Statement of Faith

I'm sure many of my readers are familiar with churches and other ministries who have a "Statement of Faith" or a "What We Believe" section on their website. These sections are very useful for getting an idea of where these ministries are coming from and the sort of teaching or practices one can expect to find within them. I believe it is fair for me to offer my readers the same courtesy so they may know what to expect as I offer my personal observations.

I offer this statement of faith with the understanding that I am a fallible human being; I often don't live up to these standards of faith and practice (nobody does) but nonetheless, these are a framework for what I am striving to achieve and all of us will one day enjoy when we finally see Him as He is.

I wish to keep this (somewhat) brief. I am going to stick to essentials and leave room for discussion in future posts. So, here we go...

THE WORD OF GOD
I hold that the volume of books contained within the Holy Bible is the Word of God preserved for us today just as He intended. The original manuscripts are without error and although they have been physically lost to time, they have been faithfully reproduced and translated so we may, with certainty, know the mind of God in all matters of doctrine, faith and practice.

The Scriptures, all 66 books of the Bible, are a cohesive and understandable volume which deserves our full attention so we may learn the mind of our Creator, understand His purpose for His creation and ultimately comply with Him.

GOD
God is the eternal Creator of all that exists. He Himself is not created; He has always been and will always be. He is transcendent, meaning He exists both in and beyond creation. He is not dependent on creation nor our understanding; rather the opposite. We, His creation, are fully dependent on Him regardless of our limited understanding.

God has uniquely expressed Himself in three distinct persons in a union we refer to as the Trinity. He is One yet He is Three. This is the toughest part of grasping who God is and the subject of much debate. Fortunately, it is not necessary for us to understand this but simply to accept by faith who He is. The three persons of the Trinity are:

GOD THE FATHER
God the Father is the Holy Sovereign of all there is. He is eternal and transcendent. He is holy and is to be regarded as such. He will not tolerate anything that usurps His position as sovereign. Yet, He is loving and desires a close relationship with His creation.

GOD THE SON
God the Son is the One by and through whom all has been created. Like the Father, He has always been and will always be. He ultimately came to this earth in the person of Jesus Christ to atone for our sins and is now seated at the right hand (the position of power) of God. 

GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is a person, not an "it". He is the agent who "convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgement". He is the One who comforts and teaches. He gives power to believers to live godly lives which are pleasing to the Father. 

JESUS CHRIST
As stated above, Jesus Christ is the physical manifestation of the eternal Son of God. Jesus was conceived by the Spirit within the virgin, Mary. Therefore, He is 100% human and 100% divine. He led a sinless life but died a sinner's death by being crucified. Therefore, He took upon Himself the sin and judgement we deserve. He then rose bodily from the grave assuring us that our sins are paid for and that we too will be resurrected. He will return to establish His kingdom upon the earth.

CREATION
God created the world around us. The first chapters of Genesis tell us that everything that was created was good. I hold a literal interpretation of the biblical account of creation: the earth and everything on it or around it was created in six literal days.

MAN
The Genesis account tells us the first man, Adam was created by God physically complete. The Bible knows nothing about lower life forms evolving into man. The first woman, Eve, was created as a companion not to be lorded over but to complement the man's role in creation. They are the parents of the entire human race. Unfortunately, both Adam and Eve fell into sin and passed sin on to us, their descendants.

SIN
Sin entered the world through our first parents, Adam and Eve. As promised, with sin came death. Sin is any thought, deed or attitude that usurps God's sovereignty or violates His created order. 

MAN'S STATUS
Because of original sin, all humans are born sinners and worthy of judgement and condemnation. Our sin separates us from God. As such, man is unable to redeem himself by righteous works or any other form of penitence.

GOD'S GIFT OF SALVATION
Because of His mercy, God has provided sinful man with the means of salvation from judgement through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. He took our sins upon Himself when He was crucified. Our salvation is not of ourselves but completely from Him. It is a gift. A gift which must be received by faith. There is NO other means of standing justified before God.

HEAVEN AND HELL
Heaven and Hell are literal places.

Heaven is the realm of God where angels exalt Him. Heaven is the eternal home of all who have believed on Him for forgiveness of sin and restoration to fellowship.

Hell, (my least favorite subject) is an eternal place of torment which, according to Matthew 25:41, was "prepared for the devil and his angels". However, all who reject God will be consigned to Hell and consciously experience torment for eternity away from His presence. The good news (Gospel) is God has offered His Son up for us so we can avoid such a horrible fate!

***

There is no way to do justice to each of these topics within the brief amount of writing I have done. I hope it is evident that these statements aren't meant to be exhaustive but are offered as a thumbnail sketch designed to encourage more fulfilling discussions. So, I'll leave you with this for now.

Blessings to all.

In Him, 
Arnold.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:10-14 BSB Welcome to my latest blog. Back in 2022, I began  Another Rider's Perspective , a blog about motorcycle riding and how it intersects with my life of faith. Included in that blog is my testimony which begins  here . It was supposed to be a simple testimony but as I began recounting how God's faithfulness formed and shaped me, it became apparent this was not going to be a simple post. I
Read more

An Unpleasant Devotional

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  Hebrews 12:11 NKJV Being chastened by the Lord is not a pleasant experience. Therefore, a devotional about His chastening isn't pleasant. However, if we are walking with Him, we know the unpleasantness of being chastened; whether we've recently stayed from the path or He has been dealing with us for years over certain issues, the Lord is going to reprove us as His children. I have recently been reading the book of Jeremiah; it has been likened to an intervention where an individual who is on a path of destruction is being confronted by family or friends who see the train wreck his life has become. The whole point of an intervention is to encourage the one being confronted to repent, to make an about face in his thinking and to begin seeking help. The book of Jeremiah is an intervention by God confronting
Read more

The Asbury Revival

Some of my readers may remember an event that occurred about this time last year known as the  Asbury Revival . In short, it was a perceived movement of God that began at the end of morning chapel services when students from Asbury University in Kentucky spontaneously remained in the auditorium afterwards to pray and worship. It ended up lasting about two weeks and was attended by upwards of 70,000 visitors from around the world. This event was hailed as an awakening of sorts, a shot in the arm, if you will, for American churches, especially as it pertained to young believers. I don't care to get into details about this event or even critique it but there are a couple things this brings to mind as it has to do with revival in our personal walks. First, since the latter half of the 20th century, we in American Christendom have intertwined spiritual revival with political revival. I've heard many express hope that the Asbury Revival would wake up the young generation and spar
Read more