Introduction to the Creeds, A Call to Faith, Lesson 2, God, 1-4
We have introduced this series of lessons on a Call to Faith, and said that the objective of the lessons would be to introduce us to faith by introducing ourselves to the creeds of the church. In other words, if we can come face-to-face with the creeds, we shall be able to feel the faith of the church.
The first of these beliefs that we shall study is God. In fact, in a general way, everything else that we shall study will be about God. The basic affirmation of the Christian church is “I Believe in God.” When a person changes his church membership, one of the questions asked is, “Do you still believe in God?” A study of Christian Theology is so much a study of a whole theology, that whatever part of it we study will seem repetitious for there is nowhere to start that we don’t come back to the central fact of God. The real purpose then of this or any other study of Christian theology is to explore the fuller meaning of “I believe in God.”
It seems that after Word War I, the world began to be infected more and more with secularism. More and more the world has been ruled by materialistic ideas, and this has colored the world’s ideas, and values, and relationships. We live by materialism instead of faith, and it has been impossible for the church to exist without being infected somewhat by it. Those of us who are alive in the world, and even in the church, have been touched by this inclination to disbelieve anything that leans toward the supernatural. This has resulted in placing a little doubt in may of our minds and to regain the complete faith in God will not be easy.
Regardless of this secularism and doubt, the church has a conviction about God that is the very life of the church. The church is a community that rests on its conviction about God, a community that exists only because it has been called out of the world by the acts of God.
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