- 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
… 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).
...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).
The merits of Christianity are based on the birth, life, death, burial, bodily resurrection, physical ascension, and 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 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). <><
A Wise Ratio
< • ) ) <
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)
____________
† 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 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.
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