Credo: Explained

Some key ideas in the Apostle's creed

The creed simply says that Jesus suffered, died and rose again. This is a summary of a much more profound belief. Jesus was aware that suffering was his destiny and that somehow it was a payment for the sin of mankind. Many Christians have believed that sin had to be paid for so God paid himself rather than make mankind pay. Some Christians, for example in the Letter to the Hebrews, have believed that the suffering of Jesus was his path to perfection. Having learned to obey by suffering he was made perfect and became the source of salvation for all. Only by following this path could he achieve his position as Lord and saviour of mankind and have come to be the judge of all.

The resurrection of Jesus

The resurrection is the central belief of Christianity. Evil could not win. In rising Jesus was the victor over sin and death. Evil did its worst, only to find that God turned it into good by performing his greatest miracle. Christianity teaches that Jesus through his resurrection is still involved in the world. He has become the Lord of all mankind and has the power to become involved in human lives, guiding, saving us from sin and giving eternal life. He is through his Holy Spirit living on in his church, which is the People of God.

The role of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is seen by Christians as the Power of God working through Jesus in the hearts and minds of believers. The role of the Holy Spirit is as follows:

• To sanctify
• To make holy
• To transform you into a truly good, Christian person
• To guide you through life's problems by enlightening and inspiring you
• To give you eternal life.

The church as the "body of Christ" - the community of all believers

Christianity is a community. Those who accept Jesus Christ have a common bond with all others who accept Christ. They form one community and Christ is present in the lives of each member by the power of his Holy Spirit. We call this community the Christian Church. To reject your fellowship with Christians is to reject Christ. However, there are divisions in Christianity. Some groups feel that they are the only true Christian Church, whereas others feel that all Christian churches are part of the one Church. The views below all come from different Christian viewpoints - unity between all Christians, or at the very least acceptance is one of the biggest issues facing the church.

"My church is the only true Church. We are the only ones who are fully right. No one else is a true Christian."

"Christians should not be narrow minded. They should realise that all Christians belong to Christ, no matter what church they belong to."

"I am perfectly happy for Christians to reunite, as long as they all join my church."

"Christians should discuss and overcome their differences to come to a common view and form one church which holds this view."

"It is unlikely that everyone will agree. Why does there have to be one view and one way of running the church? Unity in diversity is what we want."

The Ecumenical movement

There is a movement at the moment called the ecumenical movement. This is an attempt to draw all Christian Churches together by overcoming their differences. That the one church founded by Christ is divided is seen by Christians to be a scandal. The hope is that eventually the Christian church will reunite as one. In order to do this Christians of different churches do the following:

• Hold ecumenical services at which Christians of all denominations can come and pray,
• Hold discussions about the beliefs which separate the,
• Work jointly together for charity, peace and justice at local and national levels.

Life after death

Religions almost always deal with the problem of death by providing a way to pass through it to a better life. Christians believe that when Jesus rose from the dead he conquered death and lives on not just as a spirit but as a full, embodied human present with his Church. Jesus' resurrection is a promise to us all. If we accept him into our lives and join in the fellowship of all Christian believers, we will also at a future point enjoy resurrection into eternal life. The general Christian view is that this resurrection has yet to happen, but in the meantime the souls of believers will live with God in Heaven, awaiting the moment of resurrection. Christianity believes that God is working to perfect his creation, and the resurrection will occur when the process is finally complete. It is an important element of Christian belief that in the afterlife we are united with God but are not absorbed into the deity, and our individual identities are preserved.

Judgment

Access to Heaven is not, according to Christians, automatic, for we have to pass through judgment. There have been two views on judgment. One is that there will be a final judgment on "The Last Day" when God will judge everyone together; the other is that there will be an individual judgment after death. Again there are differing views. The Jewish view was that God balances out your good and evil deeds to see which are greater and apportions Heaven or Hell accordingly. The Christian view is that it is important to die in friendship with God. Even a great sinner can repent and become a friend of God at the end of their life and gain Heaven. One theory is that at the end of life everyone can choose for or against God, and the better you have lived the more God-like you become, so the more easily can you choose for God. Conversely, there is a possibility of rejecting God. Such people would opt for Hell, which Christians think is eternal alienation or estrangement from God. Whether the damned, should there be any, live on or simply fade out of existence is not known. Certainly the imagery of fire came from Gehenna, the Jerusalem rubbish tip.