Sunday, September 7, 2008
Knowing Your Beliefs

Here's a list of the 5 key beliefs that we discussed today. We need to be careful of anyone who tells us something different

1. The Bible is God's revelation -- the Bible is 100% true and there is no need to for additional "scriptures" to add to its authority (e.g. the Mormons believe that you need to read the Book of Mormon to have the complete picture of God's revelation)
2. Jesus is fully man and fully God -- if Jesus were not fully God, He could not have been the perfect sacrifice for our sins; and id He had not been fully man, He could not have died on the cross for our sins
   
3. Doctrine of the Trinity -- God is one, but he exists in three persons (click here for more info)
4. Salvation is through Christ's finished work on the cross -- Jesus' death on the cross has paid the full penalty for our sins, and we can only be saved if we believe in what Jesus has done for us and repent of our sins. God does not attach any other conditions to our salvation. (e.g.
   
5. Nobody knows when the Second Coming will be (e.g. a number of cults had claimed that the world would end on 31 Dec 1999)

As we mentioned, the only we we know how to identify a fake is to know the truth, and the way to know the truth is to build up our relationship with God. In the same way girls can tell who's carrying a fake Coach bag, we too need to know what we believe in so as to know when Satan is trying to trick us.

I've attached a video that I posted a while back. It shows the importance of knowing your Bible to aid you in fending off false teaching.