The story behind the story

I learned long ago not to take anything at face value—to always look for ‘the story behind the story.’

The other day, I had a sudden revelation about the Creed, a kind of ‘story behind the story’ epiphany.

Yes, of course it came to me while I was watching my favorite channel Daystar and one of its pastors who happened to be doing a series on the Creed.

After listening to the good pastor, I’m convinced that the Creed is not a prayer, it’s a control device in disguise.

Don’t take me wrong, I believe in the power of prayer.

Prayer has a way of tapping into some higher energy in the universe, and more than a few times, I’ve seen its power at work.

But there’re some prayers which are prayers (like the Lord’s) and some which are really attempts at control.

And the so-called Apostles Creed is one of them.

The product of the Council of Nicaea, the Creed codified the early church’s teachings and tightened control over its doctrine.

That’s why it reads like a legal document as it tries to cover every nuance of dogma and doctrine.

In fact, not too long ago, it went through another thorough revamp. Apparently, the powers that be decided that its wording was still not tight enough.

One of the changes was the addition of  ‘consubstantial’ to replace the phrase ‘one in being.’

I remember asking a priest, a Jesuit no less, about the rationale behind the new and improved Creed and he said, these things matter.

Yes, of course it matters.

Presumably, the Good Lord would be offended if the right legalese is not employed when it comes to describing the substance of the Son vis-à-vis the Father.

But of course, we all know that the ‘prayer’ is not directed at the Creator.

No, it’s directed at the prayee—to remind him of all these details of doctrine that he has to toe the line at.

Very subtle indeed.

But we all know religion was never designed to help its adherents, they’re tools to control the adherents’ thoughts.

The Christian church is amazing in its self contradictions.

On the one hand, it’s all about love, about kindness and compassion.

But if you do not believe those fixed doctrines of the church that are so clearly spelled out in the Creed, you’ll burn in hell, not for one day or one month or one year but for all eternity!

How seemingly normal sane people can reconcile these absurd contradictions in their minds is quite beyond comprehension.