There’s an old Hungarian expression of, “Know who you are.” The Nicene Creed is a beautiful prayer in the Catholic faith that declares its fundamental beliefs. In the bazillion times throughout my childhood and adult life I’ve heard and said that prayer – I’ve never done what the prayer asked of me – to really stop and ask myself what I actually, truly, really, really believe.
The other day I did…
“We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen…
I don’t pretend to know any more than the 106 billion humans before me since 50,000 B.C.; I don’t have the foggiest idea of how or why the world was created.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father. Through Him all things were made. For us men and our salvation…
My guess is that Jesus of Nazareth was an extraordinary man with an enlightened perspective on how to live a giving life. But as much as I’d like to believe he was the Son of God, it seems extremely, extremely unlikely.
He came down from heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit…
I’m definitely a fan of the name change from “Holy Ghost” in the sixties, but the whole trinity/spirit story always seemed like too many characters.
He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man…
For my money, being a virgin doesn’t make life miraculous. On the other hand, from everything I’ve read in 7th grade biology, it makes it impossible. A birth is a miracle enough, if you ask me. Joseph would have been around 14 or 15, at tops, at the time. Kids lie. Especially when their social status and livelihood depends on it. Nature is wild and good enough. We don’t need to defy nature to make it seem more spectacular.
For our sake, He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered, died, and was buried…
This seems well-documented that it was all true.
On the third day, He rose again in fulfillment of the scriptures: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father…
Humans don’t fly. Never did, never will. And if anybody did ascend in the sky, their lungs and a whole bunch of other stuff would blow up way before they hit even the stratosphere. Forget about what would happen to a human’s entry into space in the exosphere. And, if, for the records, if spirits could fly, I can’t imagine they’d need wings. People have been strapping wings on for thousands of years, and they just don’t work. And they sure don’t work if you’re weightless. Either way, wings don’t make a lot of sense. And I can’t imagine Jesus is seated next to anybody. Literally seated? Figuratively seated? Spiritually seated? Where exactly is this happening? In space? On a cloud? In dark matter? If the question is do I believe it, then what exactly, specifically, am I believing in?
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son, He is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.
I don’t think Jesus of Nazareth is coming back. I wish he did, but there’s no sign that nature has ever once worked that way. Yet, on an atomic level, there’s not a person on the planet that doesn’t have a number of the very same atoms that Jesus of Nazareth’s had in his body.
We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen…”
I’d have to give that a nope, nope and nope.
But I do believe life is the most extraordinary treasure. And we are so amazingly lucky to be alive, to be humans – in the most vibrant chapter of history.
Our life expectancy has almost doubled in the past century; and medicine, science and technology have made the experience of life for humans so much more fascinating and enjoyable.
Why we’re here, why the planet is beaming with life so beautiful and imaginative, how and why it all started, if there’s anything like this out there on the hundreds of billions of stars and hundreds of billions of galaxies, if there’s more to this than we could ever possibly imagine – are questions I’m sure no one will ever get close to figuring out in my lifetime.
So I’m just going to enjoy this amazing, exciting, miraculous, rich, emotional, passionate, thrilling roller coaster ride. I’m just hoping it doesn’t end soon, because I’m loving every twist and turn.
