You don’t believe in the Trinity?
Good for you. If you want to go to Hell!
Most people who know me know that a Christian faith grounded on getting the Trinity “Right” does not represent my beliefs. I know great Christians in this church who believe and love the doctrine of the Trinity. We also have great Christians in this church that won’t recite it because they don’t believe it. Hopefully, this church is big enough to accept all people on their Christian journey.
In our adult class yesterday we looked at the very controversial phrase of the “Nicene Creed” called the “filioque”. Filioque in Latin mean, “ and from the Son”. The original Nicene Creed proclaimed by the Orthodox tradition of Christianity, states that;
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified.
The Roman and Protestant version or Latin version of the “Nicene Creed” states;
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified.
Notice the difference? In the Latin version, the addition of “and the Son” slowly works its way into the original Nicene Creed until it is adopted into the Roman Catholic mass in 1014CE. This change in the original Nicene Creed was a piece of the puzzle that caused the Great Schism of 1054CE, between the Eastern and Western Christianity.
There must have been a lot of passion around the issues that the 3 Creeds of Christianity try to explain. Issues related to, who is God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and how are they related. In the adult class I did not hear any passion about getting these relationships correct, or right. I didn’t hear anyone say that if you don’t believe in the Trinity, you are not Christian. I did not hear anyone claim that the addition of the “Filioque” was sacrilegious. Can we accept mystery? Can we tolerate difference? Can we be a church that understands we are all on a journey with a variety of beliefs? Is a church schism the answer to our differences or can we build a Big Tent Church that values and appreciates a variety of beliefs?
If you believe in the Trinity, good for you. If you don’t believe in the Trinity, good for you. It is through our struggle with what we believe that we can grow in faith. Its your faith! I hope you are blessed in your wrestling with God!