Creating a statement of faith…. I think this is a good idea, not for the typical reasons a statement of faith is used, that is to exclude people from some form of closed group; a church, a picnic, a basketball team… maybe not the basketball team but they are generally used to decide who is in and who is out of a group like a church or a circle of friends, hence the picnic.
That type of exclusion, I’m not interested in, but given my last (long) post about dynamic balance and the inherent need to shift with culture if we intend to remain in the center of our faith I suppose it is important to articulate the center, at least where we imagine it to be today.
And so the exercise I propose is an endeavor to create a snapshot of my faith; today; or at least over the course of the next couple days/weeks/months. Into that I’m enlisting you, that is, anyone that stumbles across this blog. Help me articulate what is at the core; the essential, uncompromised, unyielding experience of truth we find ourselves living in.
I’ll be adding my thoughts over the next (insert open ended period of time here) knowing that, “reality is the dynamic medium in which human knowing does its work” and my work continues to be one, most decidedly, in progress.
quote from Paul Spalding
Proclaiming Christian Truth in a Postmodern Culture
I love this comment I saw on a friend’s blog
I’m looking forward to what you articulate, Jeremy. It’s a good exercise along the way of faith. I look back on some of my statements from 20 years ago (holy cow!) and wonder at how I could have been so adamant about some of the peripheral things. Will I do that again in another 20? I’m challenged to try the task again this summer too. Sneak peak: I think it’ll start with “Jesus loves me” and flow from there.
Wait for it! it’s coming, I can feel it building!
Accomplish a lot in the time you have, your time is more precious than you think. How you use it defines who you really are, not what you say that you are.
Be a doer and a thinker in a healthy balance, if thinking doesn’t cause you to be a more effective doer then you are thinking way to much, or not enough.
Culture changes should not define our reactions but cause us to have a more thoughtful response when we are more aware of those changes.
My “Christianity” is constantly changing, if I think about what I believed even 1 year ago I can see the differences. But wherever my journey takes me, I hope that I am constantly improving and having a more positive influence on the people around me. How can I follow God without improving on myself? How can I follow God and have the same measure of personal discipline. In other words I should be developing more discipline, thoughtfulness, maturity, and intelligence as time passes by.
With all the changes and different ideas and concepts emerging in the Christian Faith today one has to wonder what God thinks about it all.
I just don’t want to be like the pharisees and jump on the wrong wagon and not even recognize God or things that are godly.
If we are supposed to be striving for perfection then we should really be working a whole lot harder on our growth and development. We will never attain that perfection, but striving for that perfection is what God wants us to do. Why would he want us to do that? I really believe that it makes us better people to strive for holiness, not according to humanity’s perception perhaps, but better people in light of eternity.
I think a statement of faith is used by people who want to give their common group some security, or pseudo security. They do this because they want to be assured that their beliefs can be protected and people can’t come along and change it. Then there are also people who do want to exclude people they are uncomfortable with. It is perfection if we can be open to lots of people from different walks of life that have different perspectives. To be honest, the way certain Christians are can make me feel uncomfortable because I do not understand why they act and speak a certain way or hold contempt for certain ideas or people. Christian is such a broad category that two people who are Christians can have radically different ways of living their lives.
Perhaps so many different types of Christians can impact so many different types of people, and by developing relationships with all the different categories that are in the world today something good can be accomplished.
I am just amazed that a church can involve people who like music from the 1900s and people who like music from 2007 and consider 2001 to be “old school.” And that is just in the style of music category.
But one has to ask the question: why did Christians throughout history defend or attack certain ideals? When some crazy theology would come along everyone would be in an uproar and intense debate and/or infighting would ensue.
I have read that the theologians of today have a problem with individualizing theology (a la post-modernism), and maybe personalalizing your own faith-statement is the way to go. But even in a post-modern church that would make people feel uncomofortable.
wow, I don’t think I had any answers, just questions
-dave