WHAT WE BELIEVE

The following paragraphs express the doctrinal convictions of every RI staff of the Reasons To Believe staff and board of directors. Reasons To Believe adheres to the International Council of Biblical Inerrancy listed at the end of this publication.

1. Scripture

We believe that the Bible – “The Holy Scripture” [the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments] to be the inspired, the only inspired, infallible, inerrant and authoritative Word of God and written. It is a “God-breathed” revelation, therefore verbally inspired and completely without historical, scientific, moral, and spiritual errors in its original writings. The

Holy Scripture reveals the being, nature, and character of God, the nature of God’s creation, and especially His will for the salvation of human beings through Jesus Christ. The Bible is therefore our supreme and final authority in all matters that it addresses. While God the Holy Spirit supernaturally superintended the writing of the Bible, that writing nevertheless reflects the words and literary styles of its individual human authors. [2 Peter 1:21, 2 Timothy 3:16]

 

2. God

We believe in one infinitely perfect, eternal and personal God, the transcendent Creator and sovereign Sustainer of the universe. This one God is Triune, existing eternally and simultaneously as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three persons in the Godhead share equally and completely the one divine nature, and are therefore the same God, coequal in power, nature, and glory.

 

3. Person of the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, is indeed a Divine Person, coequal with the Father and the Son. We also believe in the ministry of the Holy Spirit in salvation, a ministry which includes anointing and glorifying Christ, convicting men of their sin, bringing about the regeneration of lost sinners, and indwelling believers and empowering them for godly living and spiritual service. [2 Corinthians 13:14]

 

4. Person of Christ

We believe in the Deity of Jesus Christ – that He is God. In this context we believe that Jesus Christ is both true God (the second Person of the Trinity) and true man (the Incarnate Son of God). We also believe in the great events surrounding Jesus Christ’s life and ministry, including: His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, His eternal preexistence, His virgin birth, His attesting miracles, His sinless life, His sacrificial death on the cross, His glorious bodily resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, and His present work in heaven as High Priest and Advocate. He will return in glory to resurrect and judge all mankind. [John 10:30 and 15:5; Phil 2:6; Col 1:19; Tit 2:13; 1 Tim 3:16]

 

5. The Return and Rule of Jesus Christ

We believe in the personal and the pre-millennial return of Jesus Christ to receive unto himself the Church which is referred to as “Rapture”. We believe that Christ will reign on earth for one thousand years [millennium] with His saints. [1 Thes 4:16-17, Titus 2:13; Rev 20:4 and

21:22]

 

6. The Church

We believe the universal church and the local church is the spiritual body of Jesus Christ (its Founder, Head, and Shepherd) and that it encompasses all true believers at all times and places. The function of the church is to fulfill the Great Commission, carry out the Lord’s expressed will through the power of the Holy Spirit. One of the central purposes of the church is to preach the Gospel [in both word and life], the good news that humankind can find salvation from sin through faith in Jesus Christ. All people who have placed their faith [confident trust] in Jesus Christ for salvation belong to the church and are, thus, the people of God. This community of believers is made up of people who are neither perfect nor sinless, but by grace their lives are coming more and more under the control of the Holy Spirit, expressing His love, joy, peace, and other Christ-like qualities. [Ephesians 1:22-23, Hebrews 10:25]

 

7. Salvation

We believe that that the personal salvation of lost and sinful people and regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential. We believe that this is possible through Jesus Christ, upon confession and belief in one’s heart and that it is the work of God’s grace. We also believe in the baptism and infilling with the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues and manifesting the fruit of the Spirit thereof. [Isaiah 28:11; Luke 24:49; Acts 2:1-4; Rom 10:9-10, Eph 2:8, Acts 10:46, Galatians 5:16,22]

 

8. Baptism

We believe in believers baptism in water by immersion as public testimony to the works of the inward work of the Grace of God. Immersion and the subsequent raising from the water are symbolic of the Christian dying to sin and to the world and rising with Jesus Christ unto newness of life. Baptism is in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We do not consider baptism which takes place prior to the individual personal experience of salvation as scriptural.

[Matt 28:19, Romans 6:4]

 

9. Divine Healing

We believe in divine healing and that it is obtained on the basis of the atonement and faith in the healer – Jesus Christ. [Matt. 9:12, Mark 2:17, mark 6:13, James 5:14-15, 1 Pet 2:24, Exod 2:26,

Psa 103:3, Isa 53]. We also believe that God grants wisdom and knowledge to persons to research and discover ways to promote and dispense medical care to His creation.

 

10. Creation

We believe that the physical universe, the realm of nature, is the visible creation of God. It declares God’s existence and gives a trustworthy revelation of God’s character and purpose. In Scripture, God declares that through His creation all humanity recognizes His existence, power, glory, and wisdom. An honest study of nature — its physical, biological, and social aspects – can prove useful in a person’s search for truth. Properly understood, God’s Word [Scripture] and God’s world [nature], as two revelations [one verbal, one physical] from the same God, will never contradict each other.

 

11. Mankind

We believe God created mankind in His image and likeness (having rational, moral, relational, and spiritual capacities) to fellowship with Him and give Him glory. Human beings are therefore the crown of God’s creation (possessing inherent dignity and moral worth), and thus distinct in kind from all other life on earth. Adam and Eve, the first human beings, chose to rebel against God and go their own autonomous way. As a result, all of mankind became separated from God, the image of God in man distorted, and the sinful nature passed on to all their progeny. Because of original sin (which includes both corruption and guilt), unregenerate human beings are incapable of pleasing or commending themselves to God. The only remedy for mankind’s pitiful predicament is redemption through faith in Jesus Christ.

 

12. Redemption

We believe God has acted sovereignly to bridge the gap that separates people from Himself. He sent His Son, born of a virgin, attested by miracles and by a sinless life, to bear the full penalty for humanity’s sin. Jesus Christ suffered and died in the place of sinners, thus satisfying the Father’s just wrath against human sin, and effecting true reconciliation between God and mankind for those who believe. In the atoning death of Christ, both God’s love and God’s justice are fully manifested. The righteousness of Jesus Christ in perfectly fulfilling the law of God has been graciously credited to all believers. Redemption is solely a work of God’s grace, received exclusively through faith in Jesus Christ, and never by works of human merit.

 

13. Justification

We believe justification is a judicial act of God’s grace wherein He acquits a person of all sin and accepts that person as righteous in His sight because of the imputed righteousness of

Christ. Justification is strictly a work of God’s grace, apprehended through faith alone, and solely on the account of Christ.

 

14. Resurrection

We believe Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead, conquering sin, death, and all the powers of

Satan. The resurrection is God’s historical affirmation and vindication of Jesus Christ’s unique identity, mission, and message. Historical evidence of the resurrection is manifest in Christ’s empty tomb, His many resurrection appearances, and in the emergence of the Christian church. Jesus Christ now resides at the right hand of the Father, and lives to indwell all who recognize their sinfulness, who repent, and who turn their lives over to His authority.

 

15. Future Things

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ will return to this earth, personally, bodily, and visibly to establish his glorious reign in a kingdom that will never end. As the sovereign Lord, He will resurrect and judge all humanity. Those who have received His offer of life through the Gospel will go to eternal blessings in heaven; those who have rejected it, to eternal conscious torment in hell. We look forward to the blessed hope, Christ’s Second Coming in glory.

 

16. The Great Commission

We believe Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. And since Christ has commissioned His people, the church, to go into all the world to disciple, to baptize, and to teach everyone everywhere to obey His Word, we desire, by His grace, to play our part in reaching the world with the Gospel of Christ.

 

17. The Existence of Satan and demons

We believe in the existence of Satan and the demons. We believe that the devil, Satan does not possess the attributes of God and God restrains him. We believe in the casting out of demons. We believe that they together with those whose names are not written in the book of life will finally be judged by god and consigned to the everlasting punishment in the lake of fire which burns with fire and brimstone. Rev 19:20, 20:10-15]

The Basis of our Belief

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics (Articles 19-22)

  • We affirm that any pre understandings which the interpreter brings to Scripture should be in harmony with scriptural teaching and subject to correction by it.
  • We deny that Scripture should be required to fit alien pre understandings, inconsistent with itself, such as naturalism, evolutionism, scientism, secular humanism, and relativism.
  • We affirm that since God is the author of all truth, all truths, biblical and extra biblical, are consistent and cohere, and that the Bible speaks truth when it touches on matters pertaining to nature, history, or anything else. We further affirm that in some cases extrabiblical data have value for clarifying what Scripture teaches, and for prompting correction of faulty interpretations.
  • We deny that extrabiblical views ever disprove the teaching of Scripture or hold priority over it.
  • We affirm the harmony of special with general revelation and therefore of biblical teaching with the facts of nature.
  • We deny that any genuine scientific facts are inconsistent with the true meaning of any passage of Scripture.
  • We affirm that Genesis 1-11 is factual, as is the rest of the book.

We deny that the teachings of Genesis 1-11 are mythical and that scientific hypotheses about earth history or the origin of humanity may be invoked to overthrow what Scripture teaches about creation.