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.
*that is, the true Christian church of all times and all places
https://www.crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/creeds/nicene-creed
At first I thought the footnote on this Christian Reformed Church webpage was rather weird - perhaps a complaint by a Protestant sect that just can't stand that The Apostles' Creed contains the word "catholic."
Then I thought: "What an epiphany!
The word "catholic" (lower case) means "universal."
And so the footnote -- making reference to "the true Christian church of all times and all places" -- actually means "the true catholic church at all times and all places."
Admittedly, my insight is rather tautological.
But there is NO reason why tautologies cannot be included in the written statements of doctrine and dogma.
So, although it seems to "put the cart before the horse," "the true church in all times and in all places" means just that; that the tue church has to be the true church, and no false church will do. (Imagine how many iterations of Christianity will do, so that if only one church is the true church, then well over 99% of existing churches are false. (Or, how are we to know, truly, that any of the existing churches are true? Or, perhaps truth is latitudinarian enough so that all extant churches are true.
And so, if we posit that Scripture is the embodiment of the teaching of the true church, then the following bible verses are true -- and can be deemed true to the exclusion of bible verses that contradict them. (I'm reminded of how Benedictine abbot, Dom Aelred Graham summarized his belief: "I believe whatever Jesus of Nazareth actually said." Given all the scribal alterations-and-insertions that pop up hither and yon in the bible, there is no telling what Jesus of Nazareth actually said.
BUT!
The general thrust of the four canonical gospels is such that most of the world has -- after 2000 years reading and studying the book -- has become aware, and furthermore concludes that Jesus was a loving, compassionate man who made it his mission to serve others, without discrimination (without determining if the person he was serving "deserved" to be served) and was so unmitigatedly loving and universally helpful that church and civil authorities (who did not "show well" in comparison to the singularly good man) decided to kill him because he was becoming a threat to their twin authoritarian reigns -- civil and ecclesiastical.
Consider some of the verses that made most people conclude that Yeshua the Nazarene was a remarkable fellow who modelled service to others, and disregard for the frequent moral distinctions made between genders and among ethnicities.
"God is love."
"Thou shalt not kill."
"Thou shalt not bear false witness."
Jesus says in the 5th chapter of Matthew, part of the Sermon on the Mount:
38 “The law of Moses says, ‘If a man gouges out another’s eye, he must pay with his own eye. If a tooth gets knocked out, knock out the tooth[e] of the one who did it.’
39 But I say: Don’t resist violence! If you are slapped on one cheek, turn the other too.
41 And whoever compels you to go a mile, go with him two.
42 Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.
43 “There is a saying, ‘Love your friends and hate your enemies.’
44 But I say: Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!
45 In that way you will be acting as true sons of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust too.
46 If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even scoundrels do that much.
47 If you are friendly only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even the heathen do that.
48 But you are to be perfect/complete/whole/holy, even as your Father in heaven is perfect/complete/whole/holy."
***
Now consider the following bible verses which are intrinsically inconsistent with the verses cited above:
To begin, we have Moses' ratification of punitive retribution: “The law of Moses says, ‘If a man gouges out another’s eye, he must pay with his own eye. If a tooth gets knocked out, knock out the tooth of the one who did it.'"
But there is profound vility in the Bible that goes far beyond the justification of "personal payback."
The God Of The Bible Commands All Men To Stone Rebellious Children To Death. (In The Quran There Is Nothing As Cruel As God's Deuteronomic Demand That Your Own Children Be Killed For The Triviality Of Adolescent Rebelliousness)
Biblical Violence: Is The Bible More Violent Than The Quran? Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years
Biblical Literalism And The Cultivation Of Hatred
A large part of the reason Americans and Europeans are turning away from Christianity is that Christianity -- as a formal, churchgoing practice -- is its passionate perpetuation of unlimited loads of manifest horseshit.
Among many other reasons for modern revulsion against formal religion (at least in northern latitudes is that people no longer fear jettisoning organized religion as they are no longer intimidated - they are no longer terrorized - they no longer let themselves fall prey to theological Stockholm Syndrome.
Put simply, people no longer believe in The Lake of Unquenchable Fire where many people (probably most people) -- according to church teaching -- will be confined to perpetual roasting - for all eternity, without possibility of reform or release.
In effect, it is clear to an ever-growing percentage of people that Hell must have been created by a God indistinguishable from a sadistic torturer.
We have gotten to the point where ever more people refuse to believe that a torturer-God is worthy of worship - ni mucho menos!
We Are Re-Made In The Image Of Our God (Or Gods). This Bedrock Fact Makes Me Increasingly Critical Of America As A Judeo-Christian Culture That Worships A God Who Is Wrathful And Punitive. Trump And His Cultists Comprise Incontrovertible Proof That The United States Of America - Which Has Always Been A Punitive, Retributive Society - Now Genuflects At The Altar Of Cruelty. Cruelty Is Not An Aberration. It Is The Central Point Of Unbridled, "Christian" "Conservative" Capitalism. Let's Make Up Our Minds. John The Apostle Says "God Is Love." Is "He?" Or Is God Punitive And Hellishly Cruel? Do Not Look Away. Do Not Sweep This Under The Rug. Be Whatever You Want To Be. But Do Have The Courage And Integrity To Own Up To The God You Worship, And In Whose Image YOU Continually Re-Make Yourself
Compendium Of Christianity Posts: Why "Conservative" "Christians" Are All Going To Hell (If There Is A Hell...Which I Don't Believe)
Religion, Eternal Punishment, And Hell-Gehenna (With A Special Guest Appearance By Bertrand Russell)
The Innate Hostility Of Absolutists: Relativists Are "Okay" With Absolutists; Absolutists Prefer That Relativists "Go To Hell" - Which Is Where They Belong!
The Thinking Housewife, A Traditionalist Catholic: "We Can Be Pretty Sure That Many Good People Are Roasting In Hell
Is Hitler In Hell? - An Attempt To Rescue "Christian" "Conservative" Friends From Their Delusional Support For Donald Trump And The Big Lie
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