Christians face very dangerous attacks to truth. At the risk of stating the obvious, I close the series on faith's foundations by presenting truths core to Christian faith.
The Apostle's Creed affirms:
"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; on the third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, one holy catholic* church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting."
The Five Solas of the Reformation were five doctrines for which many believers were slain as they separated themselves from the Roman Catholic Church and came to be known as Protestants.
[* The Roman Catholic Church should be distinguished from the catholic church, or single universal church, comprised by all who belong to Christ.]
Sola Scriptura — Authority of Scripture Alone: The Scriptures are the inerrant and infallible Word of God, revealing His Person, precepts, and promises to mankind. They are the first and the final authority for matters of faith and truth.
Solo Deo Gloria! — For God's Glory Alone: God is sovereign over every aspect of the believer's life. The Westminster Shorter Catechism declares, "What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." All of life is to be lived under the Lordship of Christ, to the glory of God, as man's joy.
Sola Christo! — By Christ Alone: Christ is the sole mediator between God and man. Salvation is by Christ's work alone, through His shed blood, finished at Calvary.
Sola Gratia — Salvation by Grace Alone: Salvation is by grace through faith. Our righteous standing before God is imputed by grace as God's gift to us, who are without self-merit.
Sola Fide — Justification by Faith Alone: Our justification is by faith alone, apart from human works, though our faith is not without works. Faith is our cooperative role in God's work.
I affirm the above beliefs as definitive of Christianity. I also believe:
Every person is made in the image of God, able to discern between moral right and wrong, and is separated from God by both the sin of Adam as well as by the individual’s own sin.
Those reconciled to God through Christ's blood are born into eternal life, and as members of Christ's Church comprise His physical Body on earth of which He is Head. His divine Holy Spirit lives within them and empowers God’s work in and through them. Believers celebrate this relationship in the Lord’s Table. Jesus also instructs believers to bear witness of faith in public baptism.
There is infinitely more to faith. This is my collection of what's foundational and indisputable. Would you add anything?
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2009, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Awesome my friend.
ReplyDeleteNothing to add except my agreement
ReplyDeletei would not add anything - i may be tempted to remove some 'stuff' though were i you! ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhenever we humans 'add' stuff to the Word of God we are inclined to make it as impure as we are, rather than increasing it's perfection or purity for those who come after us.
We all tend to place our own fallible interpretations on what God attempts to get through to each one of us in our efforts to understand and relate to others our 'teachings' of what we have learned of or about Him.
In sharing our own individual perceptions - or the perceptions others have determined them before we did - there exists a possibility that we may see how we imperfectly understand somethings by reasons of our own imperfections. We may come also to see how the Truth of His Spirit can be spread - if we are ever able to fully remove 'us' out of what He and the Spirit are attempting to make clear.
i believe it is incumbent upon all of us to recognise the following:
As a human being i, and all others, am part flesh and of the earth, part Spirit and of the Holy Spirit and all of 'me' is IN God, albeit an all but insignificant part of Him, having no greater part than anyone else.
That, like all others, i am made free to choose to live in this world and in the flesh, or to live in the Spirit and to be lead ONLY by the Spirit as did Jesus Christ.
That while this is my (our) 'free' choice it is by no means an easy one to ensure, in my 'normal' sense of being, that i can do it 100% of the time, nor yet 'perfectly' as i begin the journey.
I pray that through my Faith in God, and by reason of what His Son did here while on earth, i am able to improve the practice of living 100% in Christ-like obeyance of Our Father's Will, who has given life to all human beings, but in whom not all human beings choose to believe or who follow as 'perfectly' as they may wish/believe they do.
Only when we can perfectly follow His Will will we find heaven and our Eternal life.
Our life on earth is the way we are all to 'test' how well we are doing His Will. How well we can learn to surrender our 'human' will to His. In working through this life we may hopefully learn how to overcome our rebellion, sin and imperfections, being purified through His Holy Flame.
That is a very long and poorly worded way of saying we are to love God, love our neighbours as ourself and at ALL TIMES follow His Will over our own understandings.
If we let Him - if we truly seek Him - He will provide the Way we are to do so while allowing us to use our God-Given intelligence to determine what the Truth is for each one of us.
Sadly, it seems to me (although it is clearly in His Wisdom and control) many of us are deluded and lead astray by following the word of other humans above their own spirit's understanding, as it grows as of a little child, within each of us.
Apologies for the 'short' reply :-)
blove (blogger.com does not permit me to use my 'symbol' of the 'less than' arrow < and my initial B)
Dear lovewillbringustogether,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I don't view writing about the Word as adding to it, or I assure you I wouldn't do it. And while then entirety of the Word is authoritative, disagreement on how to apply or interpret it often becomes divisive.
My intent in stating my beliefs is to clarify which points of the faith I view as foundational in defining Christianity, and leaving all else as matters for individuals to sort out with the Lord.
Your statement "Only when we can perfectly follow His Will will we find heaven and our Eternal life" is one I find at odds with the belief "Justification by Faith Alone." Scripture says we are saved by faith apart from works (though not by faith that is without works), and if only those who perfectly follow the Lord's will go to heaven, I see it as a mighty lonely place.
If i might be able to modify your perspective (of my thought) just a tad...?
ReplyDeletei was NOT saying that we are justified by works any more than i would say Jesus was Justified only by dying on the cross or any of His Miracles.
What my thought was saying was actually that unless and until we are all able to perfectly follow the Will of Our Father in Heaven through the perfection Christ Himself showed us all 'down here' we are never going to be allowed to stay with Him in Heaven. Our Faith must be perfected before we 'go in' and when we have 'perfect' Faith we will follow Him Perfectly - there will be no 'choice' not to. (or, if we then freely choose not to follow Him perfectly, that is a Sin against the Holy Ghost and eternal damnation is the result of it).
One thing i can confidently state and the Word of Jesus confirms is that not everyone who casts out devils in His Name and believes on Him will enter Heaven... it ain't gonna be as crowded as up there as you seem to think Miss Anne. :-)
i would hope we meet there though none-the-less :-)
blove
The book of Revelation describes a crowded heaven, not of those who managed to perfectly follow the Lord's will, but of those who overcame the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Not all who call Jesus "Lord" will be there, but those who "confess Him Lord" by the testimony of their lives.
ReplyDelete