Friday, August 15, 2008

Creeds & Declarations

We disdain creeds and declarations.
We say they are stoic and non-moving. We picture such "nonsense" as being written on stone. Hard.
Cold.
That there isn't life in a dry, dead, written belief declaration.
We say that life is flowing and always changing. Moving with or without purpose depending on the theology of the moment.

IF a man is drowning, then he needs a stable place, a firm place on which to crawl and be taken out of the rushing waters. A place that puts stability under his feet and gives him that firm place from which he can continue on with journey.

I come in contact with a number of people who have cast aside the past in order to build what they think a future should look like. This is especially true when it comes to church.
They lay aside all the foundational truths and lay hold of only one.
Jesus loves you.
While this is true, this is not a stopping off place where you can plant your flag and live.
If indeed Jesus does love us. That love comes with expectations on His part.
Expectations for me, that I should heed His leading and follow Him.
Expectations for Himself as the Kingdom of God is advanced.
Jesus loves me, but Jesus also disciplines me when I disobey.
Jesus loves me but He wants me to grow and mature in Him.
I don't think Jesus wants to oversee an adult Christian Day care where everyone is still a babe.

Hebrews 5:13-14
For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Can you truly point in the Word of God to back up what you claim to believe, or is your truth simply what you have picked up over the years?
We do not have the luxury of falling on bad theology or discount truth.
Awake! Sleeper...Awake!

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth
And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary
Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried:
He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead
He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead
I believe in the Holy Ghost

I believe in the holy catholic church; the communion of saints
The forgiveness of sins
The resurrection of the body
and the life everlasting
Amen

mb

2 comments:

Bobby said...

We need to grow up and embrace the creeds of the past. We need the stability of the early Church fathers and the reformers! I agree it's time we return to the foundational truths.

Blackie said...

Yet there is some serious diversions between the Early Church writings and those of most of those who call themselves "reformed" today.

The earliest such writings are from Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp, both of whom were close friends with St. John the Apostle and discipled by him and went on to become bishops in Antioch & Smyrna an ultimately martyrs. They are both quite concise about what they believe. I strongly recommend them.

They can be found here. http://www.catholicfirst.com/churchfathersindex.html
God bless,
Blackie

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