Beliefs
What I Believe
The Non-Negotiables:
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I believe the triune God created the universe and everything in it ex nihilo, and it was good. He is sovereign over His creation. He made humans in his image, male and female, to live in a covenant relationship with Him to love Him, glorify Him, and to care for his creation. Adam, the first man, exalting himself over his creator, sinned against God, resulting in guilt, shame, death, alienation from God, and a curse upon the earth. Humans, separated from God, all have a sinful nature for which deserves God's just judgement and from which they cannot save themselves.
I believe that Jesus is the Son of the Father, fully human and fully God. I believe he came to earth humbly as a baby born to the Virgin Mary and lived a sinless life as he grew in *knowledge and Spirit.* I believe he gave himself freely to die on the cross to bear the cost of the sins of ALL humanity, and his blood was sufficient atonement for our debt of sin. I believe He died and was buried in a tomb, and after three days He was resurrected from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit*, defeating the power of sin and death forever.
I believe that those who confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe genuinely that God resurrected him from the dead are saved forever by God’s grace through faith in Jesus. They have been crucified with Christ and raised to new life in Him, now credited with his righteous. In response, we give all we know of ourselves to all we know of our Lord Jesus. I believe that we are called to go into the world and testify to what we have seen and heard of Jesus in our own lives and, by the power of the Holy Spirit in us, make disciples of all nations.
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I believe that Jesus will return at an unknown time to judge the living and the dead. The world as we know it will end. The unrighteous (those who hate God) will be condemned to Hell, a state of eternal punishment. The righteous (those who love Jesus) will be given new, glorified bodies, and will be allowed to enter the new heaven and new earth to live with God forever.
The Baptist Faith and Message:
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I confidently and unapologetically hold to the Baptist Faith & Message 2000. I regard this statement of belief not as equal to scripture nor as a substitute for knowing its content's scriptural backing. I do, however, regard the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 as a sturdy and tested reflection of scripture that can be a helpful tool in the Church's maintenance of sound doctrine.
On Biblical Sexuality, Marriage, Gender Roles:
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My understanding of marriage and sexuality, according to God's design as revealed in his Word and affirmed universally in nature, aligns with all fourteen articles of the Nashville Statement.
I align with The Danvers Statement on biblical manhood and womanhood. I also wholeheartedly believe in the autonomy of the local church as a Baptist distinctive, which ultimately guides my views in recent developments within the Southern Baptist Convention.