Credo for Today?

While on a date at our local bookshop, my wife and I settled into comfy chairs and did some reading. Always interested in what God is doing in other branches of Christianity, I picked up "Credo for Today ~ What Christians Believe". I am a Christian, so I generally like books which talk about what I and my fellow Christians believe. This book was written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope Benedict XVI of the Roman Catholic Church. It seemed to be an exposition on the Creeds of the Roman Catholic Church.

The first thing I turned to was the index. I skimmed down to something which I would find interesting. I flipped to Chapter 3, which is titled "Creation: Belief in Creation and the Theory of Evolution". I was expecting to discover a contrast made between the belief that Christians hold and the theory of evolution. For those of you familiar with my blog, you'll remember that I hold that God literally created the world and believe in a young earth model. I am a Creationist. I was shocked to discover that Cardinal Ratzinger was not affirming the biblical account of creation, but was seeking to reconcile it with a man-made theory. In the short read I had of the chapter, I learned that he dismissed the importance of how God created the world. His emphasis, instead, was that God created the world. He believed (and asserted that all Christians believed) that it doesn't matter if God created the world in the way He said He did, it only matters that He created it. I think this has a profound significance on one's view of God and how that God reveals Himself. If God reveals Himself in falsehood, is he a good God? So, from the first chapter I read, I disagreed with the pope. This was not looking good.

I read on. I was looking for something with which I could agree. I turned back to the index. I saw that there was a chapter entitled "Jesus: The Only Begotten Son of God". At last! A chapter I thought I could agree with. Five pages devoted to our savior. Then I noticed the next chapter, which is entitled: "Incarnate of the Virgin Mary: 'You Are Full of Grace'". This particular chapter was 19 pages. Five pages for the savior, 19 pages for his mom. I decided to put down this book. I'd need to look somewhere else to find something on the topic of "What Christians Believe".