Comparing Creeds
Have you explored any religions with interest? List them.
Have been curious about any religions?
Are there vast differences between the ones listed?
Do they all have a foundation of working for approval?
What within these appeals to you?
What do these groups do particularly well?
What within them makes no sense at all?
What parts do you feel you would have a hard time absorbing into your life?
If you surrounded yourself with people of this belief system, would you feel pressure to change your present way of thinking?
Are you willing to accept that over the years, through repeated exposure, these concepts might begin to make sense to you?
Have you heard any rumors of odd practices which you consider inhumane or unjust?
Write down any practices in the varied religions that you are uneasy about. If you're afraid to put them on paper, write it on a separate sheet. Be honest.
List any practices which you don't care for in your spiritual circle:
Worship Service
Small Groups
Social Programs
Outreach
Children's training
Care for elderly, handicapped, ill
Attitude toward members with fewer resources
Daily expectations for personal life
Will some of these concepts or rules will make sense to you eventually?
How can you research the controversial issues so they are more resolved in your mind?
Grading Your Own
Do you cherish your family/heritage traditions?
When was the last time spiritual things felt new and exciting?
Are you consciously thankful often?
Do you have a voice in how things are run?
If you chose to get more involved, would people listen to your ideas?
Which members besides the governing body have a voice?
Do you see any members as oppressed?
Do people care about each others' personal lives?
Do they stand behind the phrase that the oppressed should be set free?
Do they make efforts to heal the broken-hearted?
Does your faith give you strength?
Do you find access to power due to being in tune spiritually?
Would this be due to prayer, activity, selflessness or awareness?
Could you use spiritual concepts more effectively in your life?
Do you find yourself focusing on guilt, and veering towards it?
Do you feel close to your God?
Do you ever feel free?
Do you have support of like-minded people?
How do you deal with despair?
Does your religion seem to encourage suffering?
Does this seem to attach to inevitable persecution, or the consequences of doing something risky, or inevitable inequality in the world?
Can faith bring you out of your problems?
Can you trust in your God to bring resolution to your problems?
Do you blame yourself for your problems?
How can you move out of blame and into action?
Can thanks for your God's already-acting consideration bring quicker results?
When did you begin feeling "in the know," competent about facts in your denomination?
When did you begin to feel mature?
Do you still struggle with spurts of disbelief ?
Think about your brain, and its connections. Imagine that your are in the center of the faith network. You pull out into another branch of dendrites, and find yourself in the set of connections about a discussion at a party, or a TV show, or a book (in which you felt uncomfortable at first). Do you still have the same level of faith in what you believe?
Think of what you have put into your brain that you don't want there. Is there a way to remove it?
Is there a way to avoid similar input in the future?
If your house burned down today, would members of this group rally to help you?
If you were hospitalized, would anyone offer to help with home responsibilities?
If a family member were arrested, would you find compassion or criticism from this group?
What is the core of the Christian religion?
"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." There is no other commandment greater than these.
Mark 12:30-31 NKJV
God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him.
John 3:17 NCV
God's saving justice was witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, but now it has been revealed altogether apart from the law: God's saving justice given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. No distinction is made: all have sinned and lack God's glory, and all are justified by the free gift of his grace through being set free in Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:22, 23 JB
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain ...of your own poets have said, "For we are also his offspring."
Acts 17:28 KJV
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that murders the prophets and stones the messengers sent to her! How often have I longed to gather your children, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you would not let me.
Matthew 23:37 NEB
Other verses to read:
Isaiah 61
Romans 1
Hebrews 10, 11
God, I set aside my wandering thoughts and my opinions for a minute and focus on you. Reveal more truth to me. Let me see the desires of your heart. You say that it's not about a choice of the right set of beliefs, but about trusting You. Explain it to me, help this make more sense. Reveal Your plan of love for me.
Feel free to print this page out once for yourself and take time to think over these issues on your own. We will not collect information on you, especially on these personal questions. If you have questions, contact us or find a kind and trustworthy person nearby.
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Marked Yet Spared
Seven Head Division
2002
