I have wrestled with whether or not to post a more detailed statement of faith. Clearly Proverbs 30:5-6 and many other such verses tell us not to add to God’s word, and we do not wish even in good intent to make any steps toward adding human tradition or our own statements to God’s word.
At the same time, we understand that in order to comfortably shepherd those who wish to be a part of our services and fellowship it may help people to know what we believe.
The chart below lists important aspects of what we believe and what scriptures out of God’s Word each of these beliefs is based upon. Please as you read this understand that this is meant to share our beliefs, and that it is our firm and most important belief that the only absolute truth is straight, unchanged, literal scripture breathed by God. By the way, if you don’t have a Bible we will be happy to provide one to you!
This being in our words may not perfectly communicate everything we believe and thus may be subject to changes in wording to further clarify our beliefs. Further our heart is to get to know you, share the love of God and His word with you and fellowship with you and we would hope none of this would stand in the way of that (Hebrews 10:25, Romans 14)
In that spirit:
Our belief | What our belief stems from |
There is one God | Exodus 20:2-3, Deuteronomy 6:4 |
Jesus is the only begotten Son of God | John 3:16 |
Jesus and God are parts of the same being (the trinity) | John 10:30 |
The Holy Spirit and God are parts of the same being (the trinity) | John 15:26 |
Jesus came to earth as God in the flesh to save us from sin by paying the penalty for all past present and future sin by dying on the cross after living a sin free life. He was resurrected to prove victory over death. All who believe this and submit to Him as master and repent of their sin will have eternal life through this payment for their sin (note here the word translated Lord in Romans 10:9 is Kurioj, the same word used by Paul when speaking of masters and slaves in Ephesians 6:5). The penalty for sin if this payment is not accepted by us through belief in Christ and repentance is eternal separation from God in a lake of fire. | John 3:36, Matthew 20:28, John 11:25-26, Romans 10:9, Matthew 13:40-42, Romans 6:23 |
There is no other way to enter Heaven than to believe in Jesus’s life, death, resurrection and submit to Him and repent of our sin. | John 14:6 |
The Bible is the literal, inerrant, Holy word of God, physically written by human hands but authored by God | 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21, Exodus 20:1, Numbers 23:19 |
The Bible is to be submitted to as absolute truth, authority and direction by anyone who is a believer in God | Deuteronomy 6:1-9, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Matthew 7:21-27, John 10:30 |
True knowledge of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and redemption of sin through Christ comes only through direct revelation from God through the Holy Spirit and knowledge of and communion with Him in His Word | Genesis 15:6, Matthew 16:16-17, Acts 9, Galatians 1:11-21, Hebrews 11:20,26, Isaiah 55:11, Hebrews 4:12, Luke 10:21-22, Proverbs 9:10 |
The three most important things commanded to us by our Lord Jesus Christ are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, love our neighbor as ourselves and as Christ loves us, and to go and make disciples of and baptize all nations. These also direct us to obey all of God’s law, not to obtain righteousness or eternal life but because of our love for God. We cannot do this perfectly, hence the need for Jesus to die for our sins and be resurrected. | Luke 10:25-28, Matthew 22: 35-40, John 14:15 |
We cannot receive the revelation of Jesus Christ’s existence, Godhood, life, death, resurrection or authority without believing the entire Bible to be the true accurate Word of God. | John 5:44-47; Luke 16:30-31 |
There are no degrees of sin, differences in the sins of one person versus another, and there is no man who is righteous or sin free apart from the righteousness and forgiveness imparted by Christ through belief in Him, His resurrection and submission to Him and repentance of our sin. | Romans 3:23, James 2:10, Romans 3:10-12 |
Christ calls us to submit to Him, forsaking all that we are, have and care about apart from Him and His kingdom, worrying not about worldly needs, putting no one and nothing above love for Him. We cannot do this perfectly nor immediately upon belief in Him but it is a gradual process over our lives as we go deeper within Him and die to ourselves and our old lives. | Luke 9:57-62, Matthew 10:26-39, Luke 12:49-53, Luke 14:25-33, Matthew 6:25-34, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:12-13 |
We are to fear the Lord, not as we fear other humans but in awe and reverence of Him as Creator of the Heavens and the earth. | Genesis 1:1, Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 33:8 |
If you have a specific theological question we would be happy to discuss it with you in person so that we can understand the cause of your concern and properly divide the Word of God with you. We don’t wish anyone to be deceived and we just feel like it’s hard to do that with a list of bullet points on a website.
Again, if you have any concerns I am always personally available and eager to discuss theological points with you. I can be reached at pastorrob@lampinthevalley.org.