I believe because it’s creedal, and my faith is the faith of the ancient creeds.
I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended to the dead. He rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven and sits now at the right hand of the Father. He shall come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life. I believe in the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life eternal.
Also, I’ve noticed a pattern and progression in belief. Once the Virgin Birth disappears, it’s only the first domino to fall. Other Christian beliefs start to go too. Why keep them, after all? The ascension goes away, and in its place are jokes about Jesus as a weather balloon. The Trinity and the Fatherhood of God evaporate. The resurrection usually is last to go. It doesn’t matter anymore if Jesus’ body moldered away in a grave because the resurrection is only a symbol, a metaphor. By then it’s clear the cupboard is empty. All that’s left in it is compassion. And compassion is a good thing, but it’s not enough to build a religion on.
I sympathize with people who struggle to believe the creeds. Often they give up. Only, a difficulty to believe something doesn’t mean it’s defective — it could still be strong and true. I suspect people struggle to believe in the Virgin Birth, as well as other parts of the creed, because they still operate out of a Newtonian worldview with its predictable laws of nature. But in modern physics, nature is strange and unpredictable at its fundamental level. Odd things happen.
I learned the creed in weekly worship at the First Presbyterian Church of Carson City, Nevada. The old sanctuary where we recited it no longer stands, but the faith formed there remains. What a gift of faith that congregation gave me — a summary of belief small enough to fit on a napkin and strong enough to be written on the heart.
Yes, you are right about the dominos. I fear that all of mine have fallen.
At the PCUSA seminary I attended, the students laughed at belief in the resurrection and considered belief in the virgin birth ludicrous if not harmful. They regarded the Bible as “fiction.” In spite of my own disbelief I found that attitude and manner bizarre for a church and its clergy. Strangely, perhaps, at the university (UC) the Bible was not regarded as fiction, even though the events described in it are not what we generally think is real today. Something is fouled up in the mainline denominations when they are less respectful of scripture than a secular university.
Personally, my favorite miracle-type story is the talking donkey – Balaam’s donkey. At the university I asked the Hebrew Bible scholar how the ancient world read that story. He said, “I think you are asking about the genre of the story. They would have considered a talking donkey quite unusual, but would have thought something quite unusual and important happened that day.” Being an animal lover, that is my favorite miracle. That donkey is a saint.
The beauty of being a creedal Christian, as I am, is there is no definite rule for how to view biblical miracles like a talking donkey or a great fish swallowing a prophet. The only miracles I need to believe are a virgin birth (which happens daily now in fertility clinics) and a resurrection (which, admittedly, has only happened once). People think creeds are restrictive, but I find them freeing in this way.
Me too.
I thought of another way the creed is freeing. Nothing in the creed specifies what I must believe about social issues of the day like health care or homosexuality or pacifism. Since these are not creedal, you really are free to chart your own course on them. Peace to you.
In my experience in the PCUSA, leftist politics were the only creedal beliefs. The dominos had fallen.
A theology professor, who also served as moderator of the GA, once said in class that one is not required to be liberal politically to be a member of a Presbyterian but it sure helps if one wants to be comfortable in the ministry. (He was, himself, liberal politically.)
But you are right that nothing in the creeds, not counting, perhaps, the confession of 1967, requires one to hold particular political beliefs. It is a pity that the PCUSA and other liberal denominations have lost sight of what it means to be liberal – having and enjoying freedom – and have become so narrow-minded (and mean-spirited) about politics.
You must have had a really bad experience in this area because it comes up often. I’m not complaining, just noticing. No argument about C67 — it’s pretty political. But its doctrine of scripture is pretty good. As to confessional documents, in addition to the ancient creeds, I prefer the Reformation writings: Heidelberg and 2nd Helvetic principally.
No question, my experience here with seminary, the Presbytery and the Synod was the experience of leftist political religion. It was ugly. I had never been around such hate and meanness in my whole life.
And, I agree with you that there is much theological wisdom and beauty in the Reformation writings. As you know my own tendencies are liberal theologically, but that does not prevent me from appreciating the historical creeds which were not.