Perhaps because of a comment below, and some flak I’ve taken recently because of my religious and political belief, I’ve been asking myself what I really believe in. And so I’m going to set down my creed.

I believe in Christ and that He came and died for the redemption of sins.
I believe in a physical heaven and hell.
I believe in the existence of evil; I believe in the existence of Satan.
I believe in the existence of truth. (I also believe in cultural anthropology that says that most cultural ‘truths’ are constructs.)
I believe in life after death.
I believe in the Holy Spirit.
I believe in the body of the church here on earth.
I believe Christ will come again (to judge the living and the dead and that He will sit on the right hand of the Father.)
I believe in sin. (That it does exist and that there are things as sins.)
I believe in social justice for all.
I believe in peace.
I believe in humility before God. (I fail at this constantly.)
I believe in social action.
I believe in dissent.
I believe in the forgiveness of sins.
I believe in the separation of church and state (the better to protect the church from the arm of the state)
I believe that life does not begin at conception.
I believe in a woman’s right to make her own moral decisions without the aid of the state.
I believe in the beatitudes.
I believe that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (which I haven’t really done because I truly think Republicans and evangelicals are tyrannical and bizarre. I’ll get better at this.)
I believe that Paul wrote beautiful scripture but that his views on women aren’t necessarily applicable to women today (especially women with an education or those who won’t marry.)
I believe that faith and doubt go hand in hand. (I don’t believe that doubt is heresy or blasphemy. After all, was Thomas’ skepticism wrong?)
I believe that an embryo is not the same thing as a fetus.
I believe in Christ’s redemption.
I believe in the sacrament of Holy Communion.
I believe in the power of confession and prayer.

And I believe, as we struggle and fail in aspects of our faith every day, that God’s grace is everlasting.