But I agree with the Nicene Creed. How does that make me not a Christian?
The Creed professes a belief in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. It does not sound as if you profess that belief, based on your prior post.
This is where we disagree on the understanding of the Nicene Creed ( and even the older Apostle’s creed).
I do not equate “catholic” with “Roman Catholic.”
To avoid this misunderstanding, some even prefer to say “holy Christian church.”
While there is nothing wrong with this term, I am not be embarrassed by the older wording and the use of the original word — catholic because I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS.
The word catholic was first used in this sense in the early second century when Ignatius of Antioch declared, “Where Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church.” Note: HE DID TAG THE WORD — ROMAN in front of it.
Jesus Christ is the head of the church, as well as its Lord. I understand the church to be the body of Christ extended throughout time as well as space, the whole company of God’s redeemed people through the ages.
The original word catholic simply means “general, universal, concerning the whole.”
Jesus prayed that his disciples would be one, even as he and the Father are one, so that the world might believe. I think it is right to pray and work for the “full visible unity” of Christ’s church on earth which we know for sure will be completely realized when Jesus comes again. When we say that we “believe in the holy catholic church,” we are confessing that Jesus Christ himself is the church’s one foundation, that all who truly trust in him as Savior and Lord are by God’s grace members of this church, and that the gates of hell shall never prevail against it.
It’s as simple as that.