Statement of Faith for our forum..it's important.

[AMR]

Everyone should review the linked content in the SoF to avoid issues arising in the future.

AMR

 

[LiturgyInDMinor]

Everyone should review the linked content in the SoF to avoid issues arising in the future.

AMR

I agree...it seems everyone right now is you, me and ken and about 3 others. lol

I suggest we let it ride for a while and then it will eventually come together to a point worth publishing? Not sure how to word that.

 

[LiturgyInDMinor]

That's a good idea...perhaps a new thread with what you just stated would work well, and we can have them sticky it? I'm guilty of violating the above all too often here...it would be a great reminder for all of us.

 

[AMR]

That's a good idea...perhaps a new thread with what you just stated would work well, and we can have them sticky it? I'm guilty of violating the above all too often here...it would be a great reminder for all of us.

Done. See here.

How does this get made into a sticky?

AMR

 

[LiturgyInDMinor]

Done. See here.

How does this get made into a sticky?

AMR

PM any forum mod or Admin preferably that's online and they should be able to do it.

 

[kenrapoza]

I was reading some of the other forum's SoF, and they seem to give a sentence or two of explanation to each of their points, kind of like what Tonks was suggesting. For example, the SDA forum SoF has a good amount of verbiage. Do you guys think we should expand the points with some more explanatory notes for someone not familiar with the terms? I'll try to post a suggested update this evening.

 

[kenrapoza]

I think the following meets the needs:

1.) Subscription to the Wesminster Standards: Westminster Confession of Faith, Westminster Larger Catechism, Westminster Shorter Catechism
2.) The Doctrines of Grace as embodied by the TULIP acrostic
3.) Covenant Theology in the Redemptive-Historical sense
4.) Church governed by a plurality of elders at all levels
5.) Infant baptism (paedobaptism) as a sign of the covenant
6.) The 5 Solas: By Scripture Alone, By Faith Alone, By Grace Alone, By Christ Alone, the Glory of God Alone

AMR

Okay...what do you guys think of this for an elaboration:

1.) We hold the Scriptures to be in absolute authority and the final rule in faith and practice. Subservient to the Holy Bible, we subscribe to the Westminster Standards as containing a faithful summary of Biblical teaching. Although the Westminster Standards provide us with a practical and systematic guide to Biblical doctrine, they are not inspired or infallible and thus are authoritative only insofar as they correctly represent what is taught in the Scriptures either explicitly or what may be deduced by good and necessary inference. The standards contain: Westminster Confession of Faith, Westminster Larger Catechism, Westminster Shorter Catechism.

2.) Regeneration is a monergistic act of God the Holy Spirit wherein the sinner is given the gift of faith and repentance unto salvation. This is expounded upon in the Doctrines of Grace as embodied by the TULIP acrostic: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistable Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. These doctrines were formulated as such in the Canons of Dort in response to the Arminian controversy.

3.) The history of salvation is worked out through various covenants between God and man. The first covenant, commonly called the "Covenant of Creation" or "Covenant of Works" was made with Adam. Acting as our federal head, Adam failed to keep this conditional covenant and fell under the curse of sin and death along with all his descendants. God then made another covenant, commonly called the "Covenant of Grace", wherein God promised to fulfill the conditions of the original covenant Himself and provide for the salvation of His fallen people. This covenant is primarily a "gospel" covenant and is given first utterance in the protoevangel (lit. "first gospel") of Gen. 3:15 and is then continually unfolded and expanded in subsequent Biblical covenants (e.g., the Abrahamic covenant) culminating in the person and work of our lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the sum and substance of both the Old and New Testaments.

4.) We believe that Christ is the king and head of the church, and that while He has no earthly substitute, the church is His body (Is. 9:6-7; Eph. 1:20-23; 4:10-13). We believe the type of church government most faithful to the Scriptures is a plurality of elders (Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 5:17-20) at all levels chosen by the people (Acts. 6:1-6; 14:23). We do not have a separate office of "bishop" as the New Testament uses the terms "elder" and "bishop" interchangeably (Titus 1:5-7; Acts 20:17-28; 1 Pet. 5:1-2).

5.) We hold to infant baptism (paedobaptism) as the God-ordained means of including the child in the covenant community, thus granting them "status" in the visible church. We do not hold to baptismal regeneration, but believe that the sacraments are signs and seals of God's covenant.

6.) We believe in the "five solas" of the Protestant Reformation: Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, Sola Gratia, and Soli Deo Gloria. These latin phrases provide a basic summary of the material cause of the reformation; that salvation is by "grace alone" through "faith alone" because of "Christ alone", that the ultimate authority in faith and practice is "Scripture alone", and that because we contribute no merit to our own salvation, all the glory goes to "God alone".

Is this too verbose? Wait...can't forget the last point:

7.) Oh yeah, and Pelagius, Arminius and Finney were punks!

 

[AMR]

Looks good to me, Ken!

EDIT: the edits you made are even better.

AMR

 

[FreeinChrist]

As a reminder, the Statement of Faith is just that - no rules should be added to it.

 

[AMR]

1.) We hold the Scriptures to be in absolute authority and the final rule in faith and practice. Subservient to the Holy Bible, we subscribe to the Westminster Standards as containing a faithful summary of Biblical teaching. Although the Westminster Standards provide us with a practical and systematic guide to Biblical doctrine, they are not inspired or infallible and thus are authoritative only insofar as they correctly represent what is taught in the Scriptures either explicitly or what may be deduced by good and necessary inference. The standards contain: Westminster Confession of Faith, Westminster Larger Catechism, Westminster Shorter Catechism.

2.) Regeneration is a monergistic act of God the Holy Spirit wherein the sinner is given the gift of faith and repentance unto salvation. This is expounded upon in the Doctrines of Grace as embodied by the TULIP acrostic: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistable Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. These doctrines were formulated as such in the Canons of Dort in response to the Arminian controversy.

3.) The history of salvation is worked out through various covenants between God and man. The first covenant, commonly called the "Covenant of Creation" or "Covenant of Works" was made with Adam. Acting as our federal head, Adam failed to keep this conditional covenant and fell under the curse of sin and death along with all his descendants. God then made another covenant, commonly called the "Covenant of Grace", wherein God promised to fulfill the conditions of the original covenant Himself and provide for the salvation of His fallen people. This covenant is primarily a "gospel" covenant and is given first utterance in the protoevangel (lit. "first gospel") of Gen. 3:15 and is then continually unfolded and expanded in subsequent Biblical covenants (e.g., the Abrahamic covenant) culminating in the person and work of our lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the sum and substance of both the Old and New Testaments.

4.) We believe that Christ is the king and head of the church, and that while He has no earthly substitute, the church is His body (Is. 9:6-7; Eph. 1:20-23; 4:10-13). We believe the type of church government most faithful to the Scriptures is a plurality of elders (Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 5:17-20) at all levels chosen by the people (Acts. 6:1-6; 14:23). We do not have a separate office of "bishop" as the New Testament uses the terms "elder" and "bishop" interchangeably (Titus 1:5-7; Acts 20:17-28; 1 Pet. 5:1-2).

5.) We hold to infant baptism (paedobaptism) as the God-ordained means of including the child in the covenant community, thus granting them "status" in the visible church. We do not hold to baptismal regeneration, but believe that the sacraments are signs and seals of God's covenant.

6.) We believe in the "five solas" of the Protestant Reformation: Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, Sola Gratia, and Soli Deo Gloria. These latin phrases provide a basic summary of the material cause of the reformation; that salvation is by "grace alone" through "faith alone" because of "Christ alone", that the ultimate authority in faith and practice is "Scripture alone", and that because we contribute no merit to our own salvation, all the glory goes to "God alone".

This statement looks good to go to me.

AMR

 

[Tonks]

I have one beef with the location of our forum under the congregation label, as Presbyterian polity rejects the local independence implied by the term congregation. We are not a congregational group. Nevertheless, this is a nit as it seems the label "congregation" is being applied very loosely at CF to just be a bucket for just about any Christian group, including Catholics. Just my two cents.

AMR

It is a loose identification for, er, "actual" churches rather than placing them with some of the sillier forums (which i can only describe as "vanity / movement" forums)...many of which I have no idea why they were created to begin with...

 

[AMR]

It is a loose identification for, er, "actual" churches rather than placing them with some of the sillier forums (which i can only describe as "vanity / movement" forums)...many of which I have no idea why they were created to begin with...

I assumed as much. Thanks.

Can we get the SoF here posted?

AMR

 

[LiturgyInDMinor]

Hey all...took a small hiatus...I like that SoF.

 

[DarylFawcett]

We do have a format for each of the SoFs, which you can see for yourself in some of the other forums here, therefore, we will be looking at what you posted here and using the same type of format that we used in posting the other SoFs in the other forums.

This is to have some form of consistency in the appearance of the SoFs for each forum.

 

[kenrapoza]

That's cool, just let us know if you need us to modify anything for the format.

 

[kenrapoza]

Not to be a fly in the ointment, but for a while I've been thinking about what Cajun said regarding the TFU. Do you guys think it would be in the spirit of this forum to include that in point number one as an alternative confession, since in many ways the continental reformed are "Presbyterians by a different name?" I'm cool with that if you guys are. Thoughts?

 

[AMR]

Not to be a fly in the ointment, but for a while I've been thinking about what Cajun said regarding the TFU. Do you guys think it would be in the spirit of this forum to include that in point number one as an alternative confession, since in many ways the continental reformed are "Presbyterians by a different name?" I'm cool with that if you guys are. Thoughts?

I would be opposed to including the Three Forms of Unity in our acceptable list of Confessions, given the distinctive Presbyterian nature of our forum. My reasons are basically related to the silence in the TFU with respect to the authority of Scriptures. In many discussions with those that hold to the TFU, some take great exception to the WCF, I.VIII. Likewise, some also take exception to Sabbath keeping, WCF XX1.

AMR

 

[kenrapoza]

I would be opposed to including the Three Forms of Unity in our acceptable list of Confessions, given the distinctive Presbyterian nature of our forum. My reasons are basically related to the silence in the TFU with respect to the authority of Scriptures. In many discussions with those that hold to the TFU, some take great exception to the WCF, I.VIII. Likewise, some also take exception to Sabbath keeping, WCF XX1.

AMR

Interesting, I wasn't aware that some of the Reformed folk objected to those parts of the WCF. I'm fine with leaving the SOF as it is then.

 

[LiturgyInDMinor]

I'm fine with the SoF as it was lasted edited.
Put a link to the TFU if ya'll want...otherwise it's good as is.

 

[FreeinChrist]

Okay...what do you guys think of this for an elaboration:

1.) We hold the Scriptures to be in absolute authority and the final rule in faith and practice. Subservient to the Holy Bible, we subscribe to the Westminster Standards as containing a faithful summary of Biblical teaching. Although the Westminster Standards provide us with a practical and systematic guide to Biblical doctrine, they are not inspired or infallible and thus are authoritative only insofar as they correctly represent what is taught in the Scriptures either explicitly or what may be deduced by good and necessary inference. The standards contain: Westminster Confession of Faith, Westminster Larger Catechism, Westminster Shorter Catechism.

2.) Regeneration is a monergistic act of God the Holy Spirit wherein the sinner is given the gift of faith and repentance unto salvation. This is expounded upon in the Doctrines of Grace as embodied by the TULIP acrostic: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistable Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. These doctrines were formulated as such in the Canons of Dort in response to the Arminian controversy.

3.) The history of salvation is worked out through various covenants between God and man. The first covenant, commonly called the "Covenant of Creation" or "Covenant of Works" was made with Adam. Acting as our federal head, Adam failed to keep this conditional covenant and fell under the curse of sin and death along with all his descendants. God then made another covenant, commonly called the "Covenant of Grace", wherein God promised to fulfill the conditions of the original covenant Himself and provide for the salvation of His fallen people. This covenant is primarily a "gospel" covenant and is given first utterance in the protoevangel (lit. "first gospel") of Gen. 3:15 and is then continually unfolded and expanded in subsequent Biblical covenants (e.g., the Abrahamic covenant) culminating in the person and work of our lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the sum and substance of both the Old and New Testaments.

4.) We believe that Christ is the king and head of the church, and that while He has no earthly substitute, the church is His body (Is. 9:6-7; Eph. 1:20-23; 4:10-13). We believe the type of church government most faithful to the Scriptures is a plurality of elders (Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 5:17-20) at all levels chosen by the people (Acts. 6:1-6; 14:23). We do not have a separate office of "bishop" as the New Testament uses the terms "elder" and "bishop" interchangeably (Titus 1:5-7; Acts 20:17-28; 1 Pet. 5:1-2).

5.) We hold to infant baptism (paedobaptism) as the God-ordained means of including the child in the covenant community, thus granting them "status" in the visible church. We do not hold to baptismal regeneration, but believe that the sacraments are signs and seals of God's covenant.

6.) We believe in the "five solas" of the Protestant Reformation: Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, Sola Gratia, and Soli Deo Gloria. These latin phrases provide a basic summary of the material cause of the reformation; that salvation is by "grace alone" through "faith alone" because of "Christ alone", that the ultimate authority in faith and practice is "Scripture alone", and that because we contribute no merit to our own salvation, all the glory goes to "God alone".

Is this too verbose? Wait...can't forget the last point:

7.) Oh yeah, and Pelagius, Arminius and Finney were punks!

Could these be made a bit more succint - as in shorter, to the point?
Example: #1 instead of the longer one above, have it as

1.) We hold the Scriptures to be in absolute authority and the final rule in faith and practice. Subservient to the Holy Bible, we subscribe to the Westminster Standards as containing a faithful summary of Biblical teaching. The standards contain: Westminster Confession of Faith, Westminster Larger Catechism, Westminster Shorter Catechism.