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What We Believe
What
We Believe (excerpted
from "Who Are Free Will Baptists, www.nafwb.net)
Free
Will Baptist roots can be traced to England as early
as 1611. The first Free Will Baptist church in America was
begun by Paul Palmer in 1727 in Perquimans County, North
Carolina. Some years later, in 1780, under the leadership
of Benjamin Randall, Free Will Baptists were established
in the northeast at New Durham, New Hampshire. From these
early beginnings, Free Will Baptists in America have had
a continuing ministry. Today, the National Association of
Free Will Baptists is active in 42 states, 14 foreign countries,
and a number of the islands of the sea. The work of the National
Association of Free Will Baptists is promoted from the National
Offices and the Sunday School and Church Training Department
located in Nashville, Tennessee.
What Free Will Baptists Believe
- God --
We believe that God is the Creator, Sustainer, and Righteous
Ruler of the universe. He has revealed Himself in nature,
and in the Scriptures of the Holy Bible as Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit: yet as one God
.
- Jesus
Christ -- He is God's unique Son; the only one
of a kind. The Scripture teaches that He is God revealed
in flesh. In His Divine nature He is truly God and in His
human nature truly man. He is the One once crucified for
man's sin, the now risen and glorified Savior and Lord
who mediates between God and man and who gives us access
to the Father through His intercession. None can come to
the Father unless they come through Him.
- Holy
Spirit -- All of the attributes of God are ascribed
to the Holy Spirit by the Scriptures. It is He who convicts
and convinces men of their sin. He also convinces man of
that which is right, and that a final day of judgment will
come. He, it is, who comes to live in us at conversion,
to open our understanding to the Scripture, and to lead
us into the truth.
- The
Bible -- God used holy men to write the Scriptures. They
are, in both the Old and New Testaments, the very words
God intended us to have. They are, as given by God, without
error and are our only rule of faith and practice. We profit
from them by learning the truth about many things: they
also speak to us about wrong doing; they even correct us
and get us back on course as well as instructing us in
right living.
- Man
-- God created man in a state of innocence. Man, being
tempted by Satan, yielded and willfully disobeyed God,
becoming a sinner and incurring God's judgment upon sin.
All of Adam's descendants inherit his fallen nature and
thus have a natural inclination to sin. When one comes
to an age of accountability, he is guilty of sinning before
God and in need of salvation.
God's
Relationship to His Creatures and Creation -- God exercises
a wise and benevolent providence over all beings and things.
He maintains the laws of nature and performs special acts
as the highest welfare of mankind and His created order
of things require.
- Salvation
-- Man receives pardon and forgiveness for his
sins when he admits to God that he is a sinner, when in
godly sorrow he turns from them and trusts in the work
of Christ as redemption for his sin. This acceptance of
God's great salvation involves belief in Christ's death
on the cross as man's substitute and the fact of God's
raising Him from the dead as predicted. It is a salvation
by grace alone and not of works.
- Who
Can Be Saved? -- It is God's will that all
be saved, but since man has the power of choice, God
saves only those who repent of their sin and believe
in the work of Christ on the cross. Those who refuse
in this life to repent and believe have no later chance
to be saved and thus condemn themselves to eternal
damnation by their unbelief.
- Perseverance
-- We believe that there are strong grounds to
hope that the saved will persevere unto the end and be
saved because of the power of divine grace pledged for
their support. We believe that any saved person who has
sinned (whether we call him a backslider or sinner), but
has a desire to repent, may do so and be restored to God's
favor and fellowship. Since man, however, continues to
have free choice, it is possible because of temptations
and the weakness of human flesh for him to fall into
the practice of sin and to make shipwreck of his
faith and be lost.
- Gospel
Ordinances -- Free Will Baptists believe the Bible
teaches three ordinances for the church to practice: Baptism
in water by immersion, the Lord's Supper, to be perpetuated
until His return, and the Washing of the Saints' feet,
an ordinance teaching humility.
- Resurrection --
Free Will Baptists believe the Scriptures teach the resurrection
of the bodies of all men, each in its own order; they that
have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life,
and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation.
Church
Government -- Free Will Baptist churches enjoy
local church autonomy (self-governing). The local church
is the highest authority in the denomination. Local churches
voluntarily organize themselves into quarterly meetings,
district, state, and national associations for the purpose
of promoting the cause of Christ on the local, state, district,
national, and world-wide level.
- Christ's
Second Coming -- The Bible teaches that Jesus
Christ, who ascended on high and sits at the right hand
of God, will come again to close the Gospel dispensation,
glorify His saints, and judge the world.
- Missions
-- Free Will Baptists believe that Jesus commanded
the church to go into all the world and preach the Gospel
to every creature. For an in-depth study of Free Will Baptist
beliefs and practices, ask for a copy of the Free Will
Baptist Treatise.
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