I  have for a long time been puzzled and troubled by one of the basic Christian beliefs and have at last decided to put pen to paper.

When my wife was alive we used usually to attend the evening service at St Mary’s on a Sunday. We both liked the service and for own my part I preferred it to the 9.30 a.m. service because I preferred the Apostles Creed to the Nicene Creed.

It was not until recently however that a thought occurred to me that the addition of one word to the Nicene Creed might make it more acceptable to the millions of non churchgoers and should not offend existing churchgoers.

The word I have in mind is the word GOOD.

I suggest that the word GOOD should be inserted into the first paragraph of the Nicene Creed on page 123 of the ASB.

This would then read:-

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is good, seen and unseen.

Those in the congregation of a deterministic belief would be able to omit the word GOOD if they like.

I remember on one occasion whilst watching television being irritated by a so called intellectual talking about the badness of God. We do not know for sure whether or not the Holy Trinity is in any way bad, any more than we know whether or not animals have souls, so it would seem to be sensible to be silent about both matters. I would suggest, however, that most Christians, whether churchgoers or not believe deep down that the Holy Trinity is totally good, and it might not be pleasing to God (i.e. The Holy Trinity) for mankind to think otherwise.

Fortunately God is very tolerant but he may even regard our assumption that He is responsible for evil as an insult. Who knows?

Admittedly evil exists in abundance in the world but no one knows for certain that any part of it is the creation of God (i.e. The Holy Trinity).

Sometimes when saying the Nicene Creed I omit the words:-“of all that is seen and unseen”.

On other occasions I go along with herd and say them but always feel uncomfortable in doing so.

I would welcome the chance to praise the GOODNESS OF GOD in that first paragraph of the Nicene Creed.