CHRISTIAN Beliefs of Christianity Christian Doctrine of The Bible

What are Christian beliefs? With thirty-two percent of the world's population claiming to embrace Christianity and many of those beliefs contradicting each other, something is obviously wrong! There are vast differences among those who believe they hold to Christian beliefs. Sadly, for many, their Christian beliefs are not based on the Bible alone and they, therefore, only have so-called Christian beliefs and are Christians in name only! The Lord Jesus taught:

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Mt. 7:21)

So what are authentic Christian beliefs based solely on the Scriptures (Bible) alone? The following answers that question:

What Are Christian Beliefs About God and Mankind

THE BIBLE

The Bible is the inspired and inerrant living Word of the Living God which contains everything we need to know regarding salvation, all Christian beliefs (2 Tim. 3:16,17) and

how to behave in order to please God (1 Thess. 4:1-8). It is absolute final spiritual authority and is completely sufficient in itself for all matters dealing with doctrine and practice (2 Tim. 3:16,17).

His Word is forever standing (Matt. 24:35). All correction and teaching must, therefore, be backed by the Bible alone to be valid.

THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE GOD

There is only one God (1 Cor. 8:6; Jam. 2:19), yet the Father is shown to be God (Jn. 3:17 cf. 5:23; etc.), the Son is shown to be God (Jn. 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Phil. 2:6; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:1; Col. 2:9; Isa. 40:3 cf. Matt. 3:1-3) and the Holy Spirit is shown to be God (Acts 5:3,4; Ex. 17:2,7 cf. Heb. 3:9; Jer. 31:31-34 cf. Heb. 10:15-17). Furthermore, the Father is NOT the Son (Jn. 8:17,18; 14:23; 17:1; 1 Tim. 2:5; 2 Jn. 9; Rev. 5:9; etc.) or the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:26) and the Son is NOT the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:16). They are three separate and distinct persons. So the triune God belief or Trinity is Scripturally verified. The doctrine of the trinity is not pagan as some falsely accuse.

Who is Jesus Christ In Christianity

JESUS CHRIST

The Lord Jesus Christ eternally existed as God before coming to earth (Micah 5:2; Jn. 1:1 cf. 1:14; etc.) and became man when born of a virgin (Matt. 1:23; 1 Tim. 2:5). He lived a sinless life (1 Pet. 2:22), shed his precious and cleansing blood on the cross for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3; Col. 1:20), died there (Lk. 23:46 cf. Jam. 2:26a) and was bodily raised on the third day (Lk. 24:39; 1 Cor. 15:4). He afterwards ascended into Heaven (Acts 1:11) and will return to earth again (Rev. 19:11-21). The Lord's work on the cross, where He obtained our complete redemption by himself (without the help of Mary) (Jn. 19:30; 1 Pet. 2:24), was both INFINITE and final (Heb. 10:10-12) and was for every single person who ever lived (Rom. 5:6; 1 Jn. 2:2). The fact that the names of Jesus Christ exceed one hundred shows his awesome vital importance in everything spiritual and answers the question, Who is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is eternal life (1 John 1:2) and our focus must be on Jesus Christ exclusively to have forgiveness and salvation. It is impossible to have eternal life without the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 5:12). To say the only name for the Savior and salvation is Jesus in Hebrew or Yeshua is blatantly false, especially when some of the same add that the name Jesus is pagan!

MANKIND

Man is sinful (Rom. 3:23) and in desperate need of salvation (Jn. 3:36; Eph. 2:12). Without personal salvation, one is dead in his sins (Eph. 2:1), spiritually blinded (2 Cor. 4:4), under the control of his sinful nature (or flesh) (Rom. 7:5), addicted to sin (Rom. 6:6; 6:16-18; 6:20-22) and on his way to eternal fire (Matt. 25:41) and eternal punishment (Matt. 25:46).

What Are Christian Beliefs About Salvation

SALVATION

Salvation is by grace and not by works (Eph. 2:8,9). This is basic Christian beliefs, but what is grace? We are saved by grace through faith in Christ (Acts 4:12; 10:43; etc.), but we can afterwards fall from grace (Gal. 5:2-4). Repentance is necessary for forgiveness and salvation (Lk. 13:3; Acts 3:19; 20:21). Repentance is not just a change of mind, for Jesus equated it to turning from one's evil ways (Matt. 12:41 cf. Jonah 3:10). At the point of instant salvation (Lk. 19:9) one is declared righteous (Rom. 4), given the gift of eternal life (Rom. 6:23) and is made a child of God (1 Jn. 3:2). His heart is purified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 15:9), radically changed into a new creation and set free from all his sin addictions (Rom. 6:17-22). At the point of initial salvation the Christian gets on the road to life, which is both hard and narrow, as well as traveled by the minority of people (Mt. 7:14).

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. (Gal. 5:24)

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil.... (1 John 3:7,8)

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2:3,4)

True grace teaches us to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives (Titus 2:12). In contrast, there exists a false and dangerous "grace" message which gives a license for immorality (Jude 4) and breeds arrogance through a false security (Rom. 11:19-23) and sets one up for a spiritual fall (1 Cor. 10:12).

John 3:36 is LOADED with VITAL salvation-related truths, but these are concealed in the KJV. John 3:36 states there are only 2 types of people: (1) those who are believing on Jesus - Greek pisteuo -- (have faith in and are committed to Jesus) and (2) those who are DISobeying Jesus - Greek apeitheo-- have the wrath of God on them. ** The person with a saving faith in Jesus has everlasting life now and is OBEYING Jesus. It is also a PRESENT TENSE faith that he has. A present tense OBEDIENT faith in Jesus and everlasting life go together. Elsewhere we learn, it is possible for a true believer like that to stop believing (Lk. 8:13), become a shipwreck of the faith (1 Tim. 1:19,20) and have his faith destroyed (2 Tim. 2:18). A Christian stands by faith and must continue in his faith (Col. 1:23) for God won't spare anyone who doesn't; thus we are to be AFRAID of getting cut off and not be arrogant (Rom. 11:19-22). A Christian must endure hatred to the end to be saved (Mt. 10:22) and continue in the teachings of Christ to have both the Father and the Son (2 John 9).

What Are Christian Beliefs About The Resurrection

THERE WILL BE A BODILY RESURRECTION

There will be a resurrection for all mankind -- one for the saved and one for the wicked.

"Those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned" (Jn. 5:29).

See also Rom. 2:6-11. While those who endure to the end will be saved (Matt. 10:22), reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12) and enter the kingdom of God (Rev. 21:1-7), the wicked (comprising the vast majority of mankind, Matt. 7:13,14) will in the end be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15) where they will experience conscious torment forever (Rev. 20:10 cf. 21:8). Everlasting torment is in the bible.

The overcoming Christian will get a glorified, imperishable and immortal body like the one the resurrected Lord Jesus has (Phil 3:21; 1 Cor 15:53). It will never age, get sick, be injured or die (Lk. 20:36; 1 Cor. 15:53). It will be a tangible body of flesh and bones (Phil. 3:21 cf. Lk. 24:39). With that type of body the Lord entered a room with locked doors, without going through that door (Jn. 20:19) and ate the same kind of food we do now (Lk. 24:42,43)! His body is also adapted to heaven, for he is at the right side of the heavenly Father reigning with him in that flesh and bone, glorified body (Acts 7:55,56).

The ones forever lost and in the lake of fire will also have a body, which will be destroyed (Mt. 10:28; John 5:29) but never annihilated (Rev. 20:10 cf. 20:15) as they suffer in special fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Mt. 25:41).

What Are Christian Beliefs About Salvation Security

THE BELIEVER'S SECURITY IS CONDITIONAL

The Christian's salvation security is conditional (Rom. 2:7; 1 Cor. 6:9,10; 15:2; Col. 1:22,23; Gal. 6:8,9; Rev. 2:10,11). We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first (Heb. 3:14). We have eternal life only if we have Jesus Christ (1 Jn. 5:12). If we disown Jesus, he will likewise disown us before the Father (Matt. 10:33; 2 Tim. 2:12) and the angels (Lk. 12:9). We can become an enemy of God again after initial salvation (Jam. 4:4b) and raging fire will consume the enemies of God (Heb. 10:27). We are to keep ourselves pure (1 Tim. 5:22), from the spiritual pollutants of this world (James 1:27) and from idols (1 Jn. 5:21), which doesn't always happen.

"The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap ETERNAL LIFE. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Gal. 6:8-10).

Eternal security (also known as once saved always saved or the perseverance of the saints) is a counterfeit grace message (or "another gospel") which must be exposed and refuted with Scripture like any other similar false teaching (Eph. 5:11 cf. Titus 1:9; Jude 3,4). The true Christian gospel of grace includes the following about the believer's conditional security:

By this gospel you are saved, IF you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. (1 Cor 15:2)

A true Christian (or righteous person) will die spiritually if he turns to evil (Ezek. 33:18; Rom. 8:13; James 1:14-16; Lk. 15:24; etc.). A brand new baby Christian (new convert) is no exception to that! A true Christian (righteous person) can fall away (Lk. 8:13; Heb. 6:4-6; etc.) and die in his sins (Heb. 10:26-29). Clear Biblical examples are the Apostle Judas Iscariot and King Solomon. There are various Biblical examples of apostasies cited in the Bible.

A true Christian (or saint) doesn't have to practice sin, such as adultery or murder, before he loses his salvation, since it only takes one act of adultery to make a person a Bible-defined adulterer (Lev. 20:10) and one act of murder to make him a Bible defined murderer (Number 35:16). Rev. 21:8 is clear in stating such people are headed for the lake of fire because of their sins. Because King David sinned the way he did, he is a clear example of a righteous man who lost his salvation (died spiritually) for a time, due to adultery and murder. (David did repent and return to salvation, unlike some. Peter also returned to salvation after he disowned Jesus and in turn was disowned by Jesus, Mt. 10:33.)

All sins are not the same in their effect on our souls. Some sins are greater than others (Jn. 19:11). There is eternal sin (Mk. 3:29), while others are not. Another type of sin is uniquely against our bodies, while other sins are outside our bodes (1 Cor. 6:18). 1 Jn. 5:16 declares there is a sin that does not lead to death while there is a sin that leads to death. Sins such as worry (Phil. 4:6), unthankfulness (Col. 2:7, 3:15; Lk. 17:11-18) and not being completely humble and gentle (Eph. 4:2) are not included in any of the lists of sins that will send people to the lake of fire, even if they were once saved. However, other sins certainly will send any person to hell if they die unrepentant, even a person who was once saved. (See 1 Cor. 6:9,10; Rev. 21:8; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5,6; Jude 7; Rev. 22:15; etc.). Sinless perfection is not scriptural. In fact, sinless perfect is dangerous! How? Because people who have deceived themselves to believe they are sinless and don't sin anymore will not confess or repent of their sins to be cleansed (1 John 1:9)!

INSIGHTFUL Poem on Soul Winning

Because of the way eternal security teachers declare what imputed righteousness is, multitudes have been mislead into thinking that God does not see one's sin after getting born again. The false teachers tell us that all God can see is the blood of Jesus and Christ himself. This is very clearly refuted when one would read and ponder Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Jesus could see their sins, that they forsook their first love, that they became lukewarm, fell spiritually asleep, etc. True Christian beliefs declare that. Based on the above truths, to say that a Christian is clothed in Jesus' righteousness to the point where God can only see Jesus and not sins, etc. is a dangerous lie. Furthermore, it also becomes apparent from Revelation chapters 2 and 3 that the Christian's future sins are not already forgiven before they are committed and Jesus is not automatically pleased with a Christian just because he previously had his moment of true faith when he was regenerated.

We are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8,9) but we can fall from grace (Gal. 5:2-4). We are justified by faith (Rom. 5:1) but our faith can become shipwrecked (1 Tim. 1:19,20) and cease to exist (Lk. 8:13; Rom. 11:19-23). We are not under the law (Rom. 6:14, 15) but if you live according to the sinful nature you will die (Rom. 8:13). Paul taught against legalism (Gal. 5:3,4) but he also taught that no immoral, impure or greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God (Eph. 5:5-7). We are not saved by works (Eph. 2:8,9) but to reap eternal life and not destruction you must sow to please the Spirit and not the sinful nature (Gal. 6:8,9). God is faithful to us (1 Jn. 1:9; 1 Cor. 10:13) but we must be faithful to him to the very end of our lives to escape the lake of fire or second death (Rev. 2:10,11). God surely loves us (Jn. 3:16; Mk. 10:21; Rom. 8:35-39) but those who inherit the kingdom of God love God (Jam 2:5; 1 Cor. 2:9) and to love God means to obey his commands (Jn. 14:15; 1 Jn. 5:3). We have freedom in Christ (Gal. 5:1) but this freedom is not to indulge the sinful nature (Gal. 5:13; 1 Pet 2:16). These Christian beliefs are all Bible-based and evangelical.

Christians now have been forgiven of their past sins (1 Jn. 2:12; Lk. 7:48; 2 Pet. 1:9; etc.), are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16,17; 6:19; etc.), have salvation (Lk. 19:9; 2 Cor. 6:2; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5) and eternal life (Jn. 6:47; 1 Jn. 5:12,13) as we travel the hard road to life (Mt. 7:14), which some go astray from (1 Tim. 1:5,6; 2 Tim. 2:17,18; etc.). We must endure to the end to be saved eternally (Mt. 10:22; Heb. 3:14; Rev. 2:10,11; Gal. 6:8,9), that is, to enter God's kingdom (Mt. 7:21; Lk. 13:23,24). We must HOLD ON to what we have so no man will get our crown (Rev. 3:11).