Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherri
I'm very surprised at the statement of faith. I just went to Christ Church Nashville's site and they still have their original one. I'm shocked that all Christ Churches don't have the same statement of faith. All of our churches have the same one we started with.
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Our website used to have the entire booklet "What Christ Church Beleives and Teaches" but I don't see it on there now.
When I recently picked up a copy of that booklet something caught my eye that I did not remember seeing before so I brought it home to compare with an older copy I have and sure enough something was added.
After the section that discusses the controversies over the godhead throughout church history, etc, etc, the section used to end by saying;
"In the Pentecostal movement, where many Christ Church leaders have their roots, it was felt by some that the word person created a serious misunderstanding of the very essence of the Godhead. These Pentecostal pioneers wanted to return to what they considered New Testament doctrine and practice. They truly believed that the word person could lead the church toward a polytheistic concept of God.
We are not modalists. The ancient Greek actors could only wear one persona (mask) at a time; so a true modalist would say that God was first the Father, then became the Son,, and is now the Holy Spirit. We reject this. What He has revealed to us is what He is. He not only appears to be Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is the essence of the early creeds.
We are not likely to settle the issue in this century. We are finally left confessing the inadequacy of human language, indeed of human thought itself, to fully express "the mystery of Godliness" "
I noticed that the latest version of this booklet now ends with something to the effect of "having said that Christ Church accepts the orthodox view of God". I can't find the newer edition tonight but I will pick one up at church on Wednesday and come back and post exactly what it says to be accurate.