[ExI] What is their actual creed?

Dan dan_ust at yahoo.com
Thu Jun 11 19:05:27 UTC 2009


--- On Thu, 6/11/09, Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 6:47 PM, Dan<dan_ust at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> > All of this depends on what you mean by the particular
> creed.  I offered up earlier that maybe accepting the
> Nicene Creed defined someone as Christian.  The Nicene
> Creed is silent on observing fasts, birth control (and the
> Biblical textual support here is a bit thin too, IIRC), and
> many other things that people interpret as being essential
> to being a Christian.
> 
> Why, let me see:
> - "And I believe in the Holy Ghost, who spake by the
> prophets" (Holy
> Scriptures are therefore authoritative)
> - "And I believe in the holy, catholic and apostolic
> Church" (the
> Catholic tradition as interpreted and preached by the
> Church must
> therefore also be believed; even though it may include
> things which
> are not per se articles of faith, if you refuse this
> teaching you are
> not a christian as per the Nicene Creed).

Okay, then, yes, some form of scriptural holiness must ensue from accepting that Creed.  It still allows some wiggle room, don't you think?

(But, still, is the Nicene Creed the definition of Christian belief?  What if it's the Apostle's Creed or some other confession or creed?)

Also, there's nothing in that creed about birth control and fasts.
 
> Of course, nothing prevents me from calling myself a
> Christian even
> though I believe that the Divine Persons are actually five,
> the
> Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, Chairman Mao and Donna
> Summer.

That's not what I meant, though some scholars like Bart Ehrman make a good case that Christianity was a much broader movement in its first two or three centuries of existence.  Moreover, we were discussing, of course, our contemporaries who call themselves Christians.  It still comes down to how to define Christian (or Jew or Muslim) -- and what conclusions can be drawn therein.

Regards,

Dan


      



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