From:  (Ken Smith)
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian
Subject: Credo (revised)
Date: 27 Aug 1998 22:20:56 GMT

Following multiple requests from AJ for a statement of what I
believe, here it is. Those of you who read it several months ago when I
first posted it won’t notice much difference. Following a suggestion
from Rowland I have put the two statements about the Scriptures
together. Other changes are very minor.

A warning: don’t r4ead into this anything more than what the words
mean on the surface. Anyone who delves into it and tries to make
deductions about my beliefs from what is *not* included here is almost
certain to make errors – of greater or lesser magnitude.

Ken Smith

Credo

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator and Sustainer of
heaven and earth, and of all that is, or ever was, or ever will be,
whether visible or invisible.

I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the
Redeemer, 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 from the Virgin Mary, and
became truly human. 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.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Advocate and Helper, the giver of
life, who is sent by the Father in the name of the Son. With the Father
and the Son he is to be worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through
the prophets.

I believe that in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments God
has given us an authoritative disclosure of his character and will, his
redemptive acts and their meaning, and his mandate for mission. I
believe that those divinely revealed realities which are contained and
presented in these Scriptures have been committed to writing under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Since everything asserted by the
inspired authors must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it
follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching
firmly, faithfully, and without error that truth which God wanted to put
into the sacred writings for our salvation: whatsoever is not found
therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of anyone as
an article of faith, nor to be regarded as necessary for salvation.

I believe that all those who confess Jesus Christ as God, Saviour
and Lord, according to the Scriptures, form one holy, universal,
Christian church. We should work together in love, accepting each other
as Christ has accepted us, to extend his kingdom.

I believe that evangelism and socio-political involvement are both
part of our Christian duty, for both are necessary expressions of our
doctrines of God and humankind, our love for our neighbour, and our
obedience to Jesus Christ.

I believe that inherent within the Gospel is the need for God’s
people to work for a world where peace and justice are pursued, and
whose environment is preserved.

I believe that the proclamation of God’s kingdom of justice and
peace demands the denunciation of all injustice and oppression, both
personal and structural, and that we must demonstrate God’s love visibly
by caring for those who are deprived of justice, dignity, food and
shelter.

I acknowledge one baptism as a symbol of the forgiveness of sins.

I look towards the resurrection of the dead, and life in the ages to
come.

Ken Smith
24 August 1998

--
Dr Ken Smith  <> | "God, we know you are in charge, but why
Department of Mathematics,         |  don't you make it slightly more obvious?"
The University of Queensland,      |        Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 1990
St Lucia, Qld. 4072.  Australia.   |   (address to students at at West Point)