Our Beliefs
We begin with the belief, which we accept by faith*, that there is a God who is distinctly different and separate from everything material or physical. Furthermore, we believe that it is this God who created the universe we see around us. Because of this, God is our reference point as we look at the world. We specifically reject as the reference point mankind, the material world, or any form of ultimate moral dualism.
God has no need for anything, and it is He who creates and sustains all other life. From one blood He made all the various people groups and nations of the earth, and He determines the breadth and duration of their existence. Lest mankind be ignorant of His nature, He chose to reveal in creation certain attributes of His power and deity that would otherwise be unknown. Further, God gave mankind a moral sense of right and wrong so that man would understand guilt and be aware of his accountability to a moral standard. However, in addition to these general provisions, He also provided a specific revelation of power and deity in the Bible, which is where we learn the details of His story.
When God created humankind, He began with one man and one woman. They lived in a perfect environment, and God intended them to never die. However, God had made them with independent wills, and He told them that if they chose to disobey, that would lead to death. Unfortunately, they did choose to disobey, and immediately they sensed their guilt. As He had promised, God pronounced the punishment of death and hardship as a consequence. It is those consequences that we all still live with today.
However, God chose to direct the affairs of men and women so that in spite of our guilt we would still seek Him and repent of our own personal disobedience. He sent His son Jesus to pay the penalty for mankind’s sin by dying and then rising from the dead, demonstrating that the penalty was fully paid. While He was on earth Jesus told us that there will be a future day in which He will, with His Father’s authority, judge the people of the world for their ongoing disobedience if they do not recognize Him as their savior.
The world in which we live today is not as God intended it to be: full of sickness, abuse, war and death for mankind and “red in tooth and claw” for the animal kingdom. At present the whole world groans and suffers in a broken state, but we believe that one day God will right every wrong, hold accountable every evil action, permanently do away with evil, and provide a future without sorrow, crying, or pain.
* Everyone’s beliefs are influenced by what they have been taught and learned. We all, no matter what our views, interpret life in terms of religious and philosophical presuppositions (basic, foundational beliefs) that we accept by faith. You may or may not accept our presuppositions, but as we share what we believe as a church, please try to understand our story within the context of our system of beliefs.