5th DRAFT of a "one page" Confession
of Faith for the 3rd Millennium
Introduction
1. The expanding universe of galaxies
without number shows signs of being designed.
2. A human cell contains more information
than a multi-volumed encyclopedia; this cannot happen by chance;
this also shows signs of being designed
3. There is therefore evidence of a Designer
of all things visible and invisible.
4. And yet by our own resources we cannot
penetrate the mystery of a Designer of all things.
5. We conclude that the Designer will reveal
itself or that we will remain in ignorance thereof.
6. We believe the witness of the prophets of
Israel:
7. that in the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth;
8. that God created us human beings in his
own image: free, reasonable and capable of covenantal relationships;
9. that God created us male and female for
complementary union, procreation and education of children;
10. that our first parents disobeyed God,
fell out of relationship with him, and became subject to death;
11. that God nonetheless promised that the
woman’s Seed would trample down death;
12. that God called Abram to become a
blessing for all the families of the earth;
13. that God revealed his name I AM to
Moses, and delivered Israel from bondage, for freedom, under the
covenant of the Ten Commandments;
14. that the Lord God commanded Israel and
the Church to love our neighbour as ourselves;
15. that Moses called Israel and the Church
to hear that God the I AM is one, and to love him with all our
heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength;
16. that God gave Israel a king after his
own heart, David, and promised that his seed would reign for ever;
17. that God foretold that this promised
king would be made an offering for sin and would justify many, for
he would bear their iniquities;
18. that God’s people are required to do
justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God;
19. that Israel and its kings disobeyed God,
were estranged from him, and became subject to other kings and
nations;
20. that God kept a remnant faithful to
himself;
21. and that in the fullness of time God
chose the Virgin Mary to bear David’s heir, who was also God’s own
eternal Word, and whose name was Jesus.
22. We believe the witness of the Apostles
of Jesus the Christ:
23. that in the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God;
24. that the Word became flesh, and dwelt
among us, full of grace and truth;
25. that Jesus is the Lamb of God and the
One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit; the Saviour of the world; the
bread of life, the light of the world, the I AM, the door of the
sheep, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way,
the truth and the life, the true vine; the king and the witness to
the truth; our Lord and our God;
26. that Jesus commissioned his disciples to
go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all things that he commanded them;
27. that there is salvation in no other, for
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must
be saved;
28. that the love of God has been poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us;
29. that God demonstrates his own love
toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us;
30. that as often as we eat the Lord’s bread
and drink the Lord’s cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death till he
comes;
31. that Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again
according to the Scriptures;
32. that Christ has made us free;
33. that there is one body, and one Spirit,
one hope of our calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all;
34. that this is the will of God, our
sanctification: that we should abstain from sexual immorality;
35. that we should pray without ceasing;
36. that we should visit orphans and widows
in their trouble and keep ourselves unspotted from the world;
37. that as he who called us is holy, we
also should be holy in all our conduct; and that we should already
be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks us a reason for the
hope that is in us, with meekness and fear;
38. that if we confess our sins, God is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness;
39. and that we should believe in the name
of God’s Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as he gave us
commandment.
40. We believe the witness of the holy,
catholic and apostolic Church:
41. that God created marriage for a man and
a woman to be united for life and to procreate and to educate their
children;
42. that abortion is murder and that
euthanasia is murder;
43. that God hates divorce;
44. that Christ gives dignity and purpose to
the single life;
45. that Christ has given three great gifts
to the Church: the apostolic ministry, the Scriptures and the
Sacraments;
46. that work is honourable and that private
property is a human right;
47. that slavery is wrong;
48. that God has appointed the state to
maintain order and to restrain evil;
49. and that we are to pay taxes and honour
to the state, unless the state requires that we disobey God.
50. We also believe in the reasonable
positions:
51. that materialism, hedonism and
individualism are dead-ends;
52. that the ideologies of relativism and
Secularism, like Naziism and Communism, are signs of the
Anti-Christ, but that secularity facilitates the distinctive tasks
of state and Church;
53. that the use of religion to promote
hatred and terrorism is also a sign of the Anti-Christ;
54. that, although all the religions of the
world are not the same, most religions have significant common
ground in moral instruction;
55. that the whole creation is the theatre
of God’s glory and action, and that we are to act as faithful and
responsible stewards in his world;
56. that as citizens of a democracy we have
a duty and responsibility to vote for God-fearing legislators who
accept the role of limited government.
57. Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now and ever
shall be, world without end. Amen.
NOTES
1. See Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey,
How Now Shall We Live? Wheaton: Tyndale, 1999, especially pp. 57ff.
See also Lee Strobel, The Case for a Creator, Zondervan, 2004.
2. See Colson, p. 75.
3. See, e.g., William A. Dembski, The
Design inference... Cambridge University Press, 1998.
7. Gen. 1:1.
8. Gen. 1:26.
9. Gen. 1:27; 2:7, 21-24. Deut. 6:7 etc.
10. Gen. 3.
11. Gen. 3:15.
12. Gen. 12:3.
13. Exod. 3:14; 20:1-17.
14. Lev. 19:18.
15. Deut. 6:4-5.
16. 1 Sam. 13:14; 2 Sam. 7:5-16; Acts
13:22.
17. Is. 53, esp. vv.10 & 11.
18. Micah 6:8.
19. Daniel 9:4-19.
20. Is. 10:21; Jer. 23:3; Ezek 6:8; Rom.
11:5.
21. Gal. 4:4; Lk. 1:26-38; Jn. 1:14.
23. Jn. 1:1.
24. Jn. 1:14.
25. Jn. 1:29-34; Jn 4:41; Jn. 6:35, 8:12
& 57, 10:7 & 11, 11:25, 14:6, 15:1; 18:37; 20:17.
26. Mt. 28:19-20.
27 Acts 4:12.
28. Rom. 5:5.
29. Rom. 5:8.
30. 1 Cor. 11:26.
31. 1 Cor. 15:3-4.
32. Gal. 5:1.
33. Eph. 4:4-6.
34. 1 Thess. 4:3.
35. 1 Thess. 5:17.
36. Jas. 1:27.
37. 1 Pet. 1:15-16; 3:15.
38. 1 Jn. 1:9.
39. 1 Jn. 3:23.
41. Mt. 19:3-6. Gen. 1:28. Deut. 6:7.
42. Didache II, 1.
43. Mal. 2:16.
44. Mt. 19:12c.
45. Westminster Confession of Faith, XXV,
3, quoted in A Statement Concerning Ordination to the Ministry...,
The General Council of the United Church of Canada, 1926, p.6.
46. Apology to the Augsburg Confession,
IV, in The Book of Concord..., ed. & tr. T.G. Tappert, Philadelphia:
Fortress, 1959, p. 133, sec. 192. Catechism of the Catholic Church,
2427-2428; 2401, 2403.
47. Catechism of the Catholic Church,
2414.
48. Rom. 13:1-7. Westminster Confession
of Faith, XXIII.
49. See n48, Barmen Declaration, in The
Proposed Book of Confessions, Philadelphia: The United Presbyterian
Church, 1966, pp. 171-174.
52. Cf. 1 Jn. 2:18. For our distinction
between secularism and secularity, see, e.g., "Secularity and Civil
Religion," in Douglas Farrow, ed., Recognizing Religion in a Secular
Society, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004.
53. Cf. 1 Jn. 2:18; 4:20.
54. See C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man,
Appendix.
55. Living Faith: A statement of
Christian belief, Winfield, BC: Wood Lake Books, 1984, p. 6-8.
The Montreal Declaration of Anglican
Essentials (1994), 13, in Anglican Essentials..., ed. George Egerton,
Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 1995.
