Need-essentials

Theologia Meis†

Living life as seeing Him who is unseen (Heb 11:27, LSB; Psa 23:1a, LSB) 

M-G subscribes to these non-negotiable truths of the faith:

• Authority and Inerrancy of Scripture

• The triune Godhead: the one, true, eternal God in three distinct simultaneous persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit sharing the same divine name of YHWH

• The deity of Jesus Christ

• The sinless incarnation of Jesus Christ

• Spiritual separation of the human race

• Substitutionary atonement

• The physical resurrection

• Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone

• The physical return of Christ

… I declare to you the gospel … by which … you are saved … that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:1-2, 3-4).

... if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins (1 Cor 15:17)! 

And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this [eternal] life is in His Son. He who has the Son has [eternal] life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have [eternal] life (1 Jn 5:11-12).

… we were buried with Him ... that just as Christ was raised from the dead ...even so we also should walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4).

M-G's Approach to Scripture

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15).  

Allow me to give you a flyover of the hermeneutics, the art and science of interpreting the Scriptures, that is employed in M-G. The grammatical-historical approach to Scripture, where context prevails, is considered the safest and most reliable way to reveal the Divine intent of the Author and the will of God with the enablement of the Holy Spirit, of course. 

Most will agree that there are no translations, dynamic equivalents, or paraphrases of the Bible that rise to the unseen quality of the original manuscripts given by inspiration (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:20-21). Some are better than others in one way or another. LSB is the default translation of M-G, but other versions will be cited. 

Some will argue that their version of the Word of God is unrivaled, claiming the precision of providence in the preservation of Scripture by the all-knowing and all-powerful God. That sounds pretty good, but in their hubris, they are disadvantaged like the rest of us, having never seen the original autographs. Given the body of extant manuscripts, we can be assured that we have the Word of God available to us from Genesis to Malachi and Matthew to Revelation. 

Personally, I think that if we had the original manuscripts today, man would have made the Bible into an object of worship as if it were an idol (bibliolatry). As born again believers, we do not worship the Bible but the God of the Bible. Unashamedly, we uphold the Word of God as our absolute authority in all matters of faith and practice. For those who do not believe there are any absolutes, are you absolutely sure about that!?

The merits of Christianity are based on the birth, life, death, burial, bodily resurrection, physical ascension, and physical return of Jesus Christ, not a man's poor poetry of Christlikeness, as mine or yours. Any deviation or denial of these non-negotiable truths listed above is a deliberate departure from the historical claims of Christianity and an assault on the integrity of the Person and work of Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Tim 4:3, 4; 2 Pet 2:1, 2-3). In non-negotiable unity, in negotiable liberty, in all things love (agape). 

Genuine Christians, believers, saints, followers of Jesus Christ, or people of the Way are saved only by grace alone (Sola Gratia), through faith alone (Sola Fide), in Christ alone (Solus Christus), as revealed by Scripture alone (Sola Scriptura), to the glory of God alone (Soli Deo Gloria)! Any other proposal of another way to God (cf. Jn 14:6) ultimately incurs the wrath of God (cf. Jn 3:36; Rom 1:16-18; Gal 1:8, 9).

 A Wise Ratio 

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Test all things; hold fast what is good (1 Thes 5:21, NKJV).

< • ) ) <

The Value of Creed (a C.S. Lewis perspective)*  

“I remember once when I had been giving a talk to the R.A.F. [the Royal Air Force, added], an old, hard-bitten officer got up and said, ‘I’ve no use for all that stuff. But, mind you, I’m a religious man too. I know there’s a God. I’ve felt Him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that’s just why I don’t believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who’s met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!’

Now in a sense I quite agree with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of coloured paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only coloured paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it.

In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousands of people have found by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together.

In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America.”

From Mere Christianity (Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

https://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/cs-lewis-daily/2023/01/21)

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† My Theology. This non-negotiable list is not inclusive; be that as it may, these provided "Need-Essentials" at least reveal to the reader the theological bent of my heart. My belief concerning Yahweh parallels that of A.W. Tozer’s assessment of his own belief that “What I believe about God is the most important thing about me” (cf. 1 Cor 2:2).  

 †† This ratio serves as a reminder to us that for every page we read of pagan philosophy, we would be wise to read ten pages from the Scriptures. This ratio was given to me by a godly professor whose son was pursuing a doctorate in philosophy.

* I do not seek exegetical analysis from Lewis, but I do possess a certain cautionary enjoyment of his work.