What God is not:

• God is not part of nature, one with nature, or simply an “old man in the sky.”
• God cannot be fully comprehended by human minds.
• God is not distant, uncaring, angry, or waiting for us to break a rule just to punish us. Nor is He like a genie dispensing rewards earned by our faith or good behavior.

What we believe about God:

We believe God is not a part of nature, but instead is beyond all of nature, as nature is one of the things God created. God has always existed as the greatest possible being, meaning nothing surpasses Him in knowledge, power, or love, and He is the ultimate standard of right and wrong.

This one God is Triune[1]—one supreme being who exists eternally as three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each person of the Trinity fully shares in the divine nature and are therefore the same God, coequal in power, nature, and character.[2]

Because we have no experience with existing beyond nature and time, or possessing the unique attributes only God has, we will never fully comprehend Him. However, we can understand much about God because He is personal and has purposefully created us to live in a relationship with Him forever. And so God communicates with us in various ways—through the Bible, more personally through Jesus, directly through the Holy Spirit, and a variety of other methods—revealing who He is and His purpose for our lives.

God’s Relationship with Us
God created us in His image and gave us free will, placing us in this limited time and space (our life) where His plan and alternative paths exist. This provides each of us the opportunity to choose His plan or follow another.

However, because humanity—and each of us individually—has put our own desires ahead of God’s, we lost more than we could ever imagine. We became alienated from God, incapable of restoring a right relationship with Him through our own efforts.[3]

Unlike every other belief system throughout history, Jesus claimed that we aren’t judged based on a curve of how “good” we are, but on an absolute standard: holiness. None of us have met that standard. Jesus explained we’ve all committed acts that are “unholy” (against God’s nature), and those acts separate us from a holy God. Like oil and water, holiness and unholiness cannot coexist. That’s the bad news.

But a holy God came in the person of Jesus to reveal His nature and demonstrate how much He deeply loves and cares for us. On the cross, He took on the penalty for our unholiness, ensuring that justice was served, and our debt was cleared. This is the “Gospel,” which translates as the “good news.”

All of God’s righteous anger and justice toward wrongdoing were already delivered at the cross, and only love is left for us who accept him and his payment of our debt. While we may still experience discipline from God, it is not for punishment (as that was dealt with at the cross) but for shaping us to reflect His image, cultivating the best traits in us for a loving relationship with Him and with others.

Jesus

We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully took on human nature to personally reveal to humanity what God is like, to show that He understands our suffering, to expose human wrongdoing (sin) by living a righteous life, and to simultaneously demonstrate both the seriousness of sin and the depth of God’s love for us by willingly taking upon Himself God’s judicial wrath on the cross. In doing so, He validated His unique message and authority.

Jesus physically rose from the grave, ascended to heaven, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. He will return to judge all who have either accepted or rejected a relationship with Him. His resurrection, along with other miracles, serves as God’s definitive affirmation and vindication of Jesus’ unique identity, mission, and message.[4] This confirms the only basis for our acceptance into eternity with God—heaven—is not our works, but what Jesus accomplished on the cross and our trust in His ultimate authority over all things.

Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is fully God and works within us as our spiritual guide and helper. We believe salvation—what people often refer to as “being saved”—is not just about being saved from eternal separation from God (hell), but also involves being aided in a transformative journey throughout life from the moment one chooses to accept a relationship with Him.

This belief does not promise freedom from physical ailments, an escape from the deep pain life can bring, or greater worldly success, or even fairness. However, it does promise that God is with you through it all. Just as a loving parent allows their child to face challenges to grow into their best self, God walks with you in your struggles, weeps with you in your pain, and embraces you both spiritually and throughout your life. He uses all of life’s experiences to guide your development—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—toward the attributes that will ultimately be best for you.

Bible

We believe the Bible is God’s Word and the final authority for truth and life. It contains the message God intended for us to receive, with the Old and New Testaments revealing His promise of the kingdom and eternal hope. The Bible also offers guidance through warnings and examples of God’s faithfulness, helping us grow in our trust and relationship with Him.

The Bible’s unique qualities, along with the teachings of Jesus, are unmatched by any other source and beyond human capability to produce, affirming its supreme authority. This establishes Scripture as our ultimate standard for belief and practice.[5] God the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Bible, revealing God’s nature and character, the truth about creation and humanity, and His will for the salvation of all through Jesus Christ.[6]

The Church

The church is not a building but the collective members of God’s family[7]—which includes those who have heard and embraced the good news of Christ. Our purpose is to be appropriately grateful, honoring, adoring, and serving the God who first loved us, while serving Him by loving, nurturing, and supporting one another. We are called to reach out to a hurting world with both the saving message of Christ and the practical compassion and mercy He exemplified.[8]

While many today understand “church” to refer to the people, buildings, or organizations associated with a religion, these things don’t necessarily align with the biblical definition of the church. In fact, many who attend church, engage in religious activities, and consider themselves Christians have no real trust or relationship with Christ (Matthew 7:21-23), and therefore are not truly members of His family.

[1] Examples of difficult to understand concepts, such as God being “Triune,” seemed weird and interesting to me, as it should, because three-dimensional humanity has not experienced such a state of being. Yet, when a challenge by a Muslim had me look into this further, the information found not only exposed a fatal flaw in Islam, but also provided such interesting and unexpected answers to other questions, as truth typically does. See coverage of this topic in the FAQs and blog.

[2] Reasons to Believe: www.reasons.org/about/our-mission

[3] Genesis 1:26-27, 2:16-17; Colossians 1:21; Isaiah 59:1-2.

[4] Dr. William L. Craig, Reasonable Faith, http://www.reasonablefaith.org/statement-of-faith

[5] Dr. William L. Craig, Reasonable Faith, http://www.reasonablefaith.org/statement-of-faith

[6] Reasons to Believe: www.reasons.org/about/our-mission

[7] Ephesians 4:15-16, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Revelation 19:7

[8] Robert Velarde, “What is the Church”, Focus on the Family, March 4, 2024.