TO THINK THAT ANY GROUP OF PEOPLE ACTUALLY DO ALL SPEAK AND BELIEVE THE SAME THINGS. To me, that has always been spoken by those who put themselves in charge and want compliance to THEIR thinking. In the real world, this is just not a healthy way to be as an individual. It is an impossible goal and suspect at best when the bully pulpit tell the congregation how they must think. A Dave Pack comes to mind along with far too many others.
I speak my truth. You can speak yours.
The Science Done Well Creed
I believe that something Banged and it was Big
I believe that whatever banged has banged many times before creating other universes, both parallel and multi.
I believe there is much more to be learned about this in the thousands of years to come
I believe that what banged produced the hydrogen needed for stars to form , live and die.
I believe that stars that died produced all the elements seen today in our world sufficient to produce billions of galaxies each with billions of planets.
I believe that life must be everywhere in the Universe, in many forms
I believe this is not the only Universe
I believe life evolves and our Universe took 13.7 billion years to do it.
I believe that in our genes and in our bodies lie the remnants of countless lifeforms before us.
I believe in my inner fish, amphibian, reptile, mammal, ape, Homo habilis, Erectus, Neanderthalis and Sapien
I believe the trigeminal nerve is so convoluted and long because the fossil record shows our inner ear bones originated in the jawbones of reptiles long past.
I believe it when told Europeans have 2-4% Neanderthal Genes in their spit
I believe humans uniquely have come to be conscious and aware that we are aware
I believe our conscious awareness that we have a limited shelf life and will die has produced most of our religious needs and thinking.
I believe religious anger and wars are the results of the threatening nature of the beliefs of others and how it upsets our worldview
I believe science done well threatens theology done badly
I believe in the mystery of human consciousness and the wonder of it all
I believe I am stardust and in science done well
I believe beliefs can change as knowledge increases
I believe that knowledge that increases is a sign of the end for ignorance about just what and who we are in the Universe
I believe in the vast differences between Religion and Spirituality
I believe what I learned in Sunday School about the Bible being earthly stories with heavenly meanings.
I believe what i have since learned about not all earthly stories portray literal events
I believe in the vast differences between Literalism and Reality
I believe reality is always our friend
I believe I like that...
What's Your Creed?
(You know...the one deep inside you and not dictated by others...)