Personal Statement of Faith
Original: October 2009
Updated: December 2010
I do not fall into any specific category or label of Christianity. The best way to describe me would probably be to refer to me as a: fundamentalist evangelical conservative anti-traditional amateur Bible scholar who does not hold to any particular denominational affiliation.
I hold that there exists a hierarchy of beliefs. There are primary beliefs – those which explain and construct the fundamental, undeniable elements of genuine, historical and Biblical Christianity. There are secondary beliefs – those which, while very important, do not constitute the basis of genuine, historical and Biblical Christianity and as such are able to be debated or denied without jeopardizing the reality of an individual’s standing before the Triune God. There also exist tertiary or background beliefs – those which hold no real bearing on an individual and are almost mere preferences.
Primary Beliefs
There exists one Triune God. He is holy, just, pure, perfect, loving, good, gracious, patient, etc. and is the first cause of the universe and everything contained within it. - Exodus 20:2-3; Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Peter 1:16; Deuteronomy 32:4; Exodus 24:6-7a
God the Father is the first member of the Triune God and holds the position as the first (highest) authority among the three equal members of the Triune God. - Deuteronomy 6:4; Luke 22:41-42; John 14:16, 26, 28
Jesus of Nazareth is the second member of the triune God and as such possesses the full character and authority of God. He came to earth approximately 2,000 years ago and lived a perfect, sinless life and then was executed by God the Father to make possible humanity’s reconciliation with God. Three days later, God the Father physically resurrected Jesus from death to prove that He had accepted Jesus’ substitutional death on the cross. - Deuteronomy 6:4; John 1:1-3, 14; Isaiah 53:5, 10; 1 Corinthians 15:4-8
The Holy Spirit is fully God and equal to God the Father and Jesus, making up the third member of the Triune God. - Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14
There are no other gods currently in existence, no other gods have ever existed and no other gods will ever exist. - Exodus 9:14; Deuteronomy 4:34-35
The Bible is infallible and completely without error in its original manuscript. It was written by the hands of human authors as divinely inspired and directed by God the Holy Spirit. - 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 2:20-21
Humanity is doomed to eternal judgment in hell due to inherent nature and individual choice to deliberately disobey God. - Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23
Secondary Beliefs
God created the universe and everything contained within it approximately 6,000 years ago (c. 4,000 BCE). Upon completion, the universe and everything within it was absolutely perfect, with no defects, death, pain, or suffering whatsoever. - Genesis 1:1, 31; John 1:1-3
There exist angels who follow the Triune God and obey his directions. - Nehemiah 9:6; Hebrews 1:6-7; Job 25:3
There exist angels who disobeyed the Triune God and deliberately chose to rebel against Him. These fallen angels are referred to as demons. - 2 Peter 2:4; Matthew 9:34
There exists one fallen angelic being known as Lucifer, the Devil, Satan, etc. who committed the first sin (disobedience against the Triune God) of pride and now leads the demonic hosts. Lucifer is temporarily allowed limited authority to do as he wishes (under strict individual, case-by-case grants from the Triune God - Job 1:6-12; Zechariah 3:1; Revelation 12:10; John 16:11) within the universe and blinds the understanding of the souls of all humanity (until such a time as God removes the spiritual blindness from an individual and works salvation / reconciliation in the individual’s life - 2 Corinthians 4:4). - 1 John 3:8; 1 Peter 5:8; Matthew 9:34
God created humanity to be the first (highest) created being by creating humanity in His own image (with a spirit). Each individual human is created with a body (physical, external housing), soul (the innermost part, the “real you”) and spirit (the portion of an individual possessing the ability to fellowship with God). - Genesis 1:26
An individual becomes fully human at the moment of conception with all of the rights and responsibilities granted any member of the human species without partiality. Murder is the intentional killing of a human being by another human being except when the killer is acting as an agent of a human government in conducting an execution of a condemned criminal (for a crime punishable by death), the killer is acting as an agent of a human government as a soldier partaking in defense of the human government or in wars of defense against another aggressive human government, or when the killer kills another human being in defense of the individual, the individual’s family or of another innocent individual who is too weak and/or defenseless to protect themselves. - Jeremiah 1:5; Psalms 139:13-16; Exodus 20:6; Exodus 21:22-25; Luke 1:15, 41, 44
Baptism is to be performed on an individual who has already made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus’ atoning work on the cross and of the individual’s ongoing repentance. - Acts 8:36-39
Baptism is to be done by immersion as the Greek word “baptismo” is the idea of a cloth being immersed in dye in order to change the color of the said cloth.
Baptism is symbolic of an individual’s previous acceptance of the substitutional death of Jesus on the cross as payment of the individual’s sin-debt and is not a means / part of salvation. - Acts 8:36-39; Acts 10:44-48; Luke 23:39-43
The flood mentioned in Genesis 6-9 was a literal event which was global (universal) in nature, encompassing the entire earth. - Genesis 7:17-24
The building of the Tower of Babel and subsequent, consequential dispersion of humanity (of Genesis 11) was a literal event. All ethnicities and languages are descendant from that singular event.
All individual Christians (believers in the Triune God and holders of all other primary beliefs listed within this document) should live in unity with one another as much as is possible. The only valid divisions between individual Christians or local churches and other individual Christians or local churches are in the primary beliefs listed within this document (denial of which would indicate that the individual or local church is not a genuine Christian / assembly of genuine Christians). - Romans 12:18
The Triune God grants spiritual gifts / enabling to individuals who have been saved / reconciled to Himself. - 1 Corinthians 12:4-7; Ephesians 4:7
Spiritual Gifts exist in two primary, broad categories: Functional Spiritual Gifts and Sign Spiritual Gifts. Sign Spiritual Gifts include the gift of tongues (languages), the gift of interpretation of tongues (languages), the gift of prophetic revelations from the Triune God, the gift of miracles & the gift of healing. Functional Spiritual Gifts include all other Spiritual Gifts, including the following: prophecy (proclaiming the word of the Triune God, not new revelation), exhortation (encouragement), faith, knowledge, discernment, teaching, service, generosity, mercy, administration, etc. - Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12-14; Ephesians 4:11-16
Spiritual Gifts encompass many sub-categories and every believer in the Triune God (Christian) will possess every functional spiritual gift to greater or lesser degrees. Every Christian will not necessarily possess all or even any of the Sign Spiritual Gifts. - Ephesians 4:11-16
It is the duty of every Christian to join a local assembly of Christians (church) and actively serve within that church. - Ephesians 4:11-16
Local churches are to be organized groups of Christians which meet regularly; observe the sacraments on a regular basis; conduct an organized collection and distribution of funds and services among those in need, both within the local church and within the surrounding community without partiality; and are led by competent, faithful, grounded Christian men. Local churches exist for the building up, comforting, strengthening and training of individual Christians. There should not exist a global hierarchy of local churches or leaders as each local church and leader are held accountable not to other individual Christians but to the Triune God Himself. - Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 4:32-35; James 1:27; Matthew 25:34-40; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:10-16; Titus 2:1-8
It is the duty of every genuine individual Christian to give of their money, time, talents and energy (first to the local church that that individual is a member of and then to other local churches, organizations and/or ministries as the individual Christian may be led to give by the Triune God) as the Triune God is the owner of all that an individual Christian possesses and the individual Christian is merely a manager / steward of the resources owned by the Triune God. The Triune God has not set any universal amount or percentage of an individual Christian’s money, time, talents or energy that must be returned to Him. Instead, the Triune God requires that all genuine Christians give cheerfully, sacrificially and freely of their money, time, talents and energy. - 2 Corinthians 9:6-12; Romans 12:1-2
Local Churches and individual Christians are responsible primarily to the Triune God and then to human governments (in as much as the local human government does not issue any decrees, laws or commands contrary to what is taught in the Bible – any such decrees, laws or commands are superseded by the Bible and the local church and individual Christian must disobey such decrees, laws or commands while upholding any decrees, laws or commands not contrary to the content of the Bible). - Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17; Proverbs 8:15-16
Human Governments are provided by the Triune God and are subservient to Him. The Triune God has provided human governments in order to provide for the safety of the individuals under its authority; to provide order by enacting and enforcing necessary civil decrees, laws and commands; and to punish criminals with penalties fitting the crimes up to and including execution. - Romans 13:1, 4
Tertiary Beliefs
The Triune God chose specific individuals, before He began to create the universe, to intervene in their lives and remove the blinding of their souls in order to bring them into a right relationship with Him. - Ephesians 1:4, 5, 11; Jeremiah 1:5; Romans 8:29-31
Use of any reasonably accurate translation of the Bible from the original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek) into the native language of an individual is equally acceptable. A list of reasonably accurate translations of the Bible into English as of November 2010 includes but is not limited to the following: the New American Standard Bible, the English Standard Version, the New International Version, the New English Translation, the Amplified Bible, the King James Version, the New King James Version and the Geneva Bible.
