Ask Your Preacher - Archives
“Without Creedence”
Categories: DOCTRINE, RELIGIONSHow are creeds different than publications preachers write?Sincerely,
Looking At Leaflets
Dear Looking At Leaflets,
Religious publications, commentaries, tracts, and other religious writings are not in and of themselves wrong until a church or denomination turns that document into an essential element of their faith – that is what a creed is. A creed is someone’s commentary on Scripture that is given equal weight to the Scriptures.
It doesn’t matter whether it agrees with the Scriptures or not – the wording is man-made and, therefore, not exactly as God intended. A creed draws the lines of fellowship around a human writing. A creed is a statement of faith that superimposes itself over the Bible. Now, instead of using the Word of God as the guide for what makes a congregation and a christian faithful – we use a creed to decide what verses and concepts are (and are not) important. We have no right to do that! God specifically said that we don’t get to decide what is or isn’t important from His Word; we must take the whole thing, no more, no less (Rev 22:18-19, Ps. 119:160). If God wanted mankind to use creeds as measures of faith and fellowship – He would have given us one.
