spiritual discussionsThis is the place at AW for mamas to learn about all different religions and beliefs, to ask questions, to give answers- all done with respect! if you don't have anything nice to say here- don't say anything at all.
A statemwnt of beliefs for one church I had considered
Calvary Chapel Statement of Faith
The Calvary Chapel Church has been formed as a fellowship of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Our supreme desire is to know Christ and be conformed into His image by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We are not a denominational church, nor are we opposed to denominations as such, only their over-emphasis of doctrinal differences that have led to the division of the body of Christ.
We Believe that the only true basis of Christian fellowship is His (Agape) love, which is greater than any differences we possess and without which we have no right to claim ourselves Christians.
We Believe that the worship of God should be Spiritual.
Therefore: We remain flexible and yielded to the Holy Spirit to direct our worship.
We Believe that the worship of God should be Inspirational.
Therefore: We give a great place to music in our worship.
We Believe that the worship of God should be Intelligent.
Therefore: Our services are designed with great emphasis upon teaching of the Word of God that He might instruct us how He should be worshipped.
We Believe that the worship of God is Fruitful.
Therefore: We look for His Love in our lives as the supreme manifestation that we have truly been worshipping Him.
We Believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, without error and the only authority for faith and life.
We Believe in one God, existing in three persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We Believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His glory.
We Believe that mankind is sinful, at war with God, deserving penalty.
We Believe that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for the sin of mankind by dying on the cross, and that He was physically raised from the dead.
We Believe that by grace we are saved through faith in Christ's death on the Cross, and this salvation is the gift of God.
We Believe that the Holy Spirit lives in the believer of Christ, also the baptism of the Holy Spirit is available in the believer.
We Believe in the soon return of Jesus Christ, the gathering of all believers, and the establishment of His kingdom on earth.
We Believe in the resurrection of the living and the dead to eternity, the judgment seat of Christ, with believers heaven bound and non-believers lost to eternal penalty in hell.
A couple of the statements worry me.
A. We are "at war" with God sounds so combative as a description for a relationship with God. How do you view this staemtent?
B. Eternal penalty in hell also sounds harsh to me, but maybe I'm wrong. Does anyone have thoughts about this??
our cc has the same statement on the back of the bulletin *except* it stops after the God is fruitful part. the "at war" and "penalty in hell" parts of that statement concern me as well. as i am learning it, hell is not supposed to be some fiery pit but the definition of eternal life cut off from God.
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How Time Flies ~ Luna Blue is Two!
Tree hugging, vegetarian, breastfeeding, cloth-diapering, home schooling, drum playing Step-Mama to my sweet Nico Sage and Mama to my curly Kaya Jade and wee Luna Blue. Lovin my hottie ~ J. Blogging From the Boonies My Etsy Shop
We Believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, without error and the only authority for faith and life.
What about this statement? I was thinking that the "inspired" word of God would mean that it was from God but not necessarily exact, yk? but the next portion states "without error". Am I nitpicking too much? I am just not sure that the bible is without error....hmmm. Color me chronically confused!
Well, Scripture says that we are enemies of God before we are saved, but once we are His, we are His children. I do not see Scriptural support for the idea that we're at "war" with God. We are at war wit the flesh - THAT is Biblical - and at war with the enemy (Satan) but not with God.
As for hell, that is Biblical. We see teachings regarding it at Luke 16 (the rich man and Lazarus), and Revelation 14:9-11 has some pretty clear words about what it is like. The verses that speak of hell as being a "fire" are in the Luke 16 and Rev. 14 passages as well as Revelation 19:3, Revelation 20:10, matthew 25:41, Mark 9:43, Mark 9:48.
God is a just God. He has given man the choice between a life with Him or a life without Him. Hell is the end result of the choice to live without Him. While it's not a happy thing to think about, it's Biblical and the truth. Romans 6:23 says "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." So while sin leads to death (and hell is called the second death), God offers us salvation and freedom from death.
HTH!
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Ann
SAHM to 4 beautiful children Lauren ('90), Nicole ('92), Robert ('00) and Joanna ('02) and wife to Bob for 23 years.
I don't know why, but there has to be a reason that I am always thinking about religion/spirituality. It seems so important to me, but I still haven't found that place where I feel I belong 100%. Maybe I'm being too picky?
We Believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, without error and the only authority for faith and life.
What about this statement? I was thinking that the "inspired" word of God would mean that it was from God but not necessarily exact, yk? but the next portion states "without error". Am I nitpicking too much? I am just not sure that the bible is without error....hmmm. Color me chronically confused!
What most Christian churches believe is that the Bible is the inspired Word of God - meaning that God wrote the Bible through the men who penned the words. The verse that this comes from is 2 Timothy 3:16 that says "All Scripture is inspired by God..." and "inspired" means "God breathed". So God had a direct hand in writing the words that we have as our Scripture and we can be assured that what we have has been proven to be of God.
It is without error in the original "autographs" or the original copies and even through all of the past years of translations and hand-copying manuscripts, there has still been nothing that has been compromised in the Word we have today. While there are some small issues with words and phrasing here and there, there are no doctrines or truths that have changed since the earliest works we have. I'm actually reading a book on the Bible and the history of the translations and it's very interesting reading. It's neat to know just how much God has preserved His Word for us!
I don't know why, but there has to be a reason that I am always thinking about religion/spirituality. It seems so important to me, but I still haven't found that place where I feel I belong 100%. Maybe I'm being too picky?
It's OK to question stuff and I know that there are answers to many of the questions people have. I also know that some of it is not for us to understand in this world and we'll have answers in the next.
Ann got here before me, so I'll just add a little.
First--ask questions! It's OK! Set up a meeting with the pastor or someone in the church, and ask what those statements mean. Get their view (I've never seen "at war with God" in a statement of belief, and I'd want to know what they meant by it) You don't have to go in thinking you have to debate, so you have to have a lot of answers. Just go in ready to listen, ask clarifying questions. Make sure you repeat what they say so that you have a good understanding of what they mean, even if you're still not sure you agree.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ~Meeshi~
as i am learning it, hell is not supposed to be some fiery pit but the definition of eternal life cut off from God.
I agree with Ann that there are some parts in the Bible that may point to it being literal fire--but I agree with Meeshi. What is important for ME to understand is that it's an eternity without God--without his presence.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mom2avasteph
What about this statement? I was thinking that the "inspired" word of God would mean that it was from God but not necessarily exact, yk? but the next portion states "without error". Am I nitpicking too much? I am just not sure that the bible is without error....hmmm. Color me chronically confused!
When we think of "inspired", we tend to think of a starting point, right? Like if I write a song that is inspired by a different musician, it means that the song is mine, but I got some ideas from a different musician. That's what makes it a little confusing to understand I think.
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Heather
Birthday boy eating birthday pancakes. Happy 7th to Erik! My blog
Ann got here before me, so I'll just add a little.
First--ask questions! It's OK! Set up a meeting with the pastor or someone in the church, and ask what those statements mean. Get their view (I've never seen "at war with God" in a statement of belief, and I'd want to know what they meant by it) You don't have to go in thinking you have to debate, so you have to have a lot of answers. Just go in ready to listen, ask clarifying questions. Make sure you repeat what they say so that you have a good understanding of what they mean, even if you're still not sure you agree.
I agree with Ann that there are some parts in the Bible that may point to it being literal fire--but I agree with Meeshi. What is important for ME to understand is that it's an eternity without God--without his presence.
When we think of "inspired", we tend to think of a starting point, right? Like if I write a song that is inspired by a different musician, it means that the song is mine, but I got some ideas from a different musician. That's what makes it a little confusing to understand I think.
I'm so thankful for the answers I am receiving- it really helps me to clarify things!
So, do some Christians believe that the Bible is the infalliable word of God and others think of it more loosely? Or am I missing the mark altogether? Can someone be a Christian and believe in the Bible as a translated word of God, but not an exact translation, and what type of Christian would that be?
How's that for a dumb question!? (baby steps with me!)
So, do some Christians believe that the Bible is the infalliable word of God and others think of it more loosely? Or am I missing the mark altogether?
yes.
depends.
There is a spectrum among Christians on accuracy of the bible that goes from 100% exact and occurred exactly as written (including literal 6 days of creation) to allegorical and parable on the other end.
Quote:
Can someone be a Christian and believe in the Bible as a translated word of God, but not an exact translation, and what type of Christian would that be?
How's that for a dumb question!? (baby steps with me!
depends on who is doing the defining. There are many different types of Christians and for as many types of Christians there are, there are as many definitions of whether one is or is not a Christian.
I am CERTAIN that there are Christians (even on this board) who believe that one cannot be a Christian unless they believe each and every word in the bible to be literal truth. There are Christians who believe otherwise.
I don't think that it matters whether other Christians believe that you have the right to that title based upon your beliefs nearly as much as it matters whether YOU believe that you are Christian. You aren't living your life for their acceptance or approval.
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Rebecca, wife and mother
Happy Holidays
(and it was the best I could do - I gave it three different photoshoots)
I'm so thankful for the answers I am receiving- it really helps me to clarify things!
So, do some Christians believe that the Bible is the infalliable word of God and others think of it more loosely? Or am I missing the mark altogether? Can someone be a Christian and believe in the Bible as a translated word of God, but not an exact translation, and what type of Christian would that be?
How's that for a dumb question!? (baby steps with me!)
Well, I'll give you my thoughts.
The Bible is not an exact translation of the original "autographs" but are pretty darned close. We have to remember that even just translating one language to another cannot result in an exact translation because words and phrases mean different things to different languages. However, we can have full assurance that what is in the Scriptures we have is God's Word and it is true. The few things that have changed from the originals in no way diminish the fact that we can have faith in what it says.
Yes, there are believers who don't believe that the Bible is true and that there are a lot of "stories" instead of it all being true but to me, when you question parts of what it says, how can you believe any of it? I mean, if we say that the world-wide flood didn't happen, then how can we know for sure that Jesus really died and rose again? If Jesus didn't really rise from the dead, then the entire basis of our faith is wrong - and there's no reason to be a Christian. So while I don't always understand everything in the Scriptures, I do believe that what is told as fact is fact. It's a step of faith I need to take in order to be able to understand the rest of my faith.
I do not believe that anyone is eternally lost to hell. I don't even know for sure that anyone is in hell. To say that some are eternally lost (especially just because they are non-believers) does not sound confident in God's endless love. His love is so great that it will continue to reach to those who have chosen a life without Him. He's not going to stop calling us home.
I don't believe that the Bible is literally true for every verse. I do believe that it is inspired and that the words and stories are there for a reason. I also believe that it's OK if different people interpret the Bible differently.
I don't know if it's any help to hear what others believe, but I don't know how else reply!
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