What I believe

By Keith Wilke

Subjects

• Salvation
• How Christianity differs from other religions
• Why man was created
• What God wants from us
• Interpreting Scripture
• The Holy Spirit and Gifts

• I believe:
• That Jesus is the only begotten son of God (begotten before the universe was created). (John 3:16, Hebrews 11:17, 1 John 4:9)
• That he was born of Mary by virgin birth.(Matthew 1:23,25,Luke 1:27, 34)
• That he died to pay for all human sins. (Romans 8:34,1 John 2:2, 1 John 4:10)
• That he rose on the third day. (Matthew 28:6)
• Believing the above is enough to ensure eternal life in heaven and will save you from hell. (Acts 16:31,1 John 4:15)
• I believe that Gods grace saves a person, not works. (Ephesians 2:8)
• I also believe that if you really believe in Jesus, then your life will change. If your life doesn't change, then you don't really believe.(1 John 2:4)

• How a person is saved:

I took a course in "religions of the world" about 15 years ago. The professor was a Muslim. The thing that struck me was that all religions have detailed rules for earning your way to heaven except for Christianity. In Islam, Judasiam, and others, the only way to get to heaven is by being good. There are some significant differences in what the rules are, but it is the following the rules that save you, not who you know.

In Christianity, you must believe on Jesus to be saved. No amount of good works can earn you a place in heaven. It isonly your relationship with Jesus that saves you.

I believe that God created us to have a relationship with him. God created us in his image so that he'd have someone to love and to have that love returned. He gives us children so that we can better understand our relationship with him.

As a father, I constantly found myself asking God, "Do I sound like that?" after interacting with my child. Having a child also helped me understand Gods love for us. If I loved my child as much as I do, then God must love us even more because he puts up with so much more.

God wants us to enter into a relationship with him and his son Jesus.

So, how do you have a relationship with someone you can't see? There are three important ways: reading the Bible, prayer, and meeting with others that love him.

• You read the Bible to find out what God is like from what he's done in the past.
• You read the Bible to find out what Jesus is like.
• You pray as a way to interact with God. God is a patient father and does want to hear about our day, what we need, and want. Just like a real father, he doesn't do everything we want, but he does have our best interests at heart. Actually, God is much better than your earthly father, but that's another topic.
• You meet with others that love God. By meeting with other Christians, you can see what he's done in their life and learn from their interactions with him.

Note: Some will say that reading good Christian books will help you understand God and Jesus. I would recommend avoiding any "Christian" books until you've read the Bible all the way through at least once. This will help you to discern what God wants and what the author of the book wants you to believe. Most of the time they are one in the same, but not always.

• I believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. I came to this conclusion with the help of the Holy Spirit after reading the entire Bible.
• I believe that you can't use the the Bible prove that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. I've seen all the arguments and they are all illogical. I think we need to accept the fact that we have to take some things on faith.
• There are no hidden meanings in scripture.
• The Holy Spirit is the teacher and the Bible is the text.
• If God thinks that something is very important, he usually mentions it more than once in the Bible, sometimes multiple times in the same passage or book.
• If the scripture appears inconsistent with itself or our experiences, then we are wrong in our interpretation.
• If the Bible clearly states that something is required of us as Christians, then we should strive to do it.
• If the Bible says that we should want something, then we should strive to want it.
• Context is very import for understanding the scriptures. It is very important to note who is speaking, and who they are speaking to.
• If two people disagree on an interpretation of some passage, they must not allow their differences to cause division in the Church. All Christians share a common belief in Jesus and should not let intellectual arguments create divisiveness. That doesn't mean that we can't have fun "discussing" things. It just means that we have to keep things in perspective.

• I believe that everyone that confesses that Jesus is Lord has the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3)
• There is nothing in the Bible that would indicate that the gifts have passed away or are inactive today.
• The gifts of the Holy Spirit are to be desired by Christians.(1 Corinthians 12:27-30,1 Corinthians 14:1)