Nicene Creed

Note: The Nicene Creed forms part of the Schools Ministry Group constitution and the Heads of Churches expects all schools ministry practitioners to hold to it. Keith S Cornish

NICENE CREED

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and he became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Comments on the Nicene Creed – by Keith S Cornish

The Nicene Creed was the product of the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE under the order and direction of Constantine the Great.

It is the only time a person was proclaimed a god by voting. Those who voted against it were banished.

Bishop Eusebius, who was present, said that they had “committed an impious act by subscribing to a blasphemy”. He was not among those who voted in the negative, so obviously honesty has a price among Christians.

The Creed was written in Greek. There are three small deviations in this version from the usual one. ‘Men’ has been removed after ‘For us’. ‘Born’ is replaced by ‘incarnate’ and ‘fulfilment’ has been replaced with ‘accordance’.

There are approximately fifty theological statements in the Creed. Bishop JS Spong concedes that only one of the dogmas can be accepted as true in the light of present-day knowledge.

Has it personal ethical value?

In 326CE Constantine drowned his second wife, killed his eleven-year-old nephew and then his brother-in-law, despite an oath of safe conduct. Prior to this date he had murdered his son by his first wife. He did not persecute Christians. The crimes of the Inquisition, the murder of witches and the horrors of the colonisation of the New World were the work of believers in the Nicene Creed.

The vast majority of the dictators of the last century and this century have been believers in the Nicene Creed. Hitler and his henchmen were believers, as was the man who murdered Abraham Lincoln. The list goes on and on, so what merit does belief in the Nicene Creed convey?

Here is an open challenge for anyone to prove that the statements therein are factual. If they are not factual but are statements which must be believed under direction and duress, they have no place in the appointment of any thinking or moral person. They are rejected by scientists and reveal the innate imbecilic nature of Christian belief.

There are few concepts more immoral than the statement that an innocent victim can be the scapegoat for the guilty, yet this is the core concept of Christianity. This key doctrine has no place in a State school or any system, which teaches children responsibility for their actions.

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