Should Unbelievers Say the Apostle's Creed And The Nicene Creed In Their Worship Services ?

[Luce NDs]

When one gets right into studying religion ... does some other items pop up that we were never told about in regard to the great unknown?

Thus a lot of room in the spatial soul (mind) for mulling and chewing ...

 

[Jaebius]

However the use of creeds as a dividing tool (or faith statements, thinking of an experience with local ministerials) has been to enforce a level of doctrinal uniformity/purity that does not allow for variation in interpretation and understanding. In other words "if you don't agree with all of this you are obviously a heretic and hopelessly lost". For example, the faith statement on IVCF when I was in university that called for adherence to the so called fundamentals of faith (from which Christian fundamentalism took its name) even though those were not (and never have been) tenets held by the entire church. Only the right kind of Christians were supposed to be there (or really in leadership since that was who had to sign the statement) apparently.

The positive use of Creeds or creed-like statement said in community is that they build the community together. The negative side is that they are a way to cast people out.

Or at least if they did we don't have a record of it. AFter all the church has never been a united body, there have always been differences of opinion on pretty much everything from how to understand/interpret/use SCripture to the nature of Christ and what we now call the Trinity.

That's a fair observation, Gord.

That said, On the central point, the question, WHO'S JESUS?, there was remarkable continuity.

For me, Paul's explaining the significance of Jesus' life, death, and RESURRECTION under the Holy Spirit's guidance.

Yes, diversity of opinion's always been with us. That shows how important it is to keep measuring our interpretations against the apostolic witness preserved in Scripture