Lent 1 17th February 2013: I believe in God

The Apostles' Creed 

• Lent is being used to helps us examine our faith afresh
• ‘I believe in God and the spiritual but not dogma’ is current and we need to be informed to counter this eg What sort of God? New Age impersonal force?
• Easter baptismal renewal involves Apostles’ Creed – hence value and origin of Lent in preparing for this renewal
• The Apostles' Creed sets forth Christianity as someone put it "in sublime simplicity, in unsurpassable brevity, in beautiful order, and with liturgical solemnity." It’s a Godsend to teach the Christian Faith as we seek to make simple, clear, direct and above all effective communication of the truth that is in Jesus (Eph 4:21).

First official mention at the Council of Milan in 390AD. Most scholars trace it back to an old Roman Creed from the turn of the first century and the three baptismal questions of the early church. Memorised then by the faithful, as it is today, hard copies were probably less at a premium in the early centuries explaining the lateness of the first 4^th century documentation. As Anglicans we encounter the Apostles’ Creed at BCP Morning and Evening Prayer. Baptism and confirmation rites. There are actually three creeds in use. The Apostles is simplest, then Nicene, then Athanasian. The other two creeds originate more in the eastern church and are more developed in their theology.

I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth   

     

• What’s the evidence God exists?

 The cosmological argument of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274):

1                      Whatever begins to exist has a cause

2                      The universe began to exist

3                      Therefore, the universe must have had a cause.  We call that cause God.    NB Big Bang seems to fit this

The design argument eg. William Paley (1743-1805) who argued that the complexity, order, and purpose of a watch indicate intelligent design, as do the complexity, order, and purpose of the universe.  The moral argument based on conscience. The existence of morality is a pointer to its author – God.  This is sometimes expressed as the view that there could be no right and wrong unless God existed. More subjective is the personal experience argument Friedrich Schleiermach (1768-1834) God’s existence cannot be demonstrated rationally but only perceived by one’s feelings.

• Why believe in a personal God?

There are reasonable evidences for God’s existence but Christianity goes beyond reason. To catch the full beauty of Christianity you need to engage with the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. God has sameness with us as a loving Father yet is different – an almighty God, three persons in one Godhead. Christian faith thrills to that awesome difference yet rejoices in the sameness Jesus reveals.

• How can God be almighty with all the suffering in the world?

Love needs free will etc. The Cross of Jesus is key. An interesting thought on earthquakes - without tectonic plates life would be denied the invigoration of the minerals inside the earth, even if the plates move at a cost to life itself.

• How can belief in a Creator be squared with evolution?

God is creator now as then, holding us in being as we, unlike God, do not possess being in itself. Darwin, the father of evolution allegedly lost his faith not through his research but through the loss of his daughter. Darwin's colleague Kingsley saw evolution revealing God as cleverer than ever seen before in his giving us potentiality to make ourselves. This potentiality, linked to genetic mutation producing new forms of life, has 'ragged edges' eg cancer and 'blind alleys'.