What I Believe

Summary of present understandings. I believe . . .

1. In the word by word inspiration and divine authority of the holy scriptures in all matters of faith, life, and practice.
   1. and my responsibility to believe, study, meditate on—but most importantly, to obey and to do—what God has revealed in His word.
2. In one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which truth humbles my mental ability to grasp Him, and hints to me of the centrality of community and unity in His nature.
   1. and my privilege to respond to His love and forgiveness, and to worship and glorify God in spirit and in truth, with all who believe.
3. In the Lord Jesus Christ as true God and true man. His sinless humanity; preplanned, vicarious death; bodily resurrection; present advocacy; and his personal, imminent, bodily, visible, return for His Church.
   1. and my responsibility to yield to Him as Head of the Church, and as the rightful owner of my life and all that I have.
4. That the Holy Spirit regenerates with eternal life and personally indwells every believer upon their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation from sin.
   1. and my responsibility not to quench or grieve the Holy Spirit and to be led by, filled with, and walk in the Holy Spirit
5. That man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam all men fell into sin, resulting in complete and universal separation from God. Apart from Jesus Christ all mankind is hopelessly lost.
   1. And my responsibility to meditate and explore the depth and height of God’s grace to me, making me humble, teachable, and merciful.
   2. Further, my responsibility to engage in the ministry of reconciliation, proclaiming the gospel and continuing in discipleship together with His followers.
6. Sin is anything contrary to the nature of God. God is not responsible for sin, all men are guilty of committing sin. God has declared the wages, result, and penalty for sin to be death. Sin is always destructive.
   1. And my responsibility to walk in the light with God, and to be open and honest about my failures and sins with Him always.
   2. Further, my responsibility to come alongside those who struggle with sin, encouraging them in sinning no more and instead, walking in newness of life, growing in the fruits of the Spirit.
7. Salvation is a free gift received by faith placed solely in Jesus Christ, who loved me, died, shedding His blood, in substitutionary sacrifice for my sin, and rose again the third day.
   1. And my responsibility to freely share the gospel with others, and to love the lost with as little measure of personal cost as He did me.
8. That the universal Church is the Body and Bride of Jesus Christ, to which we are added by the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation, and consists of all believers in Jesus Christ.
   1. And my responsibility to accept all those whom my Saviour has accepted, to practice unity and love in all my relationships with believers.
9. That the local church is simply the saints in a local area, the locally visible Body of Christ, of whom our Savior is the Head.
   1. And my responsibility to gather together to provoke one another to love and good works, to be patient with each other and remain teachable ourselves, and to encourage one another as joined disciples of our Lord in a dying, hostile world.
10. In the bodily resurrection of the just and unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved, and the everlasting punishment of the lost.
    1. And my responsibility to forgive those who hate me, instead committing judgment to God, and to warn the wicked, unjust, and lost of God’s certain judgment that they may turn and find forgiveness.
11. That in regards to future events, I tend towards a pre-millenial, pre-tribulational rapture, with Our Lord’s thousand year literal reign from Israel over the whole earth, a final testing, and then the great judgement, a new heaven and a new earth.
    1. “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye (me) to be in all holy conversation and Godliness.” -II Peter 3:11

However, concerning future events, let me add:

God reveals enough for our comfort and instruction, but does not reveal the future with a sufficient clarity that warrants dogmatism. God’s people have almost always erred as recorded in scripture concerning God’s plans, with attending great harm and confusion. I will not defend, debate, or promote these views, with the exception that I believe in the personal, imminent return of our Lord.