{"id":137,"date":"2018-05-07T18:02:27","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T18:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/?page_id=137"},"modified":"2020-09-10T03:54:48","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T03:54:48","slug":"believe","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/index.php\/believe\/","title":{"rendered":"Believe"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-157\" src=\"https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/study-862994_960_720-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/study-862994_960_720-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/study-862994_960_720-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/study-862994_960_720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/h3>\n<h2><strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<em> Statement of Faith<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Scripture.<\/strong>\u00a0The Bible is God\u2019s unique revelation to mankind, the inspired, infallible Word of God. As such, it is the supreme and final authority and without error in what it teaches and affirms.<\/p>\n<p><strong>God.<\/strong> There is only one true God. He exists eternally as \u2014 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit \u2014 each fully God yet each personally distinct from the other. God is the creator of everything.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sin.<\/strong>\u00a0Everyone, regardless of race, gender, social class, or intellectual ability, is created in God\u2019s image and for communion with God. But because of sin, that communion was broken and all of humanity was separated from God, who is the source of all life. Because of the fall, everyone deserves God\u2019s judgment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Salvation.<\/strong>\u00a0Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and God gives salvation and eternal life to those who trust in him. Salvation cannot be earned through personal goodness or human effort. It is a gift that is received by repentance and faith in Christ and his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jesus Christ<\/strong> is God, the living Word, who became flesh. He\u00a0was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless human life, yet willingly took upon himself our sins by dying in our place and on our behalf. He rose bodily, victorious over death. He ascended to Heaven and is at the right hand of the Father as the believer\u2019s advocate and mediator. Some day, he will return, as he said he would, to fulfill the eternal plan of God.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Holy Spirit.<\/strong> The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin and gives new life to those who trust in Jesus. He indwells all believers and is available to empower them to lead Christ-like lives. The Spirit gives them spiritual gifts with which to serve fellow believers and reach out to a lost and needy world.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Judgment.<\/strong>\u00a0At the final judgment, unbelievers will be separated from God into condemnation. Believers will be received into God\u2019s loving presence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Church.<\/strong>\u00a0All believers are members of the body of Christ, the one true church universal. Spiritual unity is to be expressed among Christians by acceptance and love of one another across ethnic, cultural, socio-economic, national, generational, gender, and denominational lines. The local church is a group of believers who gather for worship, prayer, instruction, encouragement, mutual accountability, community with each other, and as a witness to the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Statement of Faith Scripture.\u00a0The Bible is God\u2019s unique revelation to mankind, the inspired, infallible Word of God. As such, it is the supreme and final authority and without error in what it teaches and affirms. God. There is only one true God. He exists eternally as \u2014 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit \u2014 each fully God [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-137","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282,"href":"https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/137\/revisions\/282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/letterstothechurches.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}