Due on Friday. Your input would be greatly appreciated:
I believe in God, the creator of the universe. This God is one deity in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, coequal and coeternal.
God caused all things to come into being, including humanity. He created humans and endowed them with the ability to choose righteousness or sin. Yet those first people, Adam and Eve, chose sin and were expelled from paradise as punishment. We inherit that original sin and original guilt from them. The price for that sin is death. There is nothing that people can do to free themselves from their sinful natures or redeem their conscious sins.
Yet God gives his grace to us so that we may overcome. From the moment of conception, he woos us toward holiness, giving us the capacity to recognize his existence, his righteousness, and our own unrighteousness. Though we are, by nature, totally depraved, God gives us the power through his grace to say ‘yes’ to his offer of forgiveness.
This forgiveness came through the work of his only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ. Both totally human and totally divine, Jesus lived a human life, yet was without sin. He was a spotless lamb that was sacrificed by the Father to atone for our sin debt. We cannot pay this debt on our own, partially, totally, or at all. All that we sinful humans can do is accept the sacrifice of Jesus as work done for us. The blood of Jesus is sufficient and complete for atonement; no other effort on our part is necessary or useful.
Rather, accepting the work on the cross as committed for our sake, though guilty, we are justified before God. Yet the life of a Christian believer does not end at this point. The grace of God continues to fill us, urging us on to a life of holiness and moral perfection. We depart the citizenship of the world and are joined to the Kingdom of God – a life of service dedicated to the proclamation of the gospel which we have received and the alleviation of suffering in the world.
These things we know from the Scriptures left to us by the illumination of God into the writings of humans. This Bible is the infallible Word of God, whose composition was directed by God. We derive doctrine and understanding of divine truth by reading the Word in reflection of our God-endowed reason, the experiences of our walk with Him, and the traditions of the Church.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
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15 comments:
Do Methodist BOMs generally frown on a statement of Scriptural infallibility?
You ought to clarift that statement a little more. It could mean that none of the other stuff you said matters because the Bible is the end of faith or it could mean that all those other things shape how the Bible is read and reading the Bible without those beliefs renders it impotent.
I'd write that I believe scripture /Bible is the word of God -- using the word infallible means diffenet things to different people
why are you writing this anyway? (confused)
In order to position myself as a moderate conservative in Biblical interpetation (which I am).
Is this a bad idea? Don't hold back. Tell me what you think.
And thank you, Thunder and Lorna, for the input.
"We inherit that original sin and original guilt from them."
I know this thing is supposed to be short, but "original sin" and "original guilt" are substantive theological concepts that could use some unpacking. My guess is that you're more likely to find a taker for the former than the latter on your committee.
"redeem their conscious sins"
Our our sins being redeemed, or are we being redeemed from them? What about unconscious sins?
"so that we may overcome."
Overcome what?
"Though we are, by nature, totally depraved"
If you're trying to get ordained as a United Methodist, you might find a way to say this avoiding TULIP language.
DOES forgiveness & holiness come BEFORE justification, or do you just discuss them in that order?
"He was a spotless lamb that was sacrificed by the Father to atone for our sin debt."
I thought you said he was human and divine - where's the Lamb language come from? That is to say, you might want to decide what level you want to write on. Do you want to keep using these deep biblical metaphors?
Also, is it best to push the metaphor so that the Father is seen as sacrificing the Lamb/Son?
"The blood of Jesus is sufficient and complete for atonement"
What's an atonement? You're better off at this stage of the game to use plainer language. When they ask you questions you can demonstrate your knowledge of atonement theories.
"We depart the citizenship of the world"
So there's no sense of dual citizenship? Why are we still here then? Why did Paul make so much use of his Roman citizenship?
Just a few comments, probably too late.
Go for it John!
Thank you, Richard!!
That is exactly what I need.
"totally human and totally divine" would cause some questions for me. I know what you mean is "fully human and fully divine".
Totally implies a zero sum game I think and seems to cause confusion in this. (There is a reason the early church fathers went for fully :)) The Christological Controvery is a great read in this matter.
I think that if it reflects your true beliefs, it is dead-on. If you really believe it, then stand on it. One of the biggest mistakes I made early in my ministry was in worrying about whether my system of beliefs would be in keeping with some Board or my parishioners. In the end, if I felt the need to change, there was the danger that my change was made only on paper and not from within. I felt compelled to defend a system of beliefs that was not a part of who I am (or was at the time).
You will be the better in the end if while being true to the Lord, you will be true to yourself as well.
You have to write a theological statement for Candicacy? We have to write many many words for the BOM for ordination, but the district board just wanted to make sure I could spell 'theology.' That and have a good credit check.
I was quizzed in theology by the District board until I couldn't answer questions anymore. However if you went before my board with this in hand, I think you would get a few raised eyebrows. Part of the journey of candidacy is to determine the humility of the candidate. (And my district is pretty much VERY conservative in it's theolgical stance.)
After my inital interview with the board, the feedback was centered on that concept of humility, meaning that I was very much a know it all at the time. A theology that will not reasonably consider or question a long held belief is static and lacks hubris.
Compare with other denominations two things
1) the purpose and ideals of itineracy
2) the stress on obedience of our ordination vows.
Obedience to a higher board or authority is taken very seriously in Methodism as is humility. Arrogance and being cocksure are not rewarded behaviors in this system.
Not trying to be overly harsh, but cautionary.
Just saw your line "Due on Friday."
Again, is this for your district board? Wild.
In that case, be true to yourself, but don't stray too far from the Articles of Religion -- or at least the language that is used in the Articles.
And infallible is a VERY loaded word -- means different things to different people.
And us Methodist like Pansies, not Tulips. (That was a very very evil joke.)
I found the comments here very interesting. Hope it went (goes) well John. I posted about inerrancy today - it really is such a loaded word
John,
I read through it quickly, and all I can is that I wished I saw this quality of writing in my district as I sit on the DCOM here. You are a gifted writer. Hope that your DCOM finds it as well written as I did.
It's great to see you make a statement about original sin and utter depravity. Change the terminology if you wish (I wouldn't) but make sure it stays.
I would also expound more on the atonement. Did Jesus die merely to show us how bad sin is? Or was it our sin that imputed to Him? You may or may not want to use the term "imputation" but there are two parts - Our guilt was imputed on Jesus (God is Holy and Just and sin canot go unpunished) and His righteousness is imputed on us.
I've had this tagged as 'keep as new' in my bloglines since you posted it so i could get a chance to come back and actually read it. Of course, now well-after friday. I'm curious too about your District process. I have to echo some of the sentiments that my District committee mostly wanted to know what my favorite classes were in seminary, particularly after the first year i met with them.
so how did it go? i'll be meeting with my dis. committee in a couple of weeks and i'm interested to know of your experience.
My meeting with DCOM is on May 18, but I had to submit the documents and essays by tomorrow. I FedExed them to the DCOM secretary.
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