1. I believe in one
creator God, one in three persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We often
say that “God is love”. Yet, love cannot exist without a recipient, and this is the
mystery of the tri-une God: although he is one, he is three persons who love
one another: at the heart of God is relationship from the very beginning. I believe God is loving, good, true, and just; I believe he is
eternal, omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipotent (all-powerful). I believe he
is the source of everything good, true, just and beautiful. I believe he caused the whole universe to come into being. I believe God designed human beings with free will – that is, we
are not robots, we are free to choose between good and evil, love and hate,
justice and injustice. I believe he made us in his own image, that is, beings
that are capable of choices, beings of relationships, and beings of creativity,
amongst other things. I believe he made us so we could enjoy a loving relationship with him. (Genesis 1-3; Matthew 28:19; John 1, 10:30, 14:8-11, 26, 17:3; 1 John 4:8)
2. I believe Jesus is God
incarnate in human flesh. I believe he was born, lived and died as a human in
Roman-occupied Israel at the beginning of the 1st century as
recorded in the New Testament Gospels. I believe he was crucified, was buried,
and rose again. I believe he is alive eternally. Everything we need to know about God, we find in Jesus - he shows us exactly what God is like. (The Gospels - see especially John 1)
3. I believe that as
humans we are all sinners, and sin separates us from God and deserves our
death, for a just God cannot tolerate evil. I believe sin is in our nature but
manifests itself in different ways in different people. I believe individual
sins are the result of our inward attitude. Sin is my selfishness and ego,
putting myself first and above everything else including God. Making myself my
own God and rejecting the true God. Consequences both now (broken world, broken
individual lives) and eternally (our ultimate destruction). I believe in sin
because I see it both in my own life and heart, and in the world. (Genesis 3, Romans 1-3)
4. I believe that although God cannot tolerate evil, he still loves us more than we can imagine and didn't want to leave us in this dire situation. Because God loves us, he came to earth as Jesus: to make himself known to us, to extend his saving
hand, and ultimately to die in our place, to die the death we deserve, so we
could live, be forgiven of our wrongdoings, and enjoy a reconciled relationship
with God, others, the world and ourselves. I believe Jesus’ death was the
atoning sacrifice through which God chose to reconcile humanity to himself. I believe
the process of redemption concerns not just individuals, but communities and
ultimately the whole world. Each individual is responsible for his own
acceptance of God’s work in their lives, but God’s goal is to redeem the whole
world, transform it, renew it. (John 3:16-18; Romans 3:23-25, 5, 8:19-22)
5. I believe the Spirit
of God lives in every believer and gives him both the will and the ability to change
and become a better human day by day. This is what Christians call
sanctification. I believe redemption and sanctification are a process that
lasts a lifetime. (Matthew 10:20; John 7:39, 14:17, 26; 16:13; Acts 1-2)
6. I believe the
universal church is the community of all those who trust in and follow Jesus as
their God and Saviour. I believe we are called to spread the message of the
gospel (good news) of God’s love for humanity, not just through words but
through actions. I believe God wants us to partner with him to redeem this
world. I believe Christian are called to form communities together where they
can encourage each other, support each other, teach each other and pray for
each other. (Acts)
7. I believe in the
Bible. I believe it has been written by humans and inspired by God. I believe
it tells us the Great Story about God, about the world, and about ourselves. I
believe it contains commands to follow, principles to apply, examples to follow
and virtues to cultivate. I also believe that it needs careful interpretation,
given the variety of literary genres, historical and cultural contexts, and
original recipients it was addressed to. I believe studying the Bible is
fundamental for every Christian. (2 Timothy 3:16)
8. I believe in prayer. I
believe that when we talk to God, he listens, he cares and he acts, although
not always in the way we imagined, because he has infinite knowledge of
everything we and the world need, while we don’t. (Matthew 7:7-11; Luke 11:1-13; John 14: 13-14, 16:23-26)
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