A recent “creed” to surface on the internet mentions God, Jesus, and the Spirit but is more about affirming progressive values than confessing truth.
Transcript
Original video: And let us confess our faith today in the words of the Sparkle Creed. “I believe in the non-binary God, whose pronouns are plural. I believe in Jesus Christ, their child who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads and saw everyone as a sibling child of God. I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity. I believe in the church of everyday saints, as numerous, creative, and resilient as patches on the AIDS quilt, whose feet are grounded in mud, and whose eyes gaze at the stars in wonder. I believe in the calling to each of us that love is love is love. So, beloved, let us love. I believe, glorious God. Help my unbelief. Amen.”
Tim: A creed is meant to be a confession of faith. It’s supposed to provide a summary of significant content about our beliefs. The Apostles’ Creed is a great example. Although the Sparkle Creed mentions God and Jesus and the Spirit, this creed really isn’t about confessing truth about God. No. It’s about affirming ourselves and confessing a God that conforms to our current progressive culture. What I mean is they’ve taken a bunch of buzzwords and talking points from the progressive playbook and projected them onto this religious sounding, pseudo-theological creed.
We’re told that God is non-binary, but is this accurate? Well, it’s true that God isn’t male or female. God isn’t the kind of being where gender categories apply, including the gender category of non-binary. It would be like referring to my coffee cup as non-binary because it’s neither male nor female. It’s a category mistake.
The creed says God’s pronouns are plural. This is just false. I believe God is three persons in one eternal being. The creed ignores the fact that God has chosen to reveal himself using singular, masculine, he/him pronouns. Why won’t they use God’s preferred pronouns?
What about Jesus having two dads? This seems to be a reference to Joseph and God the Father. First, the “two dads” language is terribly misleading. Second, it seems to conflict with their claim that God is non-binary. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a father is a male parent—a he/him, not a they/them. This creed will say anything as long as it serves progressive propaganda. It’s kind of like Whose Line Is It Anyway, the show where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter.
This leads to the fabulous tunic. When people reflect on the work of Jesus, they probably don’t immediately think “fabulous tunic.” That’s because there’s no reference to Jesus’ fabulous tunic in Scripture. So, why is it in here? Well, your guess is as good as mine.
Of course, they had to get a rainbow in here somewhere. So, why not just use it as an adjective for the Spirit? Rather than stick with “Holy Spirit,” they chose “rainbow Spirit,” which segues nicely into what they really want to talk about, which is diversity.
Of course, more could be said. The point is, this creed wasn’t written to clarify truth and glorify God. Instead, it was written to distort the truth and glorify self. The Sparkle Creed confesses a God in the image and likeness of our contemporary culture, but this isn’t new. Like the ancient serpent in the garden, the creed lies about who God is. Don’t fall for it. Only God gets to tell us what he is like, and he has. If you want to know that God, open his Word.