Just because you're Catholic:

[djmason]

I find all the third party information, politics and professional religious opinions exhausting sometimes. So, I thought about a “Keep It Simple Stupid” approach to my Catholicity. So what do I believe when I break it down?

I suggest writing one paragraph on what you believe. Maybe this will provide some clarity and keep some of us from choking on the fine print.

This is how I embrace the New Testament in one paragraph:

The world is dominated by a power which is a “Liar, Murderer and Thief” who is in possession of all authority and all living beings. Truth and Love have had enough of this hostage taking and since Truth and Love are the true Creators and owners of all things seen and unseen, the Truth decides to be born as a human being to communicate that the way to live is to Follow Him (The Truth, The Way and the Life). Feeling threatened, “The Liar, Murderer and Thief” hates this intrusion, and attempts to murder Love and Truth. After the crucifixion, the Truth ascends back to Love and leaves a part of the One Truth and Love in all those who follow him. Truth and Love will resurrect all those who are filled with the One Love and Truth to consolidate the One Body. Then everything else is thrown into the trash.

If I treat Justice as a personal commitment to Love & Truth, I remove all the coercion from external agencies that want “in” on your sense of right and wrong.
You thoughts are welcomed.

 

[Neofight]

we don’t need individual writings on what we believe, as the Body of Christ, we already have such a statement, although it’s longer than one paragraph, which captures the believes of all the faithful…its called the Creed (Nicene or Apostles) which serves as our profession of faith.

 

[christus_vincit]

we don’t need individual writings on what we believe, as the Body of Christ, we already have such a statement, although it’s longer than one paragraph, which captures the believes of all the faithful…its called the Creed (Nicene or Apostles) which serves as our profession of faith.

 

[RPRPsych]

we don’t need individual writings on what we believe, as the Body of Christ, we already have such a statement, although it’s longer than one paragraph, which captures the believes of all the faithful…its called the Creed (Nicene or Apostles) which serves as our profession of faith.

The point of belonging to the Church - and having one, in the first place - is that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Wiser men have already invented it, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, centuries ago.

 

[djmason]

My intention was to portray the verb /attributes of how Jesus describes his Father and how he describes himself, that being Love and Truth. The verbs are not mentioned at all in the creeds. Also the attributes of Satan as a , liar, murderer and thief, the verb … I felt it provided clarity . No new wheel here, just the verb in place of the title. I thought It was interesting and wanted to share it. The problem is in how we secularize and process what we read. For example God is Love is not to be conceived as anecdotal… It’s meant to be: God is the action of Love, the outflowing of Love is the verb. Truth; the spirit of Truth is an action and outflowing of continuous truth is the verb. Sorry if I’m a little long on the paragraph.

 

[GratefulFred]

This is how I embrace the New Testament in one paragraph:

The world is dominated by a power which is a “Liar, Murderer and Thief” who is in possession of all authority and all living beings. Truth and Love have had enough of this hostage taking and since Truth and Love are the true Creators and owners of all things seen and unseen, the Truth decides to be born as a human being to communicate that the way to live is to Follow Him (The Truth, The Way and the Life). Feeling threatened, “The Liar, Murderer and Thief” hates this intrusion, and attempts to murder Love and Truth. After the crucifixion, the Truth ascends back to Love and leaves a part of the One Truth and Love in all those who follow him. Truth and Love will resurrect all those who are filled with the One Love and Truth to consolidate the One Body. Then everything else is thrown into the trash.

If I treat Justice as a personal commitment to Love & Truth, I remove all the coercion from external agencies that want “in” on your sense of right and wrong.
You thoughts are welcomed.

I have to say, the above is an odd way of trying to keep it simple. I see no need to substitute “Truth and Love” for God. And then to make those two elements creators when in reality there is only one Creator - God. God created Truth and Love and many other things as well. God is greater than Truth and Love. So to substitute them for God is not correct, IMO.

If the Creator is the owner of all things seen and unseen then it cannot all be that something else is in possession of all authority and living things. Satan has only the authority over me that I allow him. He very well could control me if I did not constantly seek God’s Good Graces through Prayer, Holy Communion and Reconciliation.

Christ became man to do much more than just communicate the way to live. He came to earn our salvation by His Passion and Crucifixion. Christ opened the gates to Heaven for us, and yes, He also communicated the Way to come through those Gates. Christ also instituted the Sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation which is much more than just a prescription on how to live.

The “Liar, Murderer, Thief” is called Satan. He cannot murder Truth and Love that you call the Creators or even try to murder the Creator. What he can and does try to do is to get as many humans as he can to come over to his side. Humans are not Truth and Love although we each possess some Truth and some Love in us to some degree. And as we have an immortal soul that will exist for all eternity, it is not correct to say it can be murdered. Our soul can be lied to and stolen if we allow it but not murdered.

It is not correct to say the Creator had enough of hostage taking and so decided to be born. Satan, an Angel in God’s Presence, knew that God would send His Only Son to be a man to earn our salvation in response to Original Sin that Satan had enticed Adam and Eve to commit. Satan felt he could not honor a God who would become less than an Angel, less than Satan, in order to save a much lower form of being - humans. Ticked off, prideful Satan and about 1/3 of the Angels left God and have been battling to steel away as many humans as possible. The decision to become Man was taken long before the Creator had enough.

Justice is giving to each his due. Justice belongs to God. I am powerless to correctly treat Justice which belongs to God as my personal commitment to Truth and Love, to God, the Creator. I, and most humans, have some degree of commitment to Truth and Love, and Justice. But, being human, I do not always live up to that commitment. Thus my less than 100% commitment 100% of the time does not remove ALL coercion from external agencies - Satan and his crowd.

So I am sorry my analysis finds little I can agree with in the simple statement offered above. I know we want to personalize our commitment to God, to paraphrase, but it is dangerous to try that with the statement above that has so many flaws. I do agree with others that the “one paragraph” statement of what I believe is properly expressed in the Nicene Creed.

 

[Rau]

I find all the third party information, politics and professional religious opinions exhausting sometimes. So, I thought about a “Keep It Simple Stupid” approach to my Catholicity. So what do I believe when I break it down?

I suggest writing one paragraph on what you believe. Maybe this will provide some clarity and keep some of us from choking on the fine print.

This is how I embrace the New Testament in one paragraph:

The world is dominated by a power which is a “Liar, Murderer and Thief” who is in possession of all authority and all living beings. Truth and Love have had enough of this hostage taking and since Truth and Love are the true Creators and owners of all things seen and unseen, the Truth decides to be born as a human being to communicate that the way to live is to Follow Him (The Truth, The Way and the Life). Feeling threatened, “The Liar, Murderer and Thief” hates this intrusion, and attempts to murder Love and Truth. After the crucifixion, the Truth ascends back to Love and leaves a part of the One Truth and Love in all those who follow him. Truth and Love will resurrect all those who are filled with the One Love and Truth to consolidate the One Body. Then everything else is thrown into the trash.

If I treat Justice as a personal commitment to Love & Truth, I remove all the coercion from external agencies that want “in” on your sense of right and wrong.
You thoughts are welcomed.

Viewed as an allegory, this is nicely crafted.

 

[djmason]

Thank you

This was not meant to be challenge, but a bit of a demonstration on how we use language. I have always considered my comprehension of scripture to be plagued with rhetorical repetitions. Meaning I get it as a policy, principle or a better yet a constitution "The creeds " Semantics: Actually Jesus himself was exercising the verbs to show clarity. By Jesus calling Satan a Liar, Murder and Thief he was conveying to those around him Satan’s behavioral attributes, and thereby we can easily see these attributes in the world around us. You could also say that language has corrupted perception on how we see things in religious context, and one of the reasons for having so many denominations of the Christian religion. By attaching the verb to the sacred names I saw the simplicity of what I believed. Again Jesus is wanting to attach the verb when he is describing his Father through the Apostil John. … Getting away from the titles and attaching the verb.

1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love

I hope I’m off the hook for being a heretic…

 

[GratefulFred]

Certainly no heretic at all.

I just found your short summary to be odd to my eyes. I recognize and appreciate anyone’s attempt to personalize his or her understanding of our proper relationship with God.

Hopefully with the feedback you received you might be able to polish it and post a revised version so if you share with others there is less likelihood they will get the wrong impression of God.

 

[djmason]

Actually I am holding on to my verb concept because I feel it creates accountability maybe it’s why you feel it’s odd . Historically the church was viewed as callus and hard hearted sticking to it’s constitutional views. Ruthless Inquisitions being navigated by the motive, of power and control , certainly not Love and Truth. The last inquisitional death was in 1826 of a deist Cayetano Ripollwho who was a teacher. The inquisition demanded burning at the stake but settled for hanging. By contributing verbs in place of the sacred name… it’s not so easy to support evil no matter how well it’s window dressed. If Jesus Christ says God is Love and is wanting us to Love, this is creating unrestricted accountability. Just in case you were some murderess person in authority as those who led the inquisitions. The same constitutional adherence that the Pharisees exercised to condemn Jesus. This callused approach to religion has a tendency to remove love from the equation, making the constitution more important. Historically this approach resulted in inquisitional massacres by an institution that was commanded to love . It’s worth thinking about.

 

[tabycat]

we don’t need individual writings on what we believe, as the Body of Christ, we already have such a statement, although it’s longer than one paragraph, which captures the believes of all the faithful…its called the Creed (Nicene or Apostles) which serves as our profession of faith.

 

[Rau]

we don’t need individual writings on what we believe, as the Body of Christ, we already have such a statement, although it’s longer than one paragraph, which captures the believes of all the faithful…its called the Creed (Nicene or Apostles) which serves as our profession of faith.

No one is challenging it, or wanting to replace it.

The OP’s contribution is an allegory and it may help him or others to understand the faith.

 

[markomalley]

I find all the third party information, politics and professional religious opinions exhausting sometimes. So, I thought about a “Keep It Simple Stupid” approach to my Catholicity. So what do I believe when I break it down?

I suggest writing one paragraph on what you believe. Maybe this will provide some clarity and keep some of us from choking on the fine print.

This is how I embrace the New Testament in one paragraph:

The world is dominated by a power which is a “Liar, Murderer and Thief” who is in possession of all authority and all living beings. Truth and Love have had enough of this hostage taking and since Truth and Love are the true Creators and owners of all things seen and unseen, the Truth decides to be born as a human being to communicate that the way to live is to Follow Him (The Truth, The Way and the Life). Feeling threatened, “The Liar, Murderer and Thief” hates this intrusion, and attempts to murder Love and Truth. After the crucifixion, the Truth ascends back to Love and leaves a part of the One Truth and Love in all those who follow him. Truth and Love will resurrect all those who are filled with the One Love and Truth to consolidate the One Body. Then everything else is thrown into the trash.

If I treat Justice as a personal commitment to Love & Truth, I remove all the coercion from external agencies that want “in” on your sense of right and wrong.
You thoughts are welcomed.

I think you have a really good plan.

[bibledrb]1 Pet 3:15[/bibledrb]

In the world of marketing and recruiting, what you are talking about is an “elevator speech” – a brief, convincing message that you can get out to a prospective client (prospective hiring manager) in the space of time that it takes for an elevator ride – generally accepted to be about 30 seconds or so.

As far as evangelization or apologetics is concerned, being able to articulate an answer succinctly is a very useful skill: particularly in today’s “sound byte” culture where people have a hard time focusing on a subject for more than a few seconds at a time.

Having said that, though, you need to have a host of data to back up your elevator speech.

For example, an elevator speech that says: “the common good cannot be served by the embrace of immorality” needs to be backed up logically with additional logic, Biblical quotes, Magisterial statements, and so on. Why? Suppose somebody challenges the evident truth of the statement. You need to be able to back it up.

Bottom line: sounds like you have a good idea, but you need to make sure to intellectually be able to back up your paragraph…and though I, too, like the KISS principle…the Faith is infinitely deep and we have an obligation to take it beyond the surface…so, though distillations are good to summarize what you’ve studied, don’t use that as an excuse not to study.

[bibledrb]2 Tim 2:15[/bibledrb]

 

[christus_vincit]

I find all the third party information, politics and professional religious opinions exhausting sometimes. So, I thought about a “Keep It Simple Stupid” approach to my Catholicity. So what do I believe when I break it down?

I suggest writing one paragraph on what you believe. Maybe this will provide some clarity and keep some of us from choking on the fine print.

Like people have pointed out, what is the benefit of this exercise when we already have the Creed? There is no “fine print” to choke on in the Creed. It was meticulously formulated so that when the faithful recite it, they are reciting the purest and most accurate statement of faith that can be made. To go back and take liberties with the Creed is an overstep of boundaries.

This is how I embrace the New Testament in one paragraph:

The world is dominated by a power which is a “Liar, Murderer and Thief” who is in possession of all authority and all living beings.

Yes, Satan has power but not the kind of power you are ascribing to him. He does not and never did have possession of “all authority”.

Truth and Love have had enough of this hostage taking and since Truth and Love are the true Creators and owners of all things seen and unseen, the Truth decides to be born as a human being to communicate that the way to live is to Follow Him (The Truth, The Way and the Life).

How do you determine that the Father is love and the Son is truth? All three persons of the Trinity incorporate all perfection. You are diminishing God’s omnipotence by choosing to refer to each Divine Person as one virtue (love and truth, in this case). While I see what you are trying to do, it doesn’t simplify anything. It makes it more confusing.

Also, the Mission of Redemption is much more than this. Its more sublime. Its more than the Son communicating to us “the way to live”. Its about the Paschal Mystery and our being purchased at the price of Christ’s blood. Its about our sharing in the Divine Nature and Sonship of Christ. While you do touch on some of this with your bit about “hostage taking”, you aren’t doing justice to God’s motives for sending his Son for our redemption.

Feeling threatened, “The Liar, Murderer and Thief” hates this intrusion, and attempts to murder Love and Truth. After the crucifixion, the Truth ascends back to Love and leaves a part of the One Truth and Love in all those who follow him. Truth and Love will resurrect all those who are filled with the One Love and Truth to consolidate the One Body. Then everything else is thrown into the trash.

Once again, you separate the Father and Son by referring to them as Truth and Love distinctively. And you don’t mention the Resurrection. You seem to touch on the Holy Spirit in this section, but (based on this how I read it) put Him in an inferior role to the Father and Son (you call the Holy Spirit a “part” when he is indeed a “whole”).

I found myself very confused reading the statement of beliefs you put forward. I don’t see how any good can come out of “restating the Creed” as you have attempted to do. You don’t need to fix what isn’t broken. You version of the Creed leaves too many question marks and neglects to address many core beliefs while the Nicene Creed is clear and concise.

 

[djmason]

It’s not based on the creed, it’s based on the biblical story as communicated in it’s simplicity.
For example if you needed to summarise a story to a child. No where in the creeds are the words Love And Truth because the creed is a constitution of faith. I find it interesting that readers are taken aback when I attribute the Father as Love… Jesus himself attributes the Father as love.
Or when I attribute the Son as Truth. Jesus attributes himself as the truth…The verbs for me makes these divisions between dark and light much more clearer. For certain there has been a lot of murder in the name of religion due to a Pharisee like approach to the faith…

1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love… If one can really digest what this means, Then just maybe they would not want to burn someone at the stake for indifference, which in the past, many have done

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.(AU) Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”(AV)

38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate

of course in Jesus own words regarding his own testimony of himself… I am the Way Truth and the Life…

If every political leader, religious leader, or business CEO was in fear that they would be judged by Love and Truth. Then just maybe the world wouldn’t be so oppressive for so many.
Mathew 18: 03 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Children understand Love because they do love. They would not understand a creed which has no mention of Love…

 

[christus_vincit]

It’s not based on the creed, it’s based on the biblical story as communicated in it’s simplicity.
For example if you needed to summarise a story to a child. No where in the creeds are the words Love And Truth because the creed is a constitution of faith. I find it interesting that readers are taken aback when I attribute the Father as Love… Jesus himself attributes the Father as love.

Children understand Love because they do love. They would not understand a creed which has no mention of Love…

If it isn’t based on the creed (which itself is taken from Scripture and Tradition) then what is it based on? The creed is a story of our faith as much as it is a statement of faith.

I think that this section of the creed demonstrates Love in all of its fullness:

“For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.”

The creed doesn’t have to use the actual word “love”. Its implied. The whole creed is an exposition of the love that God has for us, most particularly in the above quoted section detailing the Incarnation and Paschal Mystery.

 

[djmason]

I honestly don’t see where I have strayed away from the Creed… And also it was never my intention to challenge the creed. It’s a one paragraph summery from a simple dramatic perspective.

 

[djmason]

One more thing regarding the devils dominance as being in control of the planet…

"Yes, Satan has power but not the kind of power you are ascribing to him. He does not and never did have possession of “all authority”.

Everyone is mortal and that is the final authority over the human condition… Satan is responsible for death and is in charge. This is the reason why we need to be saved…

We are protected by our faith from this authority…

 

[christus_vincit]

One more thing regarding the devils dominance as being in control of the planet…

"Yes, Satan has power but not the kind of power you are ascribing to him. He does not and never did have possession of “all authority”.

Everyone is mortal and that is the final authority over the human condition… Satan is responsible for death and is in charge. This is the reason why we need to be saved…

We are protected by our faith from this authority…

I apologize if I have come across offensively. I can see that creating a summary “narrative” apart from the creed could be useful in certain scenarios, as long as it remains orthodox.

True, before our Redemption, as a result of our sin Satan was “in charge” here on earth. I only had a problem with you saying he possessed “final authority” which - to me - sounded like you put him above God. When I see the word “final” I always think of God because all completeness and authority is found in God. But I see that you were simply referring to Satan’s power over mankind before our Redemption.