Re: Answer to my question about Quakers

I was raised Episcopal, and was taught the Nicene Creed, which takes up
this subject.

I was in my teens when I first felt that doubt that is the beginning of
spiritual growth. For me the process has been one of many decades of
questioning and testing, with increasing confidence, the spiritual
foundations and systems enunciated and believed by others, to see which
pieces seem valid as descriptors of my own belief system.

I have found the Trinity useful as a concept to approach questioning the
nature of God. I do not swallow it whole, but- for example- I feel the
concept of 'The Holy Spirit' to be very tangible and valid.

I so appreciate the infinitely large nature of deity as I conceive of it,
that I can only approach it from the idea of 'limits' (not that it has
any..)- to find a portion which I have perceived or with which I have
interacted, and to try to comprehend, through the sum of that perception and
interaction, some inkling of the nature of my- helper-.

I have experienced salvation. (I find that being able to write that is so
weird and so awesome- so inadequate to describe that experience- that it is
a measure of the poverty of words- but it is a true statement as I see it.)

When that happened, and I went back 'to the books' to research the
expereince, I found the descriptions of the Holy Spirit as comforter to be
entirely valid and speaking to what had occurred. And at the same time, the
experience of the living Christ to be undeniable. That Light, that lifeline
to a drowning soul- it is something I want always to have, never to lose.

So that's one 'edge'. And God- the infinite- the Creator- I have no
problems with that either. It's -there. It's- true.

But the rigorous description in the Creed (as well as other places) of the
triune nature- that and only that- and the specific description and
delimiting of the parts- I don't really buy into that.

God does- whatever (s)he wants, with whatever portion of the divine
nature is engaged. Engagement of human curiosity as to the divine nature is
as much a part of the spiritual process as is love and obedience.

The council of Nicea was a political body.The Nicene Creed, as well as so
much of the Book of Common Prayer- outlines and limits what may be said, and
attempts to limit through recitation what is believed- political correctness
for religion. But I think some of their descriptors are correct. lw



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