Thomas said:
There seems to be a constant resistance to 'being told what to think' - but I don't think that's quite what the creed is about.
I don't think it's necessarily resistance to "being told what to think," but it may also be a fear that alignment with a Creed could also be alignment with the wrong entity. If God wants us to be aligned with Christ, it wouldn't be appropriate to make a Creed more important than Christ especially if different individuals can approach the same Christ some other way without need of the same Creed. Insisting on people following the same Creed would make Christ secondary in the faith. Creeds, I guess, can be idolised.
I'm not being cynical here. About one or two years ago I read a book on "world religions" from a Christian perspective. What I got out of that book was the impression that different denominations in Christianity, could, quite easily be critical of each other on the basis of certain "technicalities." On the surface, these "technicalities" could be seen as undermining the whole notion of Christ, but at the same time, the people possessing these beliefs might simply have a slightly different, but still legitimate approach to the mystery of Christ. The challenge is to see the difference between an idea that undermines the notion of Christ and one that is simply a different approach to his Mystery.
As I said, we see the same Messiah differently, but yet he's the same Messiah.
Thomas said:
If someone says, "what is it you believe?" then the Christian should be able to answer, not profoundly necessarily, but offer an answer ... but what happens when the inquirer asks, and everybody has a different story? OK if the differences are 'inconsequential', or personal, but what happens when someone says "He is the Incarnate Logos," and another says "He was a wise man"? ...
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The point is, only one of the above four can be right - this is not a different way of approaching the mystery, its fundamentally being mistaken ... that's the point
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Now there were those who did not accept the data of revelation, did not accept the message, but rather picked through it to see what they could make use of ... to recast scripture to fit their pre-conceived notions ............................... Have they no right to say no, that is not what we believe?"
Christ said many things, but he never said 'anything goes...'
I agree, but it depends how we approach it. Christ is the central concept, it's a concept we are intent on preserving. But at the same time, if we do it the wrong way, we're no longer preserving it, but undermining it.
Perhaps the most dangerous element is conformity. It's easy to think that lack of conformity is the danger, but conformity itself is a danger too. When people stop conforming to standards expected of them, they no longer feel like they're a part of the community, so they drop out. That's because they've spent their whole lives conforming to what the rest of the community follows that they don't believe they can still remain without conforming. The challenge is to let people know that they can still be a part of the community even though they don't do things the same way everybody else in the community does it.
There's this unwritten code that if you consider yourself a part of a church or congregation, you must conform. You must do it
their way. Yet, if we all live for Christ, there should be no problem. Even if they're not aligned with Christ the way they should be, if we accept them, it will be an opportunity for both the insiders and the newcomers to explore the issue. It takes a lifetime to appreciate a religion, so let's give them the time. Not everybody can explain everything at once. We don't have all the answers now.
Not everybody has figured out their own reasoning for whether Jesus should be Incarnate Logos or just a great man. Some will choose the former, some the latter. We can't blame either for choosing one of them, because with our limited human knowledge and experience, we can't prove whether one is better or more valid than the other. You can't be blamed for choosing or not choosing at all!!! We have to give each other time to explore the issue, not separately, but together. Not divided, but as one.
