Why?

I have grown somewhat dissatisfied with the creed's that are recited each Sunday in Church. It isn't so much that I disagree with them (at least not substantially), but that I find them somewhat lacking. I get the feeling that a lot of time and effort went into making those creeds, and specifically making them so that they used many words to say as little as possible, and preferably say nothing that would get any feathers ruffled. I realize that wars and executions took place over the wording of those creeds, but that just shows why it was that people were so careful to not ruffle any feathers.

I hope that we are past the days of routine executions for differences in theological opinion, and hopefully also past the days of starting flame wars on the internet over the same such issues. What I want to do is start exploring the various Christian Creeds and examine what the purpose of each one is, what it's strengths are, what it's weaknesses are. I want to eventually be able to come up with a different creed which describes what I believe, or at least pick a creed that I will be satisfied with. I welcome contributions and suggestions, provided they are submitted with respect. I reserve the right to delete any comment on any post.

Please bear in mind, as you read these posts, that I am, by no means, a trained student of creeds. I have no formal theological, historical or even language training. If I have made a mistake in my analysis of a creed, or if I have failed to take all of the possible interpretations into account, it is probably because I am unused to doing this sort of thing. Please feel free to correct me in a constructive manner.

At the risk of making this too long, I should also mention that the dates of the post mean very little. They will only be used to keep everything in a reasonable order.