My Creed



Some time ago a friend on Facebook asked me to explain what I believe as a Christian.

This is what I wrote:

I believe in God. I believe there is a Divine Being greater than the natural world who contains within himself all the properties of love and power.

All that exists was created by him and for him.

Human beings were created by God. We were created with the freedom to follow or reject him.

Following God means believing what he has revealed about himself, and then acting on that data.

Rejecting God means using our own lives and thoughts as the datum by which we live.

I believe that the “evidence” of God comes to us in three ways.

Creation itself leads me to believe in a Creator. When I look at the complexity, the intricacy and the sheer vastness of the created order – I simply cannot accept the idea that time+chance+matter somehow simply spat  out everything from spinning planets to carpenter bees.

It’s too unbelievable to believe that it all … just happened.

It is more probable to believe there was a Creator behind it all.

Secondly, the Bible as a book is a source of revelation of the reality of God. I do believe it was inspired by God, like no other literary document has been. Reading and studying the Bible, I see a progression of revelation:

The Bible gives me a clear description of the state of humanity and the nature of God – and how the 2 can be reconciled.

Finally, the person of Jesus Christ. When I was in high-school – this is what finally brought me back to my faith, after I went through a period of trying to figure out what I was going to believe about life.

No other worldview has Jesus. Jesus to me is the pinnacle of what a fully evolved human being should be (Read Matthew 5-7 in the Bible – and see the life that is described there).

I also believe in the historicity of Jesus, his crucifixion and his resurrection. I don’t really have time to give you all the arguments for it, but can suggest some good resources if you are interested.

I guess there would be one final proof – that is my own life. I have seen the reality of the power and presence of God in my own life. God has changed me from being a selfish, angry person to someone who is becoming more and more concerned for the well being of others. I know I still have a long way to go – but I my character has been changed radically over the last few years – and I can only attribute that to the activity of the Spirit of God in my life.

I believe that as humans we have rejected God. That rejection has a price – our sin carries with it a punishment.
But, God instead of inflicting that punishment on us, he sent his son Jesus Christ to die in our place. On the cross Jesus absorbed all the punishment we deserved.
When we come to terms with that – when we accept that reality, when we ask God to forgive us of our sins – he forgives us, and he empowers us to live the type of life, we know in our hearts we are to live.

Christianity is a life where we move out of our own self centerdness and out into serving and loving others. Any expression of Christianity that is not marked by humility, love and service has moved away from what Jesus intended. (And sadly, much of the modern expressions of Christianity have become more interested in power and coercion than in love and service – but don’t let those facades turn you off of the real thing).

I have found that the reality that God is with me, guiding me, saving me, picking me up when I fall and forgiving me, to be the only way to live life with any kind of hope for the future.

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