Statement of Faith for
The First Church of Christ, Theriomorph

This we believe:

1. The Nicene Creed. Read it, know it, live it.
2.
  • It is one of the ineffable mysteries of faith that Jesus Christ, our Savior, was and is 100% human and 100% lion-morph and 100% lamb-morph, all three at the same time, fully and without confusion. It was necessary for God to send His son to Earth in the form of a human, so as to walk among men as their equal and show them the way. But just as God's nature contains multiple aspects (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost), so does Christ's: the flawed, "fallen" form of a human, the courageous aspect of the lion, and the sacrificial shape of the lamb. Christ is all three at once. The understanding of this idea points us both upwards, to a greater comprehension of the larger Trinity of God, and downwards to a respect for the triple nature -- body, mind, and soul -- of ourselves. Just as Christ limited himself to a man's shape yet rose above that imperfect nature, so too can we, with His help, transcend our human nature.
    • 3. God Himself is beyond conventional species classifications -- or, equivalently, He is all species at the same time. To interpret the Scriptural passage about how we were created "in His image" as having anything to do with temporal qualities such as appearance, is both erroneous and heretical. The Bible testifies to this Truth in 1 Corinthians 9:22 ("I am... all things to all men"), and doubtless other passages as well.
    4. In the beginning, God's Creation was completely harmonious; all of its components were in perfect balance. Thus, the blessings of intelligence, speech, and manipulatory appendages were enjoyed by all living things. The Bible testifies to this Truth in Genesis 3 (the talking serpent), Numbers 22 (the tale of Balaam's ass), Ecclesiastes 3:19 ("For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts... so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast" documents the ecosphere's initial harmony), both 2 Samuel 23:20 and 1 Chronicles 11:22 (the "lionlike men of Moab"), and doubtless other passages as well.
    5. When Adam and Eve broke faith with God by disobeying Him, the perfection of God's Creation was lost. Whereas all creatures had formerly possessed a harmonious blending of 'human' and 'animal' nature, that harmony was lost. In every creature, one of those natures came to dominance. Humans' current form, like every other species' current form, is actually a degenerated version of the Perfect (anthropomorphic) Body. The Bible testifies to this Truth in Genesis 3:14 ("upon thy belly shalt thou go" documents the serpent's loss of anthropomorphic qualities, i.e. its legs), 1 Corinthians 15:39 ("All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts" documents how the harmony of all life was sundered after the Fall), and doubtless other passages as well.
    6. God being perfectly just, it's only logical that He would allow us to heal the wounds all Creation has suffered from since the Fall, if we only can. In His mercy, He has granted us the opportunity to fix the problem ourselves, by understanding and manipulating the natural laws of His Cosmos. It is God's will that we learn enough about biology and such that we can transmute people into 'morphs, thereby mending the original error we ourselves are responsible for. The Bible testifies to this Truth in Genesis 1:28 (in which Adam is commanded to "subdue" the Earth and granted "dominion... over every living thing"), and doubtless other passages as well.
    7. The doctrine of 'Biblical literalism' is a heresy. Although the Bible is of course Divinely inspired, we must never forget that it was written by fallible humans, rather than being produced by a direct act (or acts) of God. But even if one takes the position that Divine inspiration trumps human imperfection, a 'literalist' position implicitly denies, not only that God was (and is!) bright enough to use metaphors, but also that humans in general (including the people He inspired to write the Bible) are bright enough to understand metaphors. By denying the full extent of God's wisdom, 'literalists' do a grievous injustice to both God and the Bible's Divinely-inspired human authors. The Bible testifies to this Truth in 2 Corinthians 3:6 (God makes us "able ministers... not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life"), and doubtless other passages as well.
    8. While the Bible is not necessarily a bastion of literal, temporal Truth, it most certainly is a font of spiritual Truth. Our fellow Christians are strongly encouraged to quote from the Bible, liberally, pretty much any time one of its numberless spiritual Truths are appropriate to the situation at hand. The Bible assures us this is so in 2 Timothy 3:16 ("All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness"), and doubtless other passages as well.
    9. While it is perfectly natural that a person might feel greater affinity for one species than all others, we must never forget that all species are children of God, and therefore are, in some sense, equally worthy of our concern and attention.
    10. Come the End Times, when the dead are resurrected, we will all find ourselves in new bodies. These bodies being perfect, they will of course all be anthropomorphic. The Bible testifies to this Truth in 1 Corinthians 15:52 ("In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump... the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."), and doubtless other passages as well.
    11. God Moves In Mysterious Ways. God is categorically beyond any mortal human's comprehension; all that is needful is that we trust God to do what is right, no matter that our limited, human, point of view may sometimes make God's actions appear to be senseless, unjust, immoral, harmful, or otherwise undesirable. For further details and explanation, consult the book of Job.

    All this do we believe.

    Praise Christ the Savior!
    Praise the Lord!
    Amen!