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| "IHS" is an anagram for "JESUS" |
We
are only days away from the US Presidential Election. Soon the equivocations, prevarications,
character assassinations and mudslinging will all be over… or will it?
In
an attempt to help further educate (or is it “influence”) voters “fact checks”
have attempted to serve us, the gullible public, by informing us about which of
the two candidates tells more lies most often.
But now we hear claims that even “fact checks” have their own agenda. Say it ain’t so! Given the outrageous claims that both
candidates and their teams have leveled at each other it might be comforting to
think that the incriminating accusations will end on November 9 – but oh no, it
will not be over – politics as usual will continue with its double speak,
sleight of hand and outrageous truth
claims.
Even
though we don’t always know what to accept and what to reject, most of us are
prepared for lies and chicanery in the world of politics. We live in a
marketplace economy, so as we grow up we become aware of hyperbolic marketing claims
that seek to persuade us and sell us on a particular product, thereby achieving
the goal of lifting money out of our pockets and depositing it somewhere
else.
Few are ready for outrageous truth claims when it comes to their faith.
While
many are on guard for the lies of politics and advertising and promotion at
large, few are ready for outrageous
truth claims when it comes to their faith. When someone does question the veracity of a belief or practice of a
particular church or denomination, the religious institution in question often
directs them to documents called “statements of belief” or “statements of
faith.” Sometimes, in longer forms
(sometimes books and even several volumes of books) these statements are called
“confessions.”
Back
in 1967 Scot McKenzie advised young idealists who were going to San Francisco
in search of ultimate truth to wear some flowers in their hair. If you’re searching for ultimate truth in
confessions or statements of faith or belief, here’s my advice: put your waders
on. Waders – you know – those rubber waders
that fishermen wear so they can get into the stream without getting wet. When you are looking for ultimate truth
amidst conflicting statements of faith, you will need to put your waders on
because you will be hip deep in theological, in-house terms that only folks in
ivory towers understand, care and argue about.
But esoteric language and terminology is not the real problem you will
encounter on your modern day “pilgrim’s progress” – beyond their esoteric
language, many statements and confessions of faith/ belief are filled with
assertions that attempt to distinguish that church or ministry or denomination
from others – these declarations are known within the religion industry as “unique truth claims.”
For example, in the marketing world, promotions
for one soap may not actually say another soap product is not even qualified to
be called soap, but the soap company paying for the advertising will make a unique truth claim trying to persuade
you, the consumer, that its soap is better and unique than other soaps (similar
marketing techniques are used, of course, with all products, from soap to soup to
nuts).
More
than that, some of the more outlandish affirmations of big business religion
are known, particularly by their critics, as “exaggerated truth claims” – which is just a shade short of
describing them as lies and untruths.
So
the message conveyed behind “unique
truth statements” is something like this: “others may have some truth and some claim to legitimacy, but here’s why
we are better than they are.” The religious
mud throwing intensifies with “exaggerated
truth claims” which often amount to “why
we are right and everyone else is wrong.”
Based
on my observations and study of statements of faith, I conclude, with Jesus’
words in Matthew 12:34 (Authorized King James Version, 1611), “in the abundance of words there wants not sin.”
The
New International Version, from which I normally read and study, translated the
words of Jesus in this passage in Matthew 12:34, “For the mouth speaks what the
heart is full of.” I like that
translation as well, because we are all familiar with someone who disagrees
with an argument we are making and responds “you are full of ____.” I don’t know if scholars agree that being
“full of ____” is the sense of the “original Greek” but I have no reservation
whatsoever believing that Jesus would have included that innuendo.
When
I search for a brief summary of my faith, I look to the Sermon on the
Mount. Beyond that, I look to the Four
Gospels, and then, other biblical books. In addition, I find the Apostle’s Creed – a historically established and
orthodox statement of faith – to be biblical, Christ-like and brief.
Two major
creeds came out of early Christian history – one called the Apostle’s Creed and
the other called The Nicene Creed. “Creed”
is an English word that is derived from the Latin word credo – credo literally
translated means “I believe.”
Thus,
in The Apostle’s Creed, the earliest and most well known of the creeds, each
statement begins with the word “I believe.”The Apostle’s Creed is a regular
part of formal worship services in some traditions – with that said, there are many versions of
The Apostle’s Creed that have denominationally morphed over the years, so that
versions are more in keeping with the faith and practice of a particular
Christian tradition – an interesting thought to ponder, in and of itself! Rather than searching literature for a guide
to influence and edit current belief, the tendency is, and always has been, to
edit, revise and modify the document to fit current belief and practice.
The
version of the Apostle’s Creed that follows is called an ecumenical version –
which attempts to be true to the original thought and also attempts to stay out
of the theological potholes that denominational versions can created.
Apostle’s
Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again, he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body,and the life everlasting. Amen.
One
clarification in case you are not that familiar with the Apostle’s Creed – the
third “I believe” begins “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic
Church” … and then it continues.
Some
who are not Catholic Christians object to The Apostle’s Creed, thinking that
such a statement of faith and truth obligates them to believe in the Roman
Catholic Church, rather than their denomination, as a Lutheran, Baptist,
Methodist or non-denominational Christian.
The word “catholic” in the Apostle’s Creed actually denies the legitimacy or logic of saying that any church is the one and only true church.
But
the Apostle’s Creed has the word “catholic” in lowercase, while the word
“Church” that follows is capitalized, in uppercase.
The
word “catholic” as used in the Apostle’s Creed means the universal body of
Christ that transcends any building or any denomination – it is not a
definitive term about an organized legal entity doing business on earth. The word “catholic” in the Apostle’s Creed
actually denies the legitimacy or logic of saying that any church is the one
and only true church – such as asserting that the Roman “Catholic” Church is
the one and only true church.
The
word “Church” is capped in the Apostle’s Creed because it is the central
topic. The Church is the body of
Christ, but today the word “church” too is somewhat jumbled and confused. Many people talk about “going to church”
when they mean that they are getting into a car or taking a bus to a building,
which they think of as “a” church but – gasp, get ready for this! – religious
authorities have no problem with the laity thinking and believing that “a”
church is “the” Church.
The
universal, catholic Church, as a confession of faith, slices through exclusive,
unique and exaggerated truth claims.
The Apostle’s Creed explicitly denies that the Church is encompassed in a
building or a denomination, because it, the body of Christ, is universal, and
therefore “the” body of Christ, the Church,
is more who we are, by God’s grace, than “a” church -- a geographical place to
which one might travel and/or a legally incorporated religious institution of
which one might be a member or said to “belong.”
I
believe that Christ followers may or may not be members of a physically
incorporated entity that calls itself “a” church – that’s our choice. But Christ followers have no choice
whatsoever when it comes to the Church.
We are members, by the grace of God, in the universal body of Christ,
regardless of membership or lack thereof in earthly organizations.
I
believe that membership in the Church, the universal body of Christ, means that
we achieve nothing other than pride and arrogance when we argue about one
church being better or worse than another.
And when we fall for any outrageous
truth claims that one church is the one and only true church, then we are
far from the Jesus Way – we are overwhelmed with a theological storm in a tea
cup, drinking deeply from the corrupt, polluted deceptions of the father of all
lies, whose very language of exaggerated
truth claims is a lie (John 8:44).
