Statement of Belief

I realize that I have given many of my readers cause for concern with what I posted as my Personal Statement, so I have gone out further on the limb of trust and written just what my basic beliefs are. Here they are. Please don't take my personal beliefs as yours until you have been convinced of the Holy Spirit that you should.

Statement of Belief

I believe in one God in which there are three parts. Those parts being God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the comforter and guide, the Holy Spirit.

I believe that God the Father is the sovereign God, creator of all that is.

I believe that creation of all we can see happened at God's command, but not in the literal sequence or time that Genesis details. I firmly believe that God is far more complex than Genesis describes and that the creation process was much more complex than the writer of Genesis was divinely inspired to write.

I firmly believe that the idea of Original Sin is a myth and a terrible disservice to a just and merciful God.

I firmly believe that the enemy of our soul, variously known as Satan, the Devil, Lucifer, the father of lies and other names, was never in heaven in any form.

I firmly believe that the angels God created to do His bidding have no free will and therefore are incapable of rebellion.

Based on the three just described beliefs, I am firmly committed to the belief that sin is at once a personal willful rebellion with full knowledge of the action against the laws, written and unwritten, of God.

I do not believe in a kingdom to be established on this earth at any time in the future.

I believe that Jesus Christ established the only kingdom of God that will abide on this planet when he sent the Holy Spirit to those who were awaiting his arrival. I am firmly committed to a kingdom of God in this present time that is doing battle with the kingdom of darkness now and has been since the cross of Calvary.

I am firmly committed to a life free of sin, in thought, word or deed, because Jesus lives within us when we truly give Him place in our lives, and in Him is no sin.

I am firmly committed to the belief that people who cannot find it in themselves to give sacrificially in time, prayer, resources and personal contact to others in greater need cannot call themselves Christians. This was the great commission given by our Lord to those who would be His disciples.

I believe in baptism of adults as a public acknowledgement after conversion of figuratively being dead in Christ to the way one formally lived in sin. I am committed to the ritual as only a testimony of personal experience and therefore can not be bestowed on infants or the dead.

I am firmly committed to the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper as a figurative representation of Christ’s body and blood and that the elements hold NO significance or power in and of themselves.

Blessings. May 11, 2008 Bruce W. Catlett