The Apostles’ Creed: First Month—Day 4
and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
Scripture
Lord Jesus, I have nowhere else to go; You have the words of eternal life. I believe and know that You are the Holy One of God. (John 6:68-69)
and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
Lord Jesus, I have nowhere else to go; You have the words of eternal life. I believe and know that You are the Holy One of God. (John 6:68-69)
maker of heaven and earth;
You made the earth and created man upon it.
Your own hands stretched out the heavens,
And You ordered their starry hosts. (Isaiah 45:12)
the Father almighty,
Are You a God nearby,
And not a God far away?
Can anyone hide in secret places
So that You cannot see him?
Do You not fill heaven and earth? (Jeremiah 23:23-24)
I believe in God,
O Lord, God of heaven, You are the great and awesome God, keeping Your covenant of loyal love with those who love You and obey Your commands. Let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open so that You may hear the prayer Your servant is praying before You day and night. I confess the sins I have committed against You. (Nehemiah 1:5-6)
The purpose of developing a Christian view of the world is not merely to evaluate and judge the world, but to change it. By our actions each of us — each human being — is changing the world in which we live. Ultimately, Jesus Christ will introduce a radical change to our world when he comes in glory. But until that time, he is using his people to change the world. This indeed happens one person at a time, but it also happens one family at a time, or one school at a time, or one church at a time, or even one nation at a time.
“It can’t be wrong when it feels so right . . .”
— Debby Boone, title song in You Light Up My Life (1977)
As much consternation and confusion as the feminist movement that took Western culture by storm in the 1970s has brought to Christians and to society in general, the demands of even the most radical feminists seem tame in comparison to the homosexual rights movement that came into prominence in the 1990s. No other issue seems to provoke stronger feelings in people than this one.
“Though we adore men individually,
We agree that as a group they’re rather stupid.
So cast off the shackles of yesterday;
Shoulder to shoulder into the fray. . . .
From Kensington to Billingsgate one hears the restless cry
From every corner of the land: ‘Womankind, arise!’
Political equality and equal rights with men. . . .
No more the meek and mild subservients, we;
We’re fighting for our rights, militantly. . . .”
“You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you. . . .”
— Pocahontas, “Colors of the Wind,” in Pocahontas (1994)
“What is the meaning of existence? . . . Man and woman persons, their existence means exactly and precisely, not more, not one tiny bit less, just what they think it means, and what I think doesn’t count at all.”
— “God” (George Burns), in Oh, God (1977)
“When I was a boy, world was better spot,
What was so was so, what was not was not,
Now I am a man, world have changed a lot,
Some things nearly so; others nearly not. . . .
O-ho! Sometimes I think that people going mad.
A-ha! Sometimes I think that people not so bad. . . .
But — is a puzzlement!”
— The King of Siam (Yul Brynner), “Is a Puzzlement,” in The King and I (1956)