The Creed Part II: Article I - God the Father and Creator of the Universe and the History of Creation

Article I

" I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth"

The Virtues

What are the Theological Virtues?

There are three Theological Virtues:

1. Faith

2. Love or Charity

3. Hope

Faith- by which we believe in the existence of God and his revelation, is the virtue that concerns the past, because we believe in what God has already revealed.

Love or Charity - by which we do good deeds for God and neighbor, is the virtue that concerns the present, because we can love only at the present moment.

Hope- by which we desire Eternal Life as the Reward for our Faith and Good Works, is the virtue that concerns the future, because only after death we can enjoy the eternal communion with God.

In Paradise, Faith shall be replaced by Vision, and Hope with Fulfillment, but Love shall remain forever; because Heaven is the eternal communion of love with God. As St. Paul wrote: "Faith, hope, and love remain; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13)

What does "sola fide, sola gratia, sola scriptura" means?

For the past five centuries Catholics and Protestants engaged on a debate on how can we be saved.  According to Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, we can be saved by the three solas:

1. Sola Fide or In Faith alone which Martin based on St. Paul's teaching: "A person can is justified by faith apart from good works of the law" (Romans 3:28)

2. Sola Gratia or In Grace Alone

3. Sola Scriptura or In Scriptures Alone which Martin denies the validity of sacred traditions and only focuses on the Holy Scriptures. This is clearly wrong because not all the acts of Jesus was written down by the evangelists: "There are also many things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written" (John 21:25)

The Catholic Church however believes that man can be saved by:

Faith justified by Good Works

Grace proclaimed in the Sacraments

Scriptures that supports Sacred Traditions

These three are more complex than Luther's motto because the three solas only justifies what Luther sees as truth but in reality he made a lot of mistakes. He believed that man can be saved by faith alone but the apostle James wrote in his epistle (Martin Luther planned to remove the Epistle of James from the Bible because its contents contradicts his beliefs): "What good is it my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can Faith save him?...Faith of itself, if it does not have work is dead" (James 2:14, 17)

What is the Dogma of the Holy Trinity?   

This Dogma proclaims "God is One Divine Nature in Three Divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit". Although acting as One God, each Divine Person has a specific task:

God the Father is the Creator

God the Son is the Redeemer

God the Holy Spirit is the one who Sanctifies.

Is  Catholicism/Christianity a monotheistic Religion?

Yes it is. It is in accordance with the Holy Scriptures and the Laws of Logic.

The Scripture declares: "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord Alone" (Deuteronomy 6:4) "For I am God and there is no other " (Isaiah 25:22)

The Laws of Logic clarify that if there are two or more gods, none of them would be infinitcosmic explosion e or perfect: therefore, none would be a true God.

We shall focus on the Divinity of God the Father and Creator

Who created the Universe?

It is a fact for Christians that God created the universe and the cosmos. Science, however shows evidences
of the real origin of the universe and of Life. But neither of the two should be considered as null or invalid.

Are Creation and Evolution compatible? 

Thanks to my professor in World History 1, Mr. Peter Romerosa, and some advance reading on the topic, here are some theories of the origin of the life:

1. The Theory of Creation - means that the universe and all species of plants and animals were created by God directly and out of nothing.

2. The Theory of Evolution - speculates that the universe came into existence after a cosmic explosion of pre-existing matter called the Big Bang; and that biological life originated from the random combination of atoms. From this primordial being, possibly a bacterium, all species of plants and animals evolved by means of adaption and natural selection.

3. The Theory of Theistic Evolution - means that God created all beings in a manner that evolution occurs. This was initiated so that Church and Science don't conflict with each other.

What are the fallacies of the Theory of Evolution?

- If God does not exist, where did the matter from the Big Bang originate?

-Since explosions cause chaos and destruction, how could a cosmic explosion produce the order and design of the universe?

-If Man, with his intelligence and technology, cannot produce any living being, how could a random combination of atoms produce a bacterium?

-Since each species reproduce offsprings of its kind. how could a fish produce frogs, reptiles produce birds and mammals, and apes produce men?

How did God created the universe?

There are two ways that explains how God created the universe

1. The Literal Interpretation of the Six Days of Creation which states that God created the universe in Six days and rested on seventh day.

2. The Day-age Interpretation which states the a Day in the Book of Genesis corresponds to a geological age or a million years.

What are Angels and Demons?

Angels are immortal and spiritual beings that God created. Majority of them are messengers that God uses to herald among his people his revelations and promises. Other angels are warriors who defends the Mortals from the snares of Evil.

Demons are angels who thought they are greater that God and they should follow their own understanding. Lucifer is the most known and first Demon. They were cast out from the heavens and lived in Hell to torment the souls of the Condemned.

What is the Original Sin? 

The Original is the act of disobedience that our ancestor, Adam and Eve, committed. God instructed them to never eat from the tree of knowledge but they got caught in Satan's temptation. Because of this, God vanished both Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden and they were never to eat the fruit from the tree of life. But God loved Man so he promised him salvation.

So from this point, the salvation history begins...

The Creed Part I: Introductions

"I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth"

This is the first article of the "Apostle's Creed" - our declaration of beliefs and faith. We often say these words during mass as we profess our faith, but do we really know what it means? 

Here's a twelve part series on the Creed. I'll be posting these to my blog to inform my fellow Catholics about the meaning of these declarations.

Introductions

Christianity has Four Pillars: The Creed, The Sacraments, The Commandments and The Our Father.

1. The Creed represents our Faith and what we must believe as the inviolable Truth.

2. The Sacraments represents our Public Worship and the things we must do as a Community.

3. The Commandments represent our Morals and the things that a baptized Christian should do.

4. The Our Father represents Personal Prayer and how should a Christian pray.

We will be focusing on the Creed and its Twelve articles which represents our declaration of faith.

What is a Creed?

A creed is written or oral declaration of belief by certain groups of people. It's like the preamble of the Constitution which sums up the nature of its content. The word Creed comes from the Latin verb "credere", which means "to believe".

What is the Apostle's Creed?

The Apostle's Creed, which is also known as the Symbol of Faith, is the summary of the fundamental truths of Christianity. It is composed of 12 articles, corresponding to the number of the Apostles. It declares our belief in One God, in three Personas( The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit),the birth of Jesus Christ, the salvation through the death of Christ and his Second Coming as ruler of the Living and the Dead. It also declares our belief in One True and Apostolic Church, the Communion of the Saints, the Forgiveness of Sins, Resurrection of the Body and Eternal Life

Why did the Apostles compose a Creed? 

The Apostles composed the Creed for two reasons:

1.  To synthesize teachings of Jesus, which were immense, as St. John said in his Gospel: "There are also many things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written" (John 21:25)

2. To preserve  the integrity of the Gospel from danger of adding or removing any belief, in accordance with the admonition of St. John in the Book of Revelations: "I warn everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the Tree of Life and in the Holy City described in this book" (Revelations 22:18-19)

In Summary:  

The Creed is one of the Four Pillars of Christianity. It declares the fundamental truth about our Faith and the Apostles created it to synthesize the Gospel and prevent the threats of Heresy.