I do believe

God help me, I do not believe...

I do not believe in God the Father.

I do not believe in a virgin birth.

I do not believe in three wise men, choirs of angels, or singing shepherds.

I do not believe in a reanimated corpse.

I do not believe that praying changes God, or his mind.

I do not believe in eternal damnation, or in hell as the eternal destiny of the faithless.

I do not believe in Heaven as the eternal destination of the faithful.

I do not believe that Jesus will come again.

I do not believe people are called to do anything.

I do not believe in a God of war, violence, hatred or division.

I do not believe in a God who is angry, vicious, vengeful, or wrathful.

I do not believe eternal life is the spiritual equivalent of a final salary pension scheme; a person's state of grace at the point of death is not the ultimate determination of their eternal soul.

I do not believe that on the cross Jesus died to pay the price for my sins.

I do not believe that speaking in tongues is the indicator of the Spirit's presence.

I do not believe you have to be 'born again' to be saved.

I do not believe in original sin.

I do not believe the Bible is the word of God. If you want God's words in written form, read the Koran.

I do not believe that marriage must be between one man and one woman.

I do not believe in 'creation', with or without an 'ism'.

I do not believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.

But I do still believe, God help me...

I believe that God is the mother and father of us all, the ground of our being, and the source of all that makes us human.

I believe that God is love, and that in God there is no darkness at all.

I believe in resurrection through Christ Jesus, and that death does not get the final word on life.

I believe that those who are in Christ are daily born again from above.

I believe in hell as a present reality; as, I suspect, do the countless multitudes who find themselves trapped there.

I believe that idolatry is the root cause of all sin, and that wherever God is displaced from the centre of the cosmos, the path to hell opens before us.

I believe that through Christ's body people are redeemed from hell and released from satan's power.

I believe that the eternal value of a person's life does not depend on their appreciation of their own eternal worth.

I believe that God is most fully and uniquely revealed in the person of Christ, and that those who know Christ, know God.

I believe that the Spirit of Christ is with all those who follow him, revealing him in and through those who bear faithful witness to him.

I believe that Christ died to save humanity from the twin powers of sin and death.

I believe that prayer changes everything, starting with me.

I believe that people are called to be, and then to live out that calling.

I believe that the kingdom of heaven is an in-breaking reality of transformation.

I believe that Jesus comes again, and again, and again.

I believe in the possibility of peace, and that peace is a blessing to the world.

I believe that the cross is God's nonviolent embrace of humanity, and that all human violence finds its end at the cross of Christ.

I believe that speaking in tongues is a gift of the Spirit; freeing our minds from the trammels of rational thought to commune with God's Spirit in ways too deep for words.

I believe the Bible offers a revelation of God's truth, and that it does so through a series of thought experiments concerning the existence of humanity before God. 

I believe in marriage as an expression of loving, faithful, equal, covenant commitment, between two people, for the blessing of all.

I believe that the earth is a gift, and that we have a responsibility before God to tend it care-fully.

I believe that wherever the new humanity in Christ are present, the old humanity under death is challenged, and people are offered transformation to life in all its fullness.

In heaven's name, and for goodness' sake, so help me God, I do believe.