Apostle's Creed

[DavidC]

[ QUOTE ]
And this is slightly off topic, but for your own reference, this is the Apostles' Creed (a lot of Christians claim that if you believe in the Apostles' Creed then you are Christian and if you don't, you're not):
-
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
-
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again 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.


[/ QUOTE ]

I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this, but this feels really ugly to me -- especially if it's part of a public recitation in a crowd or something like that.

Without saying what my personal beliefs are as to the existence of god or whatnot (because I haven't got a bloody clue, but I hope it exists and it's Good).

So, I really hate this saying, particularly in public, for a few reasons:

-If It's out there, and you believe, It probably knows

-Your fellow Christians shouldn't need you to say this to associate with you

-Your inner self (soul, personality, whatever) is your own, and you shouldn't be prodded to express it in public if you don't want to

-This could encourage people to say things that they don't particularly know is true, when they're still trying to discover God. It's a guilty feeling to lie in public about such a weighty matter.

... I don't know, it feels like a cavity search. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I'm sure there's arguments to the contrary, and if you'd like to express them, please do.