CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
SCRIPTURAL FOUNDATIONS
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”
3 John 4
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Proverbs 22:6, KJV
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”
Deuteronomy 6:5-7, NASB
“The heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all; but is under guardians and tutors until the time appointed by the father.”
Galatians 4:1-2, NKJV
“Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.”
1 Timothy 4:12, NASB
“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”
Colossians 2:8, NASB
STATEMENT OF FAITH
Part 1: Preface
Our Statement of Faith includes those truths upon which all true Christians agree. It concerns the person and work of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, the Christian Bible. It is the faith once delivered to the saints which distinguishes believers from non-believers (Jude 2, Ephesians 4:5). There are many other precious truths taught in the Bible over which godly men have differed in understanding and interpretation. Therefore, this is not a statement of all that is important to believe, but of all that is essential to believe for Christian fellowship and unity (Romans 15:7).
Part 2: Statement
We believe the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative, inerrant Word of God, our final authority for faith and practice.
We believe that there is one sovereign God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, and in His miracles. Jesus’ substitutionary death satisfied divine justice, and His shed blood paid in full the penalty for sin as evidenced by His bodily resurrection. He ascended to the right hand of the Father and will personally return in power and glory.
We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to convict men, indwell, guide, instruct, comfort, sanctify, and empower the believer for holy living and evangelism.
We believe that humans are created in the image of God (imago dei) as male and female (Genesis 1:27 & 5:2).
We believe in the sanctity of human life and that human life begins at the moment of conception.
We believe that through the sin of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman that God created, humanity fell into sin and is therefore lost. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, not as a result of good works. Pardon for sin is freely given at the moment of confession when repentance of sin is made, and Christ is received.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost; of the saved unto the resurrection of everlasting life and joy with the Lord in heaven, and of the lost unto judgment and everlasting conscious punishment, separated from God in hell.
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, and the mutual encouragement of the saints of God.
We believe in the sanctity of marriage, ordained by God between a man and a woman, as a sacred depiction of the relationship between Jesus and His bride, the Church, as described in Scripture (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19, Mark 10, Ephesians 5 &6).
We believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit (listed in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, & misc. verses), given generously by God to every believer, to exercise the Spiritual Law of Use according to Matthew 25:14-30. These gifts are to be fanned into flame and used to glorify God (2 Timothy 1:65), fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20), and serve one another (1 Pet. 4:10). We believe that the Lord gives different gifts to different people, according to the grace given to us (Romans 12:6).