Apostles Creed: Protestants changed a word

[LaurenGetty]

Most of 'em go with “No creed but Christ!” Whatever that is supposed to mean.

I just joined this forum. As a person raised as a Catholic (and whose family is Catholic) and now attending a Protestant church, I am doing a bit of composing for a prayer I’d like to offer my brother’s children as they are baptised in a few weeks. I have been looking around the Web to help me with this task, and I found these forums. I joined, and read through the rules of the forum, and was not surprised to see that the moderator requires politeness. Please consider that your use of sarcasm and your dismissive tone is unkind and disrespectful of people who worship the same G*d and savior as you do.

 

[LaurenGetty]

That seemed so ironic to me.
Why say the creed at all if they’re going to change the words?

In researching the creed, I found several versions attributed to the Catholic church, all of which were slightly different from the one recited in the church I grew up worshipping in, as well as another Catholic church I attended for years.

 

[LaurenGetty]

That seemed so ironic to me.
Why say the creed at all if they’re going to change the words?

In researching the creed, I found several versions attributed to the Catholic church, all of which were slightly different from the one recited in the church I grew up worshipping in, as well as another Catholic church I attended for years.

 

[LaurenGetty]

---

We are one Body
One Body in Christ
And He came that
we might have life

---

I like this. And submit humbly that we accept this truth for all who worship Him.

 

[LaurenGetty]

---

We are one Body
One Body in Christ
And He came that
we might have life

---

I like this. And submit humbly that we accept this truth for all who worship Him.
:grouphug:

 

[VociMike]

In researching the creed, I found several versions attributed to the Catholic church, all of which were slightly different from the one recited in the church I grew up worshipping in, as well as another Catholic church I attended for years.

You’re mistaking translational issues (the creeds were not written in English) with actually changing words that do have an English equivalent, in this case, “Catholic”.

 

[LaurenGetty]

Yes, I agree it’s sad. From my perspective, the whole service was lacking, I’m sure in part because they don’t have the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Hi Molly (that was my grandma’s name, and I have always loved it).

I read your post and it reminded me of some of my less respectful Protestant friends who, in all true and well-meaning sincerity, feel sad for Catholics, because they don’t think Catholics experience a “personal relationship” with Jesus Christ. Just as I gently disagree with them, I shall do the same here with you. Believe me, the Protestants won’t likely benefit from such sympathies, but instead, would benefit more from what I ask of my Protestant friends regarding my Catholic friends and family: acceptance that we are all the humblest followers of the same Lord and savior.

 

[Holly3278]

Wow. I am shocked that Baptists would say any creed! But anyway, good for them! But if only they didn’t change the word in the creed.

 

[LaurenGetty]

“The Catholic Church is the only thing which saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age.”

G.K. Chesterton

I admire Chesterton, in fact, I’ve just yesterday ordered another of his books, but am not in the habit of tossing his words at people in order to injure them.

 

[VociMike]

I admire Chesterton, in fact, I’ve just yesterday ordered another of his books, but am not in the habit of tossing his words at people in order to injure them.

You misunderstand again. The words you take offense at are in my signature, which gets included in every post I make. They were not intended for you personally. In any case, I do stand behind the words as reflecting my own belief as well as Chesterton’s.

 

[wisdomseeker]

While recently visiting my baptist mother-in-law and attending her “candle light Christmas service”, I couldn’t help but notice that during the recitation of the Apostles Creed (which their members had to read from a powerpoint projection screen), they changed the line

“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”

to

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting”

That seemed so ironic to me.
Why say the creed at all if they’re going to change the words?

once i went to a presbyterian church and the creed says the same thing." we believe in a christian church." i was kind of surprised. they did changed the creed to fit their churches.

 

[Teflon93]

There is no difference between “catholic” and “Catholic” in the Creed; the Catholic Church IS the universal Church. Was then, is now. The rest are shadows of higher or lower fidelity.

Why anyone would be surprised that Baptists would alter the Creed is beyond me. They are also wont to alter Scripture by excising those inconvenient references to wine with “juice”.

They also freely alter history to suit their own purposes wherever history is inconvenient to them. The “Trail of Blood” nonsense is merely the most infamous example.

Fundamentalists subordinate all to their particular tradition. A few will admit to it; most will not.

 

[Jolly_Joe]

One should be careful in seeing something, deciding it must come from a certain motivation and making conclusions based on one’s own supplied reasoning.

The use of the word Christian in the Creeds goes back to before there were any people called Protestant.

For instance in Germany, from before the time Luther, the translations of the Creeds use the German word, “christlichen” which directly translates into the English as christian.

The usage has continued to this day, particularly in churches that had a significant amount of german influence.

The words really do mean the same, unless you want to say the Catholic Church in Germany changed the word. They didn’t. It’s simply a translation of the Creeds into the german and it’s continued usage throughout many of the germanic language family.

The Baptists didn’t change anything.

 

[universalist]

Wasn,t the first Creed of Christians simply " JESUS IS LORD" sounds insufficient until you really think anout it and it,s implication,then it means everything! In CHRIST

 

[Teflon93]

All Christians were Catholics until the schism in 1054. There were brief bubbles of heresy which the Church rooted out and condemned through its Christ-given authority.

No amount of rewriting history will change this simple fact. We have had many threads on the subject; no one has yet been able to tell us when the Catholic Church was founded if not 33 A.D. nor who founded it if not Christ.

It remains a particular oddity that the largest and most sustained Christian community is uniquely without a claimant for the honor of having founded it.

 

[Jolly_Joe]

The Roman Catholic Church really has no single birth date, it developed over time from it’s roots in the catholic church and the bishophric of Rome under the influence of such things as the False Decretals.

Didn’t know it was such a concern for you. Hope that helps.

I hope we can return to the topic of the thread now that that is taken care of.

 

[VociMike]

The Roman Catholic Church really has no single birth date, it developed over time from it’s roots in the catholic church and the bishophric of Rome under the influence of such things as the False Decretals.

Didn’t know it was such a concern for you. Hope that helps.

It certainly gives me new material for my book “Totally Made-Up Histories of the Catholic Church”, and for that I thank you.

I hope we can return to the topic of the thread now that that is taken care of.

Indeed, from this point onward, no reasonable person can ever doubt your version of the history of the Catholic Church.

 

[CentralFLJames]

While recently visiting my baptist mother-in-law and attending her “candle light Christmas service”, I couldn’t help but notice that during the recitation of the Apostles Creed (which their members had to read from a powerpoint projection screen), they changed the line

“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”

to

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting”

That seemed so ironic to me.
Why say the creed at all if they’re going to change the words?

This is nothing but another fringe neo-Chrisitian group essentially admitting quite publicly that without any liturgy whatsoever they feel lacking and without any real substance.

My guess is that they are innovating to try to “feel” like they have something in common resemblance to the early church since they know they completely lack any apostolic succession and ecclesial history prior to the 1500s to account for their own existence.

What is ironic here is this cult in rewriting the Creed is essentialy admitting that the early Catholic church always had a Creed, ( The Apostle’s Creed as well as the original Old Roman Symbol which used the term “the church” that is most definately apostolically inspired). But by tinkering with it they are proving themselves unable to resist their own man-made neo-traditions of protesting the way The One Church has always conducted itself. Somethings never change - The Church and those who insist on their own private heresies to change what is unchangeable.

My own thoughts are that Neo-Christianity et-al and its eccentric and many varied contemporary man-made traditions is more a psychological phenomena that extends from an identity crisis than it is a spiritual phenomena. Pray for them that they may eventually figure things out through progressive imitation of “the real thing” and thereby stumble upon the truth. Perhaps then they will find they went full circule and come back knocking to gain entrance at the front door of the Catholic Church - and will no doubt claim they are the one’s who rediscovered it. That would be ironic indeed since they are the descendants of the very people who banged loudly at those same doors in protest a mere 500 years ago; the very same lineage of those who wanted to make The Church into a Democracy where truth becomes a matter of majority rule or a matter of mob rule or “who can bang the loudest”.

James

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

While recently visiting my baptist mother-in-law and attending her “candle light Christmas service”, I couldn’t help but notice that during the recitation of the Apostles Creed (which their members had to read from a powerpoint projection screen), they changed the line

“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”

to

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting”

That seemed so ironic to me.
Why say the creed at all if they’re going to change the words?

I would suppose if they want to make up their own creed for themselves they can. As long as they do not claim that it is the original version and the Catholic Church changed the wording.

 

[LaurenGetty]

Preach the gospel always, and when necessary, use words. --St. Francis of Assisi.

Love this, always have. Just came back from my Catholic family’s gathering for my nephew’s baptism this weekend, along with members of my family who are Evangelicals, and I felt and experienced this very idea lived out among them. Thanks for reminding me of what St. Francis had to say about living out the gospel.