Almighty Love (00:56)

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Christian music and art introduces the topic.

Benevolent Power (01:46)

The creed begins "I believe in God the Father Almighty"- "Omnipotentem" in Latin. The word can take connotations of tyranny because of our understanding of human power, but God is Father before he is Almighty.

God's Plan and Constraints (01:22)

God is moving the world toward an appointed end. God acts within the constraints of the world He created, in the state in which it finds itself.

Power Revealed in Weakness (02:35)

God's power is most perfectly revealed in weakness, as Christ's birth and death illustrate. Faith means believing Christ is more powerful than those crucifying him.

Hymn (01:07)

A hymn and art help us contemplate Christ's Crucifixion and power to save.

God's Sovereignty and Free Will (01:46)

The logical conclusion of God being Almighty negates our free will; yet Scripture tells us we have free will, creating tension. Our limited minds prevent our understanding this tension.

Parallel Lines (02:10)

God's sovereignty and human choice are like two parallel lines; your free choice coexists to embrace God coexists with predestination to do so.

Philosophical and Theological Determinism (02:10)

Philosophers debate free will and determinism in light of the idea of the universe as machine. The analogous theological puzzle is about God's plan and our making choices through consciousness.

Possibility of Defiance (02:44)

God created us to find wholeness in loving, not coerced, union with God. Creature may rebel against Creator, as Adam and Eve did.

Causing Our Own Suffering (02:27)

God created us such that if we rebel against our reality, we face consequences. We can step off the roof, physically or spiritually.

Working Within Creation (01:34)

God's decision to create the world the way he did limits him. If the world rebels against him, he must work from within to enable healing rather than scrapping the structure.

Rebellion and the Cross (02:00)

Once we rebel, we are self-referenced, and cannot reunite on our own, but God still loves us and so entered into and solved our rebellion. We may still reject this solution.

Free Will and Slavery to Sin (02:20)

Calvin, Luther and Augustine did not believe in free will. The will enslaved to sin is still will, however. God has the highest freedom and cannot choose evil; freedom to choose evil is a lower freedom. We hear a hymn on our choice between good and evil.

Maker of Heaven and Earth (01:59)

A hymn about God's creation introduces God as Maker. This doctrine affirms God's might and tells what he did with it. God created from nothing.

Grandeur of Universe and Rejecting Pantheism (02:13)

Science reveals the universe's vastness and complexity, enhancing our view of God's greatness. God is everywhere and maintains the world but is distinct from it; both pantheism and exaggerated transcendence are mistaken.

Random Chance or Purposeful Creation? (01:44)

God as Creator implies that God created us. Atheistic evolution implies that life and our thought processes have no meaning.

Image of God (02:55)

Humanity alone is made in the Image of God, setting us above the rest of Creation. We have moral wills, unlike animals. God's image affirms his ownership of us, as when a monarch marked a coin, and makes us stewards of Creation.

Relationship With God (02:18)

Scripture says God made us in his image, male and female, suggesting we are made for relationships. Being made in God's image makes us incomplete without relating to God. A hymn closes the subject.

Providence and Covenant (02:27)

God is not relegated to the moment of Creation; he sustains Creation and acts in it. God formed a covenant with Israel, then with the church, to carry out his purposes.

Implications of Covenant (01:32)

The idea of a Covenant gives us obligations and informs Christian understandings about a covenant with the state and the marriage covenant.

Creation and Covenant (01:17)

God's creation makes possible and backs up the Covenant; God challenges the gods of Babylon to do what he does. God is the God of Israel, but also of the universe.

Origin of Evil (02:43)

The Creed rejects Dualism by saying God created everything. Yet God did not create sin. Scriptural explanations for evil include misuse of free will, but the existence and solution for evil are more important than its origin.

Credits: Almighty, Maker: The Faith We Confess (00:42)

Credits: Almighty, Maker: The Faith We Confess