here is an alternate/working definition:

A creed is a profession of faith that aims to unify Christians in truth, but usually lists the reasons one group doesn't want to hang out with another...

creeds are practically more of a litmus test than a common confession

The Apostle's creed was written because the Non-Gnostics didn't want to hang out with the Gnostics.

I've never really had much use for Creeds and Confessions and Mottos and such, myself. I'm not against them, mind you -- I just never had much use for them.

If someone wants to know what I believe, they can ask me. If they want to know what I believe in a nutshell ... well, they can still just ask me. I'll tell them gladly =) If they tell me I believe something wrong-headed, I'll ask them what they mean and what it is, and how they know and such. Then I'll give it it's due consideration. There are some points I won't budge on, no matter what (there are infinite articulations of these few points, and each of those could be called a creed (or confession, or slogan, or whatever), but I don't care about the articulations, really).

Anyway, the point is, I don't care one way or another about creeds and such. I know people who know very important creeds and confessions very thoroughly and confess agreement with them and who have grown in holiness by the grace of God through their contemplation or repetition (or whatever) of them. I'm thrilled. I've also known people who seemed to know very important creeds and confessions very thoroughly and confess agreement with them, and who have at other times also demonstrated themselves to be such as "universalists" or "atheists" (did you know there's a group of people who call themselves "atheist Christians?" Some of them even adhere to the various creeds -- they just fiddle with the definitions.)

As for me, I've never been able to make them mean anything to me, really. I mean, I understand the formal content, and I'm cool with it, but it generally isn't how I would articulate what my Dad did for me. Also, I'm probably fairly juvenile with regards to certain things (I only have the vaguest and most formal understanding of what a "lord" is (being an American, and me being slow about such things) -- though we're working on it! -- so I don't really call him "Lord" much when we talk. I think it's the Next Big Thing we'll be working on. He surely is my Lord, but I don't really know what it means yet.)

I've had some creeds of my own over the years. I have some now, even. They're like security blankets: when the enemy comes to try to shoot me down, I put on the full Armor of God (tm) and then, on top of that, I put on the Cape of my Creeds, because creeds -- like scriptures as such -- are much easier than faith.

God gives me all that good stuff that protects me (shield, breastplate, belt, etc.). I provide myself with a cape (or others offer me some, and I pick out the ones that fit my armor nicely and are decorated to my taste) to help me feel more secure (and rather dashing ;). It's like a wrapper around my armor. So when I see other people with the same cape, I don't have to examine all their armor (which may be a different style), to know that we're both in the League of Heros. The problem is, sometimes a Villan puts on a cape too. Villans cannot put on the armor, because it's issued by The Man Upstairs, but they can put on the cape, because we give them out freely (public confession =). So sometimes there's this naked dude walking around with a cape. If I see enough of that, and if I forget what the cape is, I'll start trusting that the cape will protect me in battle, and forget to put on my armor first when I go out. Then, while we're at the clubhouse, someone comes in and laughs villanously, and we all stand up and protect ourselves with our capes, and bad things happen.

Ok, this has gone on long enough =) I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've been enjoying writing it!