Learn why it is important to know the basics of our faith?
In our Core Beliefs section, we are attempting to systematically go through some of the main topics that concern believers, topics that believers need to know the answers to, so that they can use the information to be able to more confidently and accurately use the information to spread the Gospel to others. I pray that you, too, will be able to see the Biblical basis for these beliefs and make them your own as they are given to us by God.
We, as Christians, have to have a way that our God can communicate with us. He isn’t appearing to us in a vision or apparition telling us that we need to do something or go somewhere so that we can be in His will, as He would want us to do. We have to have something that would show us, unequivocally, what is right and wrong and, knowing this, we are able to make an educated decision based on the Word of God.
Through the sands of time, God has used men/people to chronicle history (mostly of the Children of Israel) from the beginning of time to near the end of the first century A. D. Now we have the 66 book cannon of the Bible to be able to show you what is right and wrong “and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”, II Timothy 3:16.
The articles contained in this section will be addressing topics such as: The Bible – The Word of God?; What is Baptism and Why do we need it?; Dispensationalism; The Godhead – The Trinity – The Three in One; The person and work of Christ; The person and work of the Holy Spirit; The Natural Man; Salvation;The Eternal Security and Assurance of The Believer; The Church; Separation; The Second Advent of Christ; The Eternal State; Creation; Civil Government; Human Sexuality; Family Relationships; Divorce and Remarriage; Abortion; Love; Lawsuits Between Believers; Missions; Tithe and Giving.
This is what I have on my plate for the time being. I will be working on one addition at a time and will get to them as the Lord leads me to do it. If you really feel that there is a topic that you would like me to complete outside of this line-up (BTW I reserve the right take them out of order at will), then please let me know in a comment below and maybe a brief comment regarding why you might want it to happen. I will consider all suggestions.
Christians Are Us 
Thasia
/ December 21, 2012I know I am in way over my head in regards to this conversation but I wanted to draw your attention to something that I noticed. A lot of Hebrew was being used an a verse from Acts 16:31 was being referenced. Acts says So they said, “Believe on The Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” I bring in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
There are two Hebrew words one for “on” = giyach and one for “in” = dehab they are both proununced chald. They are interchangeable for the same word.
As far as Joseph being the father of Jesus he was the “earthly” father. This being Christmas time the Bible clearly states in the Christmas story who the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is as well as John 3:16.
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Donald McLain
/ March 21, 2016https://carm.org/what-do-christadelphians-teach
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marcusampe
/ November 28, 2012Look carefully to what the apostle Paul says: “Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” He does not say believe in Christ and you shall get into heaven.
About heaven and hell you shall find in your wife, when she still beliefs a lot of the teachings of the Jehovah Witnesses, a good partner to reason why we not all go to heaven but shall be lucky when we shall be partakers of the Kingdom of God here on earth, because when you red Isaiah you shall get to know where most of us hall enter the Kingdom of God and which city shall be the governing Central City of that Kingdom on earth. (Jerusalem – see also Revelation)
Christadelphians, like Jehovah Witnesses are people who witness about the only True God: Jehovah, whose Name is holy, being non-trinitarians who take the Bible as the Word of God and sole Guide to find all answers.
On the major points we do think the same as the JW, but do not accept their organisation Watchtower and Tract Society, to be the Faithful Slave of God to be followed. We also do not know who the 144 000 are, and we take the Hebrew words like how they where understood in the time of writing; for example “satan” (still as today) the “adversary” and not a sort of spiritual demon residing somewhere in a place of torment called hell. (Because ‘sheol’ was only the burning place, out of town, where dead people where burned or incinerated so that diseases could not spread.) so no devils for us, because the devil is in our selves: the evil).
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marcusampe
/ November 27, 2012About the mother of God, I forget to write that God had no mother. Jesus had a mother and a Father, and was man of flesh and blood. God is a Spirit, who resurrected his son and highered him than angels, who where at first higher than Jesus, and let Jesus sit at His right hand to be the mediator between God and men.
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Christiane
/ April 12, 2018I am from a faith tradition that believes in Christ as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Who spoke and acted in the very Person of God in the sacred Scriptures.
When I read the comments of many evangelical Christians, I often get the feeling that they see Our Lord not as ‘fully God’ as well as ‘fully Man’, but basically as ‘the Son of God’. I had a friend say to me, this: “Jesus is NOT God, He is the Son of God.”
So, how is the Holy Trinity taught as a doctrine in your theology? Perhaps I am just hung up on people referring to the Father as ‘God’ and Jesus as ‘the Son of God’ without reference to the sacred Trinity . . . . ?
Please share your viewpoint about the teaching of the Holy Trinity and thank you for letting me comment here.
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marcusampe
/ November 27, 2012Doctrines is not equal as beliefs. People can have beliefs but not accept believes imposed by man. For example you believe in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, while I only believe in One God the Elohim Hashem Jehovah. It is a doctrine that Jesus would be God and everybody in your church has to believe it for being able to become a member of your church. But no where in the Bible you shall be able to find the word Holy Trinity. Some also have as doctrine that Mary (Maria/Miriam) is the mother of God, though God was always there, had no beginning and no end.
The only doctrine where I have to keep on in my faith is that there is A God who created everything and who has been there for ever. All other things can be found in the Holy Scriptures, where is written that Jesus is born and died (God is eternal, had no beginning and can not die) is son of God and son of men. Out of that one doctrinal point all the rest are belief points but not doctrines. So e.g. I do believe in the salvation because of Christ Jesus (Jeshua) giving his life for all.
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Christians Are Us
/ November 27, 2012Marcus,
Thank you for you interest here. In reading your seemingly accusing statement, it seems that you are imagining me to be a catholic in my beliefs. I’m not sure where you are getting some of you statements as to what I believe, since I have just started this blog, I haven’t had the chance to fully state what I believe and don’t believe (I give a brief view of that in the first link shown below). I have only eluded to subject topics. I will tell you that when I do choose to write regarding the Trinity (I don’t refer to them as the “Holy Trinity” – not to be blasphemous), the person of Christ, Holy Spirit, who Mary is in relation to Jesus or God the Father. I hope you will forgive me for not referring to certain beings in the Hebrew terms as I am not Hebrew, nor do I know Hebrew and the Bible that I read is in English; even my word by word translation of the original text of the Bible. Certain belief structures indoctrinate their converts to refer to entities in a certain way. I guess, to some degree, I may be the same way, just not the same as exactly what you are saying. I mean no disrespect. I assume that we are speaking of the same entity. If I perceive that there is a discrepancy and I know it, I will do what I can to set it straight – backed up by what the Bible says.
I believe that in many areas, we share the same views. As I am addressing these topics (and I will), you can see exactly what I believe and why, according to what the Bible says. As I stated earlier, all of my statements are backed by the Bible and as you can read in my already published article regarding the Holy Bible, I believe it is ALL God-breathed and as such, you must believe all of it or none of it. (You can read about it here: https://christiansareus.wordpress.com/category/core-beliefs/the-holy-scriptures/) I also believe in salvation through Jesus Christ and the details I have already posted about here: https://christiansareus.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/youre-dead-now-what/. There is no salveation through any other but Jesus Christ: https://christiansareus.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/how-many-ways-are-there-to-get-to-heaven/.
Hopefully that will give you a good start as to the foundation of my faith and thus my beliefs. You should subscribe to my blog so that you will get my doctrinal updates (and others) as I post them. I promise they will be informative. For the record, I am not one that is trying to spread MY beliefs or points of view, I study the Bible and IT gives me definition for my beliefs and the Holy Spirit enables me to understand it. If there are areas (and there are many) that I don’t fully understand, I will look to other trusted scholars of the Word to help me out (much like my teachers/tutors). Hence, I know I don’t know it all but I am really good friends with the One that does – meaning God.
Since you have voiced some great interest in the Trinity of the Holy Trinity, I will address that subject next. Keep posted for that update. If you have any other specific questions, please let me know. I appreciate your interest in Godly subjects but you hit me with 30 different subjects that I could write papers about on their own. Unfortunately, I am unable to do them justice in these comments here. I will try to use these comments to influence me to address the subjects. You might want to browse around the site to see if i haven’t already touched it somewhere else that might give you better light on the subject.
Thank you again, Marcus.
–Mark
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marcusampe
/ November 27, 2012Dear Mark,
sorry if I give the impression to accuse you. I do not accuse any body. I just wanted to show the difference between a doctrine and a belief. Transubstantiation and the previous matters where the most obvious where certain denominations tell their followers to accept such a thing though their followers nor we can really understand it, that is why we do have to accept it, because according to them it is to great an issue for our mind to grasp and as such a doctrine.
As you say: “Certain belief structures indoctrinate their converts to refer to entities in a certain way. ”
I appreciate your work on the net and your honesty of believing that all of your statements are backed by the Bible. That is always the best thing that we try to get everything out of the Word of God, because we both believe it is ALL God-breathed. Then you also say: “and as such, you must believe all of it or none of it.” Though we may not forget that often we carry the burden of previous education or religious formation with us and than it sometimes can be very difficult for people to get rid of denominational teachings.
What is important that we always stay honest to how and what we interpret from the Word of God. I do believe when we stay honest to God and ourselves, God shall also be willing to take account of our deficiencies and understand why and when we went wrong in our thinking and handling.
when we are willing to follow the Word of God in the way we can understand it and let it be as our road map through life, it shall gradually form us and guide us all the way through in the way God is willing to open for us. I do believe the ones who are willing to choose for God shall be fitted into God’s Plan. When they lived the live according to the Commandments of God and to the commandments of Christ, when they accept Jesus as their saviour, Jesus shall be able to be the best mediator between them and his and our Father. I, as a Christadelphian, believe that from whatever denomination you may be, or when somebody is a good Evangelical, Baptist, Lutheran, Calvinist, Catholic, Jew, perhaps even a good Muslim, at the Last day of Judgement, they all can be saved and enter the Kingdom of God, when they would be allowed by Jesus Christ. It is up to him to decide and not to human beings. (That is one of our beliefs, but not a doctrine.)
I had a look at the articles, and others, and agree that on several points we would agree, though on others we do think differently. That is part of the diversity of human-hood. different characters, different interpretations. That is also part of the richness of the world. So I am not against the differences in opinion.
When Jesus taught he demanded his followers to go out into the world and preach the Gospel of the Good News of the coming Kingdom. I appreciate that you are willing to do that important work and wish you lots of luck with reaching out to people so that they can get to know Christ Jesus and his Father, the Creator of all things.
Yours truly,
Marcus
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marcusampe
/ November 27, 2012It are not religions or denominations which shall bring eternal life or an afterlife. Only our own attitude and our relationship to Jehovah, God, shall bring us in the possibility to come in front of God His son, at the End Times on the Day of Judgement, when (only then) the dead shall be taken out of the graves and shall have to appear with the living before Christ to be judged and either to be allowed into the Kingdom of God or to receive a (second) death, being destroyed for ever.
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Christians Are Us
/ November 28, 2012Where do I start, Marcus? You are correct in that religions or denominations do not get you to Heaven. But I am glad to tell you that there absolutely is a guarantee that one can get to Heaven. When Paul said in Acts 16:31, “Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”, He didn’t put any conditions on it besides that one has to believe. Not even a condition of baptism was made. In John 3:16, Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” He didn’t make any conditions there either. When Jesus was on the cross speaking to the thief on his side and told him that “tonite thou wilt be with me in paradise”, there was no conditions there.
First, let me start by saying that this decision to become a Christian is not one to be taken lightly, but rather very seriously. The promise is between the person and God. God will hold up His end of the deal but the person also has to hold up his end. His end is to BELIEVE – with all his heart, his being, everything that he has he is turning over to God. We become the bride of Christ as we become a Christian and that kind of relationship should never be taken lightly, and in this case it is one that cannot be taken back, much like our modern day divorces are.
Secondly, Grace is bestowed upon all of mankind and God’s way of salvation is open for anyone of any race, creed or color to take advantage of. Just because God offers it to all, does not mean that all will take it. If I held out a piece of money, allowing anyone to take it from my hand, whose would it be? It would be mine until someone takes it. That person would take the money from my hand and it would be theirs to do with as they so choose. Salvation is much like that. We can choose to become a Christian at any point in time (for now) and if we do it we will never lose it. Paul teaches this in Romans 5 and 6 and Jesus teaches in in John 10:28, 29.
It is true that we all will be judged in the end times. We will all stand before God and give account for our actions (or lack of actions). But, there will actually be two judgments that will be totally separate. There is the Bema Seat Judgement or the Judgement of the Church. This is going to happen immediately after the taking away of the church that is spoken of in I Thess. 4, II Thess. 4, 5. This taking away is another topic that I will be talking deeper about, called the Rapture of the Church. Much like the term “Trinity” the word “Rapture” is also not found in the Bible but the term rapture literally means a taking up or catching away, and that is what is said will happen to the Church. Moving on, after the Church is taken up into the clouds to meet Jesus in the air, the beginning of the tribulation will happen and go on for 7 years. At the end of the seven years, Christ will make his Second Coming as he touches his feet to the top of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and defeats the Anti-Christ/Satan in the battle of Armageddon. At that point, there will have been more saved during the tribulation timeframe and they and the unsaved will then go to the Great White Throne Judgment as some would say the “sheep and goat judgment”. The sheep are the ones that have been saved during the tribulation time and the goats are those that were never saved. The sheep he will say “enter into My rest” where the goats He will say “depart from me ye cursed, for I never knew you” and they will then be thrown into the Lake of Fire for eternity. (the second death)
You had some of it right…
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marcusampe
/ November 27, 2012Transubstantiation and all matters which denominations tell us to accept, because we can not grasp it, are matters of which we have to think more carefully and try to find the answers in the Holy Scriptures. In most cases people would not find such things in Scriptures, so they should understand it is not Scriptural and therefore not a thing to be taken as necessary to belief. Such a teaching then should not indoctrinate them, and they should not be afraid that they can not understand that denominational teaching. They should follow their nose and keep to the Words found in the Holy Scriptures.
The only thing is they also should look for it and if necessary try to find help from others to find it in the Bible. Every Christian has the task to help others to find it in the Bible. Therefore Mark, I do think your work, and the work of other preachers is necessary, so that peoples eyes can be opened and people can find ways to think and meditate.
Exchanging ideas and showing others scriptural verses can give each other exhortation and a way to from a new life in Christ. And that is where we should be striving at.
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Christians Are Us
/ November 28, 2012Marcus,
No harm done. This is all in love as we are instructed to do in God’s Word. After our last “talk” I looked up the actual definition to doctrine in contrast to belief. The easiest way that I found to understand it is this: Doctrine is that way of thinking that an “institution” tries to teach us. Belief is what we as individuals choose to do with that doctrine. If we choose to believe the doctrine taught, then we become indoctrinated and hence it becomes our belief and doctrine at that point.
I understand your (or someone else’s) previous denominational “baggage” and how it is difficult to shed it and therefore adhere to the teachings in the Bible instead. My wife grew up a catholic; they told her that she asked too many questions; she then moved on to the Jehovah’s Witnesses…; I’m still battling with her (using the sword of the Lord (the Bible) to get rid of some of her previous “understandings of the Bible” – the Trinity being one of them.
It seems that we do share many of the same Bible based beliefs. Maybe due to our different geographic location I am not aware of what a “Christadelphian” actually is. I will say though that I am very well versed – though not an expert – on what the Bible teaches. I know that there are no mentions of any “denominations” in the Bible. I also know that as such there may be some in Heaven of many of the different denominations. Whether or not a person is going to get into Heaven is up to God and the person, not me or you to judge them. Although, the Bible does lay out very clearly what it takes in order to get to Heaven and if those criteria are not met, there will be NO entrance into Heaven and there will be NO additional chance for them to change their minds or God’s. Either the person’s name is written in the Book or it is not. Those not found in the Book will be cast into the Lake of Fire that was intended for the Devil and his angels (along with them). The word “Christian” is very important. If you break it down, Christ – ian; Christ is obviously The Messiah, Jesus, Emanuel, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Godhead; ian means to follow or a follower of. So, if you join them together you get one who follows Christ. Looking at many of the above listed religions, you have to ask yourself, who they follow and do their ways match up to the ways that are taught in the Bible, and if not, are they doing anything to change that? It is very important as a Christian to be involved in a GOOD BIBLE BELIEVING, BIBLE PREACHING Church that encourages you to get into the Bible and study and memorize scripture and even question what the preacher is teaching to see if it is of God or not. If it is not, you need to get out of that one and get into one that does.
The fact that we are of different cultures, nations, etc. doesn’t mean that we can’t believe in and serve the same God. We are admonished to go into all the world and preach the Gospel making disciples of Christ out of as many as at all possible. I am physically not able to do that any longer but I use what I still have available to me to get into the world and spread His Word and teach those who would like to be taught and hopefully help to guide someone down the correct path even the path of salvation. Keep in mind, salvation is not a journey that we hope to reach someday, it is a descission that we make once and then we learn more and more about God and His Word and serve Him and then we will someday reach that Heavenly destination (definitely) and hopefully be able to bring others along with us as a result of our efforts of spreading the Gospel. That IS the coming Kingdom for the Christian. Our time on earth is but a blink of an eye in the scope of eternity, so what we do on earth is very important. There will be many other people out there that definitely will NOT be going to Heaven that we need to reach out to and make converts out of them, then disciple them and teach them to do the same.
I enjoy our discourse here. You have encouraged me and I hope I have you as well.
In Christ,
Mark
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marcusampe
/ November 27, 2012As Christians we also do have to be aware that not all Christians do think the same or take the same doctrines a part of Christian beliefs. There are Christians who do not have any doctrines. They keep their mind free and only take the Words from the Bible as the Words to follow. Words like Holy Trinity do not come into the Book of books, so they consider it as something which is not to believed, certainly when there are clear indicators of the right position of Jesus, who can not do anything without God, was lower than the angels, but is highered by his Father. A man who was born and rally died, while God can not die and is eternal. Jesus being called son of God and son of men, those Christians consider not as a god son, but as the prophet and Master teacher, as promised in the Old Testament.
You as a trinitarian, have other ideas than those non-trinitarians. But both, who call themselves Christians, should be followers of the same man, Jeshua, son of Miriam and Joseph in the lineage of King David, (better know as Jesus from Nazareth, son of Mary and Joseph). Those followers should be taking up the task Jesus has given them. To go out in the world and to preach.
I wish you lots of time to study the Word of God and to find many answers so that you too shall be able to help people to get to know the Saviour Jesus and his Father Jehovah God.
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Christians Are Us
/ November 27, 2012Muarcus,
Thank you for your comment and for taking the time to visit our site. You are very right in that there are many “Christians” who make that claim but they don’t know what it is that a Christian is supposed to believe. Some of them may have been “saved” or “introduced to Jesus” and either didn’t have a good church to attend or they did go to a church but that church neglected their duties of teaching or “perfecting the saints” (Eph. 4:12). If a Christian does not have any doctrines (or beliefs) then there is nothing for them to be excited about; there is nothing for them to “preach”.
Keeping one’s mind “free” also opens the mind to influence from any angle and that allows the enemy (Satan, the Devil) a way to enter into their mind and help them to believe what he wants them to believe. If you are aware, remember the Gnostic teachings; they would introduce something that was pure from the scriptures and then they would twist it to mean something totally different.
We as Christians need to diligently study the Bible and we are to know what we believe so that we can preach/teach others and spread the Gospel.
Here at Christians Are Us, we are dedicated to studying and teaching the Bible. Our teachings do not come from ANY other source than the Bible. If there is a question about a text, we turn to the Bible to explain the Bible. It sounds funny but it always works. Granted, there are plenty of teachings that some will like to draw attention to that are not core beliefs and some are even debatable to the point where no one learns anything or is edified. If you have a specific question, you can state it here and we will answer it as best we can directly from the Bible. We will not use any other source for our doctrine.
Thank you for your encouragement. There never seems to be enough time in the day to study and put out information for content in this blog. We are dedicated to taking as much time as is needed to be able to bring you the TRUTH. I try to make sure that any statement that is spoken as Gospel truth in this blog is directly based upon the Bible.
As for those Christians that have no doctrine, as you say, you can direct them to this site. I don’t have everything posted yet that I would like to have posted that would teach every doctrine (I’m working on it) but for the “beginner”, they can start in our Discipleship menu and then under that the Growing In Grace section. It is a great Bible study that teaches the basics that a Christian should know. I also have other articles in this blog that will back up these studies for deeper study as well. I am working on getting quite a few more out, but I can’t do it all over night, so bear with me, please.
God bless you, Marcus. Keep checking back for additional content. I hope that it will be a blessing to you as much as it is to me to prepare it.
In Christ,
Mark
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