Them: “What is the ground of your epistemic life?”

Me: “I believe in God the Father, the Almighty.”

Them: “What is your metaphysics?”

Me: “Maker of Heaven and earth, and of all things, visible and invisible...”

Them: “Well how do you understand the problem of universes and particulars, the one and the many?”

Me: “And in one Lord Jesus Christ...”

Them: “But why believe such a Deity is in any way personal?”

Me: “The only-begotten Son of God”

Them: “Does that mean Jesus created at some point too?”

Me: “Begotten of his Father before all worlds”

Them: “So you’re saying that the one we called Jesus is at least part god?”

Me: “God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God; Begotten, not made; Being of one substance with the Father”

Them: “Ok, so a personal God, yes. But why assume he’s as powerful as the Father God, further, why would he leave heaven?

Me: “By whom all things were made: Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven”

Them: “Could we not just say that Jesus was an inspired and inspiring man without appealing to the divine and the supernatural?”

Me: “He was incarnate by the Holy Ghost”

Them: “Well then how could he possibly identify with us or we with him?”

Me: “And of the Virgin Mary, and was made man”

Them: “I can understand the mythic potency of such a story but why assume it was anything like a historical reality, a true myth?”

Me: “And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate”

Them: “Crucifixion implies suffering. Suffering implies weakness. Are you willing to say that God was capable of suffering as a man?!”

Me: “He suffered”

Them: “Hold on, you’re saying that this God-man literally DIED?”

Me: “He suffered and was buried”

Them: “Wouldn’t that imply that he ceased to exist that point, that this Jesus was annihilated? What good is a dead God?”

Me: “He descended into Hell”

Them: “Wouldn’t that mean that Hell and evil had won and that death is the end of all things?”

Me: “On the third day, He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures”

Them: “If he’s alive where is he now?”

Me: “And ascended into heaven, And sits at the right hand of the Father”

Them: “so that’s it? He died, rose, and returned to heaven and left us to our own devices?”

Me: “He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead”

Them: “And after this judgment you expect to live with him forever?”

Me: “Whose kingdom shall have no end.”

Them: “Ok, so the Father is God and Jesus is God, but don’t Christian believe in a Trinity?”

Me: “And I believe in the Holy Ghost”

Them: “So what is that? Like some cosmic force?”

Me: “The Lord, the Giver of Life”

Them: “How does he fit in with the Father and Son?”

Me: “He proceeds from the Father and the Son.”

Them: “Does that make him a lesser deity than the Father and Son?”

Me: “Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified”

Them: “Apart from giving life, has he been at work in other ways in the world?

Me: “who spake by the prophets”

Them: “Ok, but that was all in the past. Does he actively work in the present?”

Me: “And I believe one Catholic and Apostolic Church”

Them: “I see. So he forms and guides the Church. But If Jesus is the one who died for our sins how does the Spirit work, if at all, in salvation?”

Me: “I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins”

Them: “Ah, so the Spirit applies the work of Jesus through the ministry of the Church. Forgiveness is good, but is that the end, the final hope of salvation?”

Me: “I look for the Resurrection of the dead: And the Life of the world to come.

Them: “That does sound kind of glorious.”

Me: “Amen.”

Ugh. This thread might’ve had fewer typos if I hadn’t been driving down the road when I hammered it out. But then again, probably not.