Page:The Holy Bible (LSV).pdf/766



WE BELIEVE in One God, revealed to the world as YHWH of Israel, Uncreated, self-existent, eternal, all-powerful, and unchanging. He knows all things and there is nowhere where He is not. He is good, His word is inerrant, and His nature is love. WE BELIEVE God subsists as the mutual indwelling of three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in eternal communion. God the Son and God the Holy Spirit come from God the Father, And throughout eternity they have always existed with the Father. WE BELIEVE God created time, space, matter, and all things, Accomplishing His initial act of creation in only six days. On the sixth day God created Man in His own image out of dust, Adam the first male and Eve the first female. WE BELIEVE God said the man should be joined to his wife, And in so doing the two would become one flesh in marriage. In diversity He created the marital union sacred, monogamous, And dissoluble only by death or unfaithfulness. WE BELIEVE God gave Man the choice of obedience or rebellion, And Adam and Eve willfully rebelled by eating the forbidden fruit, Which came from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They suffered spiritual death and passed their sin nature on to us. WE BELIEVE that God justly judged the world with a flood, Sparing Noah and his family through whom came the nations. And from Noah’s son Shem came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, And from Jacob the twelve tribes of Israel and the prophets. WE BELIEVE that in the fullness of time God gave us His Son, Born under the law to redeem those condemned by the law. He was born in the town of Bethlehem to a virgin named Mary, And in accordance with God’s command was named Jesus. WE BELIEVE Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world, To live a sinless human life in perfect obedience to the Father, That He might die a substitutionary death in place of sinners, Giving forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who trust in Him. WE BELIEVE Jesus freely gave His life in obedience to the Father, And at the order of Pontius Pilate was flogged and crucified. At the ninth hour He declared His purpose in death was finished, And He died and was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. WE BELIEVE that death had no power over God’s perfect Son, And on the third day He conquered death by rising to life again. This was literal, physical, and attested to by over 500 witnesses, And is the event that gives power and validation to our faith. WE BELIEVE men are only reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, And receive salvation by grace through faith apart from works. By the Spirit all believers are baptized into one body, the Church. Christians baptize, share communion, and love one another. WE BELIEVE the Church is a universal priesthood of believers. Membership is not obtained by belonging to a denomination, But is received by trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. The Church awaits Jesus’ soon return when He will call us home.