Creeds
Football and Volleyball have taken me away from my blog but I’m back. At least for now.
The following is the Nicene Creed
We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
http://www.creeds.net/ancient/nicene.htm
A liberal is fundamentally fearful of concentrated power. His objective is to preserve the maximum degree of freedom for each individual separately that is compatible with one man’s freedom not interfering with other men’s freedom. He believes that this objective requires that power be dispersed. He is suspicious of assigning to government any functions that can be performed through the market, both because this substitutes coercion for voluntary co-operation in the area in question and because, by giving government an increased role, it threatens freedom in other areas.
From Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Freidman page 39
I consider myself to be a Christian but at some levels I find it easier to whole heartedly endorse the quote by Milton Freidman than I do the Nicene creed.
4 comments:
Makes me wonder what the purpose of a "statement" is as it relates to faith. I think it depends on what "faith" is to the one making the statement. If it's a collection of propositional statements, well then, the Nicene creed will do nicely, thank you.
But if a statement of faith is supposed to sum up one's outlook on life, then the Nicene creed doesn't do it. If a statement of faith is supposed to outline one's views on particular aspects of life and the reasoning behind one's actions, then we better get on to something more like Freidman.
I do think government has a role to play in protecting and expanding freedom, both personal and economic. The New Deal policies of FDR and Truman helped to decrease the gap between rich and poor and helped create the huge middle class of the 1950s and 60s and gave rise to what we now call the American Dream. New Deal policies also brought more people into the political process, where they could exercise their freedom to vote. The Voting Rights Acts of 1965 finally gave blacks the political, and by extension economic, freedom they had been denied for over 200 years. So I do think government has a role to play in helping foster freedom, but certainly there is a danger of the government grabbing too much power, keeping it centralized, secretive, and suppressing dissent, and thereby thwarting democracy and freedom (i.e China). For me, freedom is about participation, and anything that limits participation should be changed and anything that increases participation should be upheld.
Your little brother, Thomas
Here's a related article by John Beck.
If we go by his definition, I'm about 95% conservative.
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