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The Statement of Faith below contains most of the important doctrines. Other doctrines are indexed through one of the following links.
What I Believe
I believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the son of God, the Anointed One (that is, the Messiah/Christ), and is God in the flesh. I believe that he was born of a virgin, that he lived a sinless life, died for us, and was raised from the dead after being in the grave for three days and three nights in accordance with Matthew 20:40, then became the first any only person to go to Heaven.
I believe that salvation comes through faith in Yeshua (Jesus) and repentance. I believe that faith produces obedience not only to Yeshua, but also to the one who sent Jesus. And that this obedience is the proof of faith above even performing miracles in the name of Yeshua. Repentance is turning from (forsaking) sin and turning to obedience to God, which is not a work, but is a condition of the heart. Evil works result in condemnation and good works are incapable of saving because of this condemnation. It is God who forgives one of bad works, but he only forgives those who turn from their evil works.
I teach that something is only a doctrine if it is explicitly defined as such in the Bible. Whatever is claimed to be a doctrine that is not explicitly defined as such in the Bible is a false doctrine and merely a human teaching. Likewise, I teach that sin is defined only by God's law. Whatever God has forbidden in his law is forever a sin, and whatever is not forbidden in God's law is forever permissible, even if that something is contrary to God's design. Likewise, I teach only the days defined as holy in God's law are holy, and making any other day holy is setting up a Golden Calf. Consequently, I believe that the Deuteronomy 13 Test is the first test to discern false teachers, even over testing if someone acknowledges that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Anointed One or the son of God. Also, I believe that keeping God's law is the only definition of loving God.
I believe that the Deuteronomy 13 Test and the Deuteronomy 18 Test are the first tests for distinguishing between true and false teachers. Deuteronomy 18 warns against those who speak in the name of other (false) gods while Deuteronomy 13 warns against those who lead people to serve other gods either by blatantly advocating for idolatry, or through deceiving people into not obeying God's Law. Deuteronomy 13 also defines loving God as keeping his Law and idolatry as rejecting his Law. If anyone fails either of these tests, then that person (by definition) is teaching idolatry and it is therefore irrelevant if they get any other doctrine correct, including any core doctrines.
I believe that Genesis is the foundation of the Gospel and the rest of the Bible, and that the whole Bible and Gospel message relies on Genesis being a straight-forward, truthful historical account of the beginning of creation. I believe that the Bible contains the written records of God's words and actions. I believe that the Bible is a material document while the word of God is itself immaterial. I believe that calling the Bible "the word of God" is an acceptable but inaccurate oversimplification (but not to be taken literally), and that specifying that it is the "written word of God" is much better. I also believe that the whole Bible, starting in Genesis, is the final authority in all matters, and that the New Testament must be interpreted in light of the Old Testament.
I believe in the resurrection of the righteous and of the wicked. I believe that the resurrection of the righteous unto eternal life on a New Earth will come first, and the resurrection of the wicked will happen later (on Judgement Day) to answer for every wicked deed that they have done, and to perish in the Lake of Fire. I believe that human beings are souls [Genesis 2:7], rather than having souls.
I believe that human beings are made in both the image of God and likeness of God. And that the word "image" always refers to visual representation while the word "likeness" refers to all other shared traits. Therefore, being made in the image of God refers to the human body being made to look like God while being made in the likeness of God means being made to have other traits in common with God, such as emotion, reason, and a drive for justice. I also believe that both the image of God and likeness of God are very good.
Core Doctrines
A core doctrine is any doctrine that is both explicitly defined as a doctrine in the Bible and is explicitly stated in the Bible as being a requirement for salvation. Anyone who denies these doctrines is not a Christian.
- Yeshua (Jesus) is the son of God [1 John 4:15].
- Yeshua (Jesus) has come in the flesh [1 John 4:2-3].
- Yeshua (Jesus) is the Anointed One (aka: Messiah/Christ) [1 John 2:22].
- Yeshua (Jesus) died and was raised from the dead [Romans 10:9-10].
- Salvation is through faith in Yeshua (Jesus) [John 3:16] and Yeshua alone [John 14:6].
- Obeying God's law is the definition of loving and following God while the rejection of God's law is the definition of idolatry (following false gods) [Deuteronomy 13:1-5].
What I Reject
I reject the teaching that one must believe in the Trinity, or must believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is God in order to be a "true Christian". I also reject the claim that we must accept the virgin birth of Jesus or anything else to be a "true Christian" that the Bible does not explicitly require. I also reject the claim that the Trinity is doctrine or that "it's not mentioned in Scripture but it's concepts are clearly taught". I reject the practice of using the Trinity as a litmus test. Furthermore, teaching that one must believe in the Trinity to be saved is presenting a different gospel than salvation by faith in Yeshua, thereby bringing the curse in Galatians 1:8-9 upon those who teach it.
I reject the teaching that Yeshua (Jesus) did away with God's law, as he clearly stated in places like Matthew 5:17-20 that he did not abolish the law, and said that there would be consequences for those who taught such things. Deuteronomy 13:1-5 also makes it clear that Yeshua cannot be the Messiah if he abolished God's law. Likewise, I reject the claim that Paul taught against God's law. I also reject the division of the law into "moral law", "ceremonial law", and "civil law". Likewise, I reject the distinction of the "Mosaic law"/"law of Moses" from the "law of God". The whole law is from God while Moses was merely the vessel that God used to deliver his law to us. Likewise, I reject the teaching that the law of God is restricted only to the Ten Commandments
I reject the doctrine of Penal Substitutionary Atonement as a perversion of the Gospel, a perversion of God's love and motives for providing a path to salvation, and a perversion of justice. Likewise, I also reject Total Depravity and Infant Damnation. I also reject Dispensationalism, The Rapture, and Calvinism. I also reject infant baptism along with any form of baptism that does not involve submerging the whole body in water, or baptism that is not done in the name of Jesus alone (Matthew 28:19 was changed from "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations in my name").
As stated above, only the days God declared as holy in his law are holy. Therefore, I reject all extrabiblical holidays that are used to honor God, including Sunday Sabbath, Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Palm Sunday, Halloween, and Valentine's Day. All of which are idolatrous and therefore dishonor God regardless of the heart of the observer, and (with the exception of Palm Sunday) are of pagan origin with all of their practices being paganism dressed in Christian clothing. Extrabiblical holidays for purposes not related to honoring God (or a false god), such as birthdays, are okay.
God's name is not "Yehovah" or "Jehovah". That name originated by putting the vowel points of the Hebrew word "adonai" (literally means "lord") onto the tetragrammaton. The scribes deliberately put the wrong vowel points on the name of God to remind the reader to never say God's name, lest they "accidentally mispronounce" it, thereby "profaning the name of God". Of course, this means if the reader does pronounce the name according to the vowel points, then he/she is doing exactly that. The correct name of God is probably Yahweh. The name "Yehovah"/"Jehovah" is rejected as a profaning of God's holy name. Furthermore, any name for God that cannot be spelled with "YHWH" in that order with exactly two or three vowels between those letters is rejected as the name of another (false) god. Using "adonai" (a title) as a substitute for God's real name is unacceptable. Nevertheless, Yahweh is correctly referred to as "the Lord".
The name of Jesus in Hebrew is "Yeshua", which is a contracted form of the word "Yehoshua". "Yehoshua" is Hebrew for "God saves" or "God is salvation". Therefore, using "Yehoshua" to refer to the Messiah is acceptable, but "Yeshua" is preferable when using his Hebrew name. I reject all other "Hebrew names" used to refer to our Lord as the name of another (false) god. I also reject any claim that you must refer to the Lord only by his Hebrew name.
I reject the doctrine that the Bible is literally the Word of God. The Word of God is immaterial and is alive (Hebrews 4:12). The Bible however, is a material document that contains records of what God has spoken (see above). I also reject as Trojans the doctrines that the Bible is without error or contradiction, and the doctrine that every word in the Bible is exactly what God has dictated. The rejection of these teachings in no way diminishes the importance of Scripture, but the acceptance of these teachings is destructive to the faith. Essentially, I reject most forms of fundamentalism as being destructive to the faith, as it interferes with one's God-given ability evaluate the evidence.
I reject as Heresy the doctrine of the Afterlife, the doctrine of Eternal Conscience Torment, and the doctrine that the righteous go to Heaven when they die. I also reject the doctrine of Soul Sleep, as the Bible clearly states that souls die [Ezekiel 18:4]. I also reject completely the doctrine that human beings have a dualistic nature of body plus soul (it's body plus breath equals soul [Genesis 2:7]), and the doctrine that "soul" and "spirit" are interchangeable or that they have a supernatural nature to them. As a side note, I reject the teaching that all spirits necessarily have a supernatural or formless nature to them, as the word for "spirit" simply means "wind" and can describe anything that is not seen, but has effects that are seen.
I reject the doctrine that the image of God was lost or marred by the Fall, or the doctrine that "image" and "likeness" in this context are synonymous. I also reject the doctrine that modesty is in any way about covering up the human body. Rather, as defined in 1 Timothy 2:9-10, is about putting on humility, self-control, and Good works; taking off attention-seeking pride and the flaunting of wealth.