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What I Believe I believe Jesus is God the Son, and that He became a man in order to die on the cross to redeem His people, to rescue us from God's judgment. Jesus will come back some day, and will take His disciples to heaven, with Him. I believe in the Trinity, God as three in one, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. I believe the Bible is God's inspired word, and I preach and teach from all of it. (But I don't understand all of it.) I believe we are saved by faith alone. Trust in Christ delivers us from God's anger, and makes us His children. We are made righteous in God's sight, with the righteousness that Jesus gives to us, His own righteousness, God's righteousness. I believe that while faith saves us, baptism and the Lord's Supper identify us, by placing us in the church. They say to others in the church and also to the world that we are disciples of Jesus, that we are Christians. The Christian sets a goal of living in the purity of Christ; we fall short of that goal, but we always keep that goal in our sights. Our lives should reflect worship, service, honesty, generosity, abstinence, self-denial, kindness, gratitude . . . all of the things that accompany Christ-likeness. I believe in forgiveness as a way of life. Both received, and given. --------------------------------- As for other issues and doctrines that have historically divided Christians and churches and denominations . . . I have ideas that I believe are biblical about such topics, but I move in circles where people disagree about them. I try to avoid confrontations about these issues, discussing them only when we both want to learn, when we both respect each other's right to disagree, and when we both will love each other even if we come to differing conclusions. We grow to be more Christ-like by rubbing shoulders, than by steering clear of each other. Mark John 5:19 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him (Jesus), because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit ... 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God, and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness ... Galatians 2:16 ... we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. Ecclesiastes 7:20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. John 15:12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
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