Creeds and Other Statements

Why creeds?

If you accept that (based on 1 Corinthians 2:6-13):

  1.  Christian belief is a journey in life, with new understanding being given each time you read the bible;
  2.  the Holy Spirit has been given to speak individually to every believer, to help them along the way by giving meaning appropriate to their circumstances and level of understanding;
  3.  the nature and ways of God are infinite, beyond human understanding, so they cannot be reduced into human words and concepts;

Then why would we want to try the impossible task of putting the infinite nature of God, and our relationship with him, into limited human words?
The result must surely be to some extent a projection of our own limited human thinking?

But Paul warned us about false teachers (2 Corinthians 11:13), and spoke of the importance of sound doctrine and the tendency of mankind to turn away from it to fables (2 Timothy 4:4).

I suggest that creeds and doctrine are useful as guidelines, to protect us from false teaching and fables, and also as an aid to memory.
But assenting to these human documents is no substitute for genuine faith, nor can they convey the depth of meaning we receive from the bible.

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