Beliefs

We believe the Bible is the Word of God in written form. When we read it, we believe God is speaking directly to us. The writers were given their information through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that every word is from God, and therefore without error. This was done without losing the personality of the writers. The Bible includes the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, and gives us everything God wanted us to know from the creation of the heavens and earth in Genesis to the judgement and end of this present world in Revelation. It is therefore complete. This belief is listed first because the Word of God is the sole authority for our faith and practice.

2 Timothy 3:14-17, 1 Peter 1:22-25, 2 Peter 1:16-21, Psalm 119:89, 133, 160, John 17:17

We know at least two things about God by seeing His wonderful creation, namely that He exists, and that He is awesomely powerful. We learn much more from the Bible.
We learn that He is Spirit, that He is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in all His attributes. We will never know everything about God, but here are a few of His attributes found in Scripture:

• Absolute in His Holiness
• Life in Himself
• Eternal in His love
• Infinite in His wisdom and knowledge
• Infinite in His presence
• Infinite in His power

God exists eternally as one God, but in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This truth cannot be adequately comprehended, explained or illustrated, but it can be clearly taught from the Bible.

Genesis 1:1, 26, Exodus 3:14, Isaiah 6:3, 1 John 4:8, Isaiah 40:28, Luke 1:37, Psalm 139:1-18

Jesus Christ is God the Son. He exists with two distinct natures, God and man, but as one person. He is totally God. As such He possesses all of the attributes of God, being fully God in all aspects of His being. He is totally human. He was physically born of the virgin Mary. He was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit, therefore, having no human father, He is without a sin nature. This is another truth that cannot be adequately comprehended, explained or illustrated, but it can be clearly taught from the Bible. It is through faith in Jesus Christ that we can be saved – have eternal life. (See Salvation)

John 3:16, Luke 1:30-35, Hebrews 4:14-15, John 10:30, Romans 5:1, 6-9

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. He is not merely a “force” but a person with all the attributes of God, and is fully God in all aspects of His being. He was active in the creation of the world and He is active:

• In salvation and baptizing believers into the Church, which is Christ’s body
• In sealing believers in their salvation
• In enabling believers to grow spiritually
• In giving spiritual gifts to the church
• In filling believers so they may serve God
• In reproving the world of sin, righteousness and judgement
• In leading into all truth.

While we believe the Holy Spirit gives gifts to the Church and to every person who is a part of that Church, we believe that Paul’s clear instruction in I Corinthians 12-14 does not allow the practice of the gift of tongues in the church today.

Matthew 28:19, John 14:16-17, 26, John 16:13, Ephesians 1:13, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Ephesians 5:18, John 16:7-11

We believe wholeheartedly that God created the entire world in six literal days, then rested on the seventh day as recorded in the book of Genesis. This is crucial, since we know that sin entered into the world when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and death is the result of sin. Any form of evolution requires death before Adam, and therefore greatly harms the teaching of the whole Bible.

We believe that the ultimate creation was that of a single human race through Adam and Eve. Both man and woman were created in the image of God, which includes at least these things: a will, self-consciousness, a moral conscience, emotions, and ability to reason – in short, everything it means to be a person. God’s plan for the human race was clear from the beginning – He created humans as male and female – their chief end is to glorify God; and marriage is between one man and one woman as husband and wife.

Genesis 1, Genesis 2, Genesis 3

Sin is the transgression of God’s perfect law. We believe man was created in the image of God and was created as a sinless being in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan, the Devil, and chose to disobey God by eating of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This resulted in death not only for Adam and Eve, but death was passed on to all their descendants. Every person now has a sin nature, so we are sinners both by birth and practice. Sin is a falling short of God’s standard, distorting it, denying it, ignoring it.

We believe that sin brings not only physical death, but spiritual death, eternal separation from God as well. Because we are dead in sin, we are unable to respond to God without the work of the Holy Spirit, who can make us alive in Christ. Sin affects the whole of creation so that it groans and travails in pain also.

Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 5:12-19, Romans 8:20-22, Ephesians 2:1