Statement of Faith Meme

For a proper statement of Faith, all answers should be in complete sentences, preferrably paragraph form, but don’t try too hard on the question. You shouldn’t try to include arguments or proofs, just clear statements about what you believe. Quotations should be used to explain, not to prove. If a question asks something you don’t have a position on, just leave it blank and go on.

#### Background

1. What theological tradition do you hail from? (Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Pentecostal, somewhere in between, etc.)

2. Is your church part of a denomination?

3. Do you approve of ecumenicalism?

#### Doctrine of Scripture

1. Can God reveal truths about himself which can be objectively known?

2. Can people accurately understand God?

3. How does God reveal himself to people?

4. Can truths about God be transfered in written form?

5. What written documents convey accurate truths about God?

6. Is there a canon or body of texts which exclusively convey all that needs to be known about God?

7. Is this canon 100% accurate, or could it have errors? What kind of errors?

#### Doctrine of God

1. What attributes has God revealed about himself?

2. Is there a Trinity?

3. Who is in the Trinity?

4. How do members of the Trinity relate to each other?

#### Creation

1. What is creation?

2. What is the purpose of creation?

3. How does creation relate to God?

4. Does creation reveal truth about God?

5. How does “Natural Theology” from creation relate to “scriptural theology” from the canon?

#### Anthropology

1. What is the right relationship between people and God?

2. What is the right relationship between people and creation?

3. What is “the Fall”?

4. Whose fault is it?

5. What is “original sin”?

6. What does it do?

#### Jesus Christ

1. Is Jesus Christ God or only “like God”?

2. Does he have all the attributes of God?

3. Is Jesus equal to God?

4. Was Jesus created or made?

5. How does God “the son” relate to God “the Father”?

6. Is Jesus human?

7. If Jesus is both human and divine, how do these relate?

8. What is Jesus’ Mission?

9. Was Jesus death a sacrifice?

10. How could God be pleased with an innocent death?

11. Was Jesus’ death a kind of ransom paid to release someone?

12. If Jesus’ death was a ransom, what payment was received and who received it?

13. Did Jesus rise from the dead? Why?

#### Salvation

1. Will everyone be saved?

2. If not everyone will be saved, why not? Is it because Jesus’ death isn’t enough, or because God doesn’t love everybody equally?

3. If not everyone will be saved, who decides (and how does this relate to question 2)?

4. What does regeneration mean (or “to be born again”)?

5. What is sanctification and how does it work?

6. What is the difference between justification and sanctification, if any?

7. Can you know if you will ultimately be saved?

8. Can you know if someone else will ultimately be saved?

9. Is it possible for someone to “fall away” after becoming a Christian?

#### The Holy Spirit

1. Is the Holy Spirit a separate person from God the Father and Jesus Christ?

2. What does he do?

3. How does he relate to other members of the Trinity?

4. What are “gifts” of the Spirit?

5. What is the purpose of spiritual gifts?

5. Is there a set number of spiritual gifts?

6. Are there some gifts which used to be available but have now been taken away?

7. Why would God remove spiritual gifts? Why some but not others?

8. What is the “fruit” of the Spirit?

9. What is the purpose of spiritual fruit?

#### The Church

1. What is the church?

2. What is the purpose of the church?

3. Should the Church consist only of believers or of the entire community?

4. Are there different churches, or only one church?

5. What is the primary ruling office in the church? Is it a kind of bishop, or a group of elders, or the aggregate of the congregation?

6. What responsibilities should deacons have?

7. How should individual congregations relate to each other? Are they all independant, do they relate as equals in a controling body, or is one church superior to all the others?

#### Sacraments

1. Do sacraments accomplish real spiritual good, or are they merely representational?

2. Should baptism be performed on all children of believers, or only upon confession of Christ?

3. Is baptism by immersion necessary?

4. What does the communion accomplish?

5. How can you take communion inappropriately?

6. Should non-members be allowed to take communion?

#### Escatology

1. Will there be a physical resurrection?

2. Will Jesus return in phsical form?

3. What is the millennium?

4. Will there be a secret rapture before the millennium?

5. What is the difference between the millennium and the new heaven and new earth?