Calvary Baptist Church and Christian School STATEMENT of FAITH
Section 1: Doctrine of the Bible We believe in the Bible as the verbally (every word) and plenary (complete) inspired Word of God as contained in the original manuscripts; that all portions of Scripture are equally inspired and contain no contradictions. (II Timothy 3:16) God's Word is tobe the only rule of faith and practice for the believer in Jesus Christ; and that the Canon, the sixty-six books of the Bible is complete. We further believe that God has supernaturally and providentially preserved His inspired Word for every generation. (Psalm 12:6-7) A. By inspiration we mean that the books of the Bible were written by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost in such a definite way that their writings were supernaturally and verbally inspired and free from error, as no other writings have ever been or ever will be. This was a one-time event in which God, once for all, delivered His truth to the church. (II Peter 1:20- 21; Jude, v. 3; II Timothy 3:16) B. By providential preservation we mean that God, through the ages, has, in His divine power, preserved the very words He inspired. We further believe that the Hebrew Old Testament text, as found in the Traditional Masoretic Text, and the Greek New Testament text, as found in the Textus Receptus, are the true texts of Scripture and therefore are the complete, preserved, inerrant, infallible Word of God. (Psalm 12: 7; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 24:35; 1 Peter 1:23) C. We therefore believe that the King James Version is an accurate and faithful translation of the true texts of Scriptures which constitutes the preserved, inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God for the English- speaking people of the world. The King James Version of the Bible is the only translation used by Calvary Baptist Church, Calvary Christian School, and Calvary Baptist Bible College and Seminary.
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three Persons-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections; and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence and obedience. (Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:25; John 1:1; John 14:16, 17; Timothy 3:16)
Section 3: Doctrine of Jesus Christ
We believe in the essential deity and virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; that He was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary not having human father, and is true God and true man; that He is man's only hope of salvation from sin, being the only mediator between God and man; that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day for our sins according to the Scriptures; that His return for His Church, the Body of Christ, which He will take with Himself into heaven is imminent; and that He will come to this earth to set up His millennial reign. (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-4; John 10:30; John 14:6; I Timothy 2:5, 6; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20:4-6) Section 4: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit We believe the Holy Spirit to be coequal with the Father and with the Son. He is a Person. He came to this earth as the fulfillment of Christ's promise. He convicts, regenerates, indwells seals, fills, empowers, and guides the believer. (John 16:7-13; John 3:3-5; Acts 1:8; I Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 1:13, 14; Ephesians 5:18)
We believe that God created man in His own image and that man sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death which is conscious and eternal separation from God. We believe that all men are born with a sinful nature, evidenced by sinful acts; that man is totally depraved (every aspect of man has been affected by sin) and that if he is not born again, he is eternally lost. (Genesis 1:26, 27; Psalm 51:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Luke 16:23; Revelation 21:8; Romans 3:10-23; Romans 5:12;I Corinthians 15:21, 22; Revelation 20:11-15, Revelation 21:8) Section 6: Doctrine of Human Sexuality We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, transgenderism, and pornography are sinful perversions of God's gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one's birth gender by surgery or appearance. (Genesis 2:24, 19:5, 13, 26:8-9, Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; Corinthians 5:1, 6:9; I Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4) We further believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two-distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God, and the rejection of one's biological gender is a rejection of the image of God within that person. (Genesis 1:26-27) Section 7: Doctrine of Marriage We believe that the term "marriage" has only one, legitimate meaning, and that is marriage sanctioned by God, which joins one man and one woman in a single, covenantal union, as delineated by Scripture. Marriage ceremonies performed in any facility owned, leased, or rented by this church will only be those ceremonies sanctioned by God, joining one man with one woman as that gender was determined at birth.