Our Beliefs

This page will be updated as we finalize statements about our beliefs. These beliefs must be extracted from, and in accord with the Holy Scriptures. A denomination's or tradition's interpretation of the Bible does not usurp the Bible itself. We do not seek to read our beliefs into the Bible, but to derive our beliefs from the Bible.

Table of Contents

• The Holy Scriptures
  • Inspiration
  • Preservation
  • Conclusion

The Holy Scriptures

We begin our beliefs with the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures for a critical reason: all of our following beliefs are based on what the Bible teaches. Every belief we firmly hold to must come from the Bible, so we need to be sure of what it is and that it is pure.

It is difficult to encapsulate the Bible in one simple, succinct description, though an attempt may be: the Bible is the words of the Ready Writer.

Inspiration

The true author of the Bible is God Himself, who used men to deliver the words, as a carpenter uses a hammer or a writer a pen.¹ The tool affects the style of the work, but the tool is not the creator. This is not to say that when Satan speaks in the Bible that this is God, but that the record (the words we read in our Bible now) has been given to us by God.

The word "inspiration" as defined in the Oxford English Dictionary is:

I. Literal (physical) senses. 2. The action, or an act, of breathing in or inhaling; the drawing in of the breath into the lungs in respiration. (Opp. to expiration 2.)
II. Figurative senses. 3. a. spec. (Theol., etc.) A special immediate action or influence of the Spirit of God (or of some divinity or supernatural being) upon the human mind or soul; said esp. of that divine influence under which the books of Scripture are held to have been written.

It is of utmost importance that we specify that what God authored is the words, not the general idea. The emphasis throughout the Bible is placed on the words, not the gist of it.² When one places the "meaning" above the words, a vague message is substituted for the specific, true meaning. No where in the Bible does it state that God gave man the ideas and man wrote down these ideas in his own words; the Bible plainly teaches that God spoke the very words through men.

For an excellent sermon on inspiration, see "How We Got God's Words," by Jack Hyles.

Preservation

What good would it be if God gave us His words and then lost them? Thankfully, God promised to preserve His words³—in more than just the original manuscripts.⁴ This promise is fulfilled supernaturally, since He is omnipotent after all. The original manuscripts were but the first step in the preservation of His Word.

How weak textual critics must think God is, to state that He only preserved His Word in the autographs. Does God only speak three or so tongues, all of which are dead languages today? Jehovah is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Jesus stated that His gospel would be brought to all nations; and in this He didn't mean that all people would have to learn ancient, dead languages.

God said that we'd be able to speak His words forever.⁵ How can His words be in our mouths, unless they are translated? How could His disciples teach others to observe His commandments, except that His words be brought, by His grace and power, into foreign languages?⁶

Although God has preserved His Word, the children of Lucifer have been hard at work corrupting and perverting it for millennia.⁷ The most recent and prevalent manifestation of which is the abundance of English translations claiming to be Bibles, which in reality are based off of perverted Romish manuscripts known as the Nestle-Aland text.

Conclusion

Perhaps the grandest chapter about the Bible itself is Psalm 119.

The Bible is a holy, living book. It is referred to by many analogies (a mirror, a lamb, seed⁸), our favorite being the sword.⁸ It is to be held with utmost regard.⁹ We are to obey it: it is a guide for us, touching every area of our lives.¹⁰

It is the sole authority for our faith and practice; not a denomination, the traditions of man, or our subjective experiences.

It is, from beginning to end, about our Lord Jesus Christ (who is also known as the Word).¹¹ It contains many doctrines, chief of which is the good news about our Savior and how He has eternally saved His people by His blood atonement.

Because God gave us His words by inspiration, and supernaturally preserves them, we can be sure that the Bible is inerrant¹² and infallible.¹³ It contains everything that we as believers must know.¹⁴

The Word of God, which we can, and must, have in our mother tongue, is pure and perfect. For us English speakers, the Holy Scriptures are purely and perfectly preserved for us as the King James Bible. The rise and decline of English civilizations can be connected to this most incomparable of our English translations.

Does this mean that the King James can't be updated or improved? No, but the only changes that can improve it are spelling updates. This doesn't mean it's the only true Bible for all peoples, but for the English it is.

Furthermore, we believe that translating the Holy Bible into other languages can, and should, be done from the English text of the King James; instead of using the Hebrew and Greek texts. English is a living language and it is currently the universal language of the world. This is especially important for nations that only have access to a corrupted version of the Bible, or don't even have a Bible in their native tongue at all.