What I believe.
I believe in the authority of Scripture as God's inspired Word to mankind.
Scripture is comprised of the sixty-six books (Old and New Testaments) in
the standard Protestant Canon and are infallible and inerrant in the original
writings and have been reliably and faithfully transmitted throughout the
ages and therefore are completely relevant and trustworthy to all areas to
which they speak. The essential message of Scripture is clear and understandable
to those who use the self-evident rules of literary interpretation. The Bible
is the highest authority for establishing practices and beliefs for every
Christian.
There is only one God who is self-existent, eternal, immutable, omniscient,
and omnipotent. The One eternal Being (God) exists as three distinct Persons;
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. God created the universe,
mankind and angels out of nothing; and nothing exists outside God’s sovereignty.
God is perfect and Holy; He is good and is the perfect standard of righteousness.
He can do no wrong.
Jesus is the eternal Son of God, the second Person in the Trinity who always
was, always is, and always will be. He voluntarily set aside some of His
divine attributes and became a man (taking upon Himself human flesh) through
the miraculous conception by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of
the virgin Mary. Jesus was both fully God and fully man uniting both natures
in one person forevermore. Jesus lived a sinless life and physically died
on the cross taking upon Himself the sins of the world. Jesus, on the third
day, rose physically from the dead and ascended into heaven where He is our
Mediator. No one can be reconciled to God unless it be through Jesus. Jesus
Christ will return physically and visibly to earth as King of kings. It will
be before Him on His throne that all men will be judged.
The Holy Spirit is the Third Person in the eternal and unchanging being of
God, who always has been, always is, and always will be in loving fellowship
and intimate relationship with God the Father and God the Son. His role in
the salvation plan is as a witness to Jesus Christ by wooing and drawing
man to God; His purpose always is to bring honor and glory to God’s Son,
Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit also is a sanctifier who comforts and empowers
Christians for godly service to the living God.
Man is created in God’s image who are comprised of both physical and spiritual
elements that function in an intrinsic unity. In the beginning God created
Adam and Eve who were morally innocent. With their free choice to disobey
God, sin, death and decay entered the world as God withheld some of His sustaining
and restraining power by necessity of that choice. (Fallen, sinful creatures
cannot live in a perfect sinless world; that would be contradictory.) Man,
through Adam, being separated from God, stands in need of a Redeemer to have
any hope of restored fellowship with God. All aspects of man are fallen,
though God enables man to have the ability to choose freely whether to serve
God or to not. But mere choice and man’s action is by no means sufficient,
only through Jesus is redemption possible; man cannot earn his or her salvation
nor atone for his or her own sins—this is intrinsically impossible because
of the absolute and perfect holiness of God.
Jesus died on the cross to provide a substitutionary atonement for mankind’s
sins. This is only possible because of who He is, God. Only an eternal Person
could effect the whole of creation throughout all time by His actions. We
are saved from God’s righteous judgment by His unmerited grace through the
gift of His Son, Jesus. We can only be saved from the wrath of God through
faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Those who are saved by faith in Christ will be resurrected to live with and
enjoy God forever in Heaven. Those who reject God will be eternally and consciously
separated from Him forever by being cast into hell along with the devil and
his angels.
The church is God's ordained institution with Christ as the head. The church
is composed of all those who recognize Jesus Christ for who He is and who
trust in Him alone for salvation. Believers are to corporately worship, administer
the sacraments and fellowship with one another. We are to support one another
for our spiritual growth and health and above all to evangelize the world.