My Christian Beliefs

[RedDragon94]

My beliefs

I believe that there is a God. He may not have created the world in six literal 24 hour-day periods, but he did create the process by which the world came into being. I do believe he (God) is holy.

I believe Jesus was God's sole incarnation. That he was a perfect human being that submitted to God the Father, and that he was God the Son. I believe he died the death we deserve on the cross, but he rose from the dead three days later.

I believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity that lives inside of all who decide to believe in Jesus for salvation. I believe the Holy Spirit is able to teach Christians truth even without a Bible.

I believe the Bible was inspired by God and written by man. I don't think it's inerrant but I do believe it's infallible. Some things matter more than others.

I ultimately believe that Jesus is God, but people don't necessarily need an experience with Christianity in order to experience Christ.

I believe all who God wants to save will come to him through faith in Jesus. I believe that salvation is through faith in Jesus and repentance from sin. I do not believe that repentance is a list of things to avoid.

I believe every day Christians are to hold on to Jesus as their standard, seeking to emulate him. I believe that culture can sometimes be right about how to interpret Jesus' message.

I believe that ultimately salvation is completed at the point of death for the believer. I do not believe that death is defeat, instead it is victory.

I believe that the Church is the Bride of Christ, and like her Lord remains invisible for the time being. But I believe that the saints will be revealed at the last day. I do not believe a specific Church is the Bride of Christ, instead I believe that there are some in every denomination.

Ultimately, God's plan has always been for people to respond in faith to him and to obey him. I believe the Old Testament must be interpreted by the New.

I believe Jesus is coming back to recreate the world. I believe he will judge the hearts of men and bring those who are his into his kingdom. I believe the kingdom of heaven will never end.

I believe the kingdom of heaven cannot be defeated.

Questions? Comments?

 

[pearl]

Nicely put, RedDragon

In the First Letter of John. In chapter 4, verse 8 and again in verse 16, we read that "God is love," I doesn't just say God loves, but that God IS love, the reason for existence at all. Agape is a purely other-directed love, a love that seeks no response and demands no return, a love centered totally on the beloved. God's self gift.
We differ on the reason for the Incarnation in that I do not believe Jesus to be a sin offering. But that Jesus is God's love made visible, God 'pitched his tent' among us.

In the Acts of the Apostles, by the Evangelist Luke, there is an account of the execution in Jerusalem of the first Christian martyr, the Hellenist Stephen. Immediately after the condemnation - just before his own death - he had a vision: "Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand. ' I can see heaven thrown open', he said, 'and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." Here Father, Son and Holy Spirit are mentioned together, or - as Luke puts it - God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. the Holy Spirit is at his side, in Stephen himself. The invisible force and power proceeding from God fills him entirely and thus opens his eyes: in the Spirit, heaven is shown to him.
Jews who are faithful in their own covenant with God are saved.

More than a list of things to avoid I think we repent for who we have become.

I think as far as Hebrew Scriptures are concerned, we need to appreciate them for their own validity before we understand them in the light of Christ.

The Kingdom was inaugurated by Jesus, the now of the kingdom, but is still to come, the not yet, when only God knows. If Jesus is to recreate the world, then I think you speak of transformation, and not destruction.

 

[Deidre]

Oh, I love how you worded this! I feel much the same way. I don't feel really like I follow a ''religion,'' honestly...but follow Jesus, and that faith should be our own individual experiences. The Bible can offer backstories, but it's important and relevant that we have our own personal experiences to share.