For those who care, I’ve written a brief doctrinal statement below so you can see what I believe about God and the Bible.
I believe all of the Bible is God-breathed, and is the exact and total statement of what God wanted to tell us in his Word. It is authoritative for our lives as believers. It is the only book that is the Word of God.
I believe in one God. He has many names, the most well-recognized of which are Yahweh and Jesus. He is all the things the Bible says He is (Creator of all things, holy and infinite in all of his attributes: perfection, justice, mercy, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, and many others) and so much more. The writings of the Bible can only begin to describe His virtual indescribable magnificence and splendor. He is self-existent, with no needs, deficiencies, dependencies, or flaws. He exists eternally in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.
I believe in the deity of Jesus, in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, and in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood on the cross. I believe in His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His personal and bodily return in power and glory.
I believe that the Holy Spirit is God. In all that He does, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its sin and guilt; He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service. Nowhere in Scripture are we instructed to worship the Holy Spirit, nor is there any example in Scripture where the Holy Spirit is worshiped.
Therefore, I believe in the trinity: There are three “persons” in the Godhead: the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, equal as deity.
I believe that salvation is by grace, through faith, in the redeeming work of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Salvation is offered as a free gift by God to all and must be received personally and individually through repentance and faith in Jesus. As a child of God, consequently, the believer is acquitted of all guilt from sin and brought into a relationship of peace with God.
I believe in eternal security: that once an individual is truly and genuinely saved from sin, redeemed, and brought into a relationship of peace with God, that his or her salvation is secure eternally, and the subsequent mistakes of sin does not take away one’s salvation.
In matters of healing, the Old Testament records only a very few people who were ever healed. In the New Testament, multitudes were healed during the ministry of Jesus, and some were healed at the hands of the apostles after Jesus ascended to heaven. The New Testament teaches about a spiritual gift of healing, and records some instructions about healing. I believe it is the believer’s privilege to seek the will of the Lord in matters of physical healing. This healing, whether by natural, medical, or supernatural means, ultimately comes from God who created our physical bodies. The believer may implore the Lord for physical restoration according to instructions given in the Scriptures, and if the healing is for the highest glory of God, His power will be displayed.
I don’t speak in tongues, but I’ve been filled with the Spirit since I asked Jesus into my heart. If you speak in tongues, it’s alright with me as long as you abide by the teachings of 1 Cor. 14, primarily, and other pertinent texts.
Jesus is coming again, in the same resurrected flesh/divine body he left in. There are signs in the Bible about the events surrounding his coming, and clues to the timing of it, but they are intentionally obscure so that we focus on the point: He is coming back, and it is our duty and privilege to be ready in faithfulness and service.
I believe in the literal resurrection of both the saved and the lost; the saved are resurrected to eternal life, and the lost are resurrected to eternal separation from God.