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Our Beliefs

Monterey Baptist Church Doctrinal Statement:

 

Articles of Faith

  1. The Scriptures

We believe the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, to be the verbal, infallible, and inspired Word of God, preserved for the English speaking world in the King James Bible. (II Tim. 3:15-17; II Pet. 1:19-20)

  1. The Creation

We believe in the Genesis account of creation, that the earth and man were created by the direct act of God, giving no tolerance to evolution, theistic or otherwise. (Gen. 1-2; Is. 42:12; John 1:1-3)

  1. The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ was the virgin born, only begotten Son of God. The incarnation was God robed in flesh. He was 100% God and 100% man. (Gen. 3:15; Is. 7:14; Matt. 1:20; Lk. 1:35; John 1:14, 10:30)

  1. The Blood Atonement

We believe in the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus Christ for every penitent believer; that man is totally depraved and incapable of meeting the standards of the sovereign and righteous God, apart from the shed blood of Jesus Christ. (Heb. 2:9, 9:22; Rom. 3:23, 6:23)

  1. The Trinity

We believe God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, as three equal persons in one substance and Godhead. (Mt. 3:13-17, 28:19; II Cor. 13:14)

  1. The Bodily Resurrection

We believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected in body from the tomb, which assures us of the resurrection of the saints in Christ at the rapture of the church, and the resurrection of Old Testament saints at the Second Coming. The return of Christ takes place in two distinct stages: the rapture of the church (His coming in the air), and the revelation or Second Coming (His return to the earth). The Second Coming is followed by the 1,000 year glorious reign on the earth. Then the resurrection of the unsaved to stand at the White Throne Judgment takes place. (Mt. 28:6; I Cor. 15:20, 52; I Thess. 4:16-17; Dan. 12:2; Rev. 20)

  1. Salvation by Grace Through Faith

We believe that man is totally depraved and without the new birth cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That in the new birth, the one dead in trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of divine nature and receives eternal life. That repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ are the only conditions of Salvation. (Eph. 2:8-9; Acts 16:31)

  1. The Security of the Believer

We believe all who are truly born again are kept by the power of God. (Phil. 1:6; John 10:28-29; Rom. 8:35-39; Jude 24)

  1. The Eternal Punishment of the Wicked

We believe there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked, that such only as through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and sanctified by the Spirit of our God are truly righteous in His esteem; while all such as continue unrepentant and in unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse; and this distinction holds among men, both in and after death, in everlasting joy of the saved and everlasting conscious suffering of the lost. (Mal. 3:18; Rom. 6:17-18, 23; I John 5:19; Mt. 25:34-41; John 8:21)

  1. The Local Church

We believe that a local church is a congregation of scripturally baptized believers, associated by covenant of faith and fellowship of the Gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws, and exercising the rights and privileges invested in them by His Word; that its officers are Pastor and Deacons, whose qualifications and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures. We believe the true mission of the church is set forth in Mt. 28:8-20. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations. The one and only superintendent is Christ, through the Holy Spirit; that it is scriptural for true churches to associate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the cooperation on all matters of membership, government, discipline, and benevolence. The will of the local church is final. (Acts 2:41-42; I Cor. 11:2; I Tim. 3:15; Eph. 5:22-25)

  1. Civil Government

We believe that God has ordained and created all authority consisting of three institutions; 1) the home; 2) the church; 3) the state. Every person is subject to these authorities, but all (including the authorities themselves) are answerable to God and governed by His Word. God has given each institution Biblical responsibilities and balanced those responsibilities with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe upon the other. The church, the home, and the state are equal and sovereign in their respective Biblically assigned spheres of responsibility under God. (Rom. 13:1-7; Eph. 5:22-24; Heb. 13:17; I Pet. 2:13-14)

  1. Human Sexuality

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside of marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful and perversions of God’s gift of sex. (Gen. 2:24, 19:5, 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1:26-29; I Cor. 5:1, 6:9; I Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4)

  1. Killing of the Unborn Child

We believe that human life begins at conception, and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, inexcusable taking of unborn human life. Abortion is murder. We reject any teaching stating that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the mental well being of the mother are acceptable. (Job 3:16; Ps. 51:5, 139:14-16; Is. 44:24, 49:1, 5; Jer. 20:15-18; Lk. 1:44)

  1. Christian Living

We believe that every saved person should manifest the Christ-like life by a consistent walk in the Holy Spirit, fully and constantly yielding his members to the indwelling Holy Spirit. His life should always be separated, holy and bringing forth praises of Him who has called him out of darkness into light. We believe in a separated life for all believers as set forth in II Cor. 6:14, 7:1. (I Cor. 3:16-17, 6:19-20, 11:14-15; II Cor. 5:17)

  1. Lord’s Day

We believe that this is the age of grace and the Lord’s Day, which is the first day of the week, the day of our Lord’s resurrection, is the proper day for Christian worship and service. It ought to be kept sacred to spiritual purposes by abstinence from all unnecessary secular labor and other activities unbecoming to such a day. (Acts 20:7; Col. 2:13-17; Heb. 10:25; John 20:1, 19)

  1. Lawsuits Between Believers

We believe that Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians or the church to resolve personal disputes. We believe the church possess all the necessary resources to resolve disputes between members. We do believe however, that a Christian may seek compensation for injuries from another Christian’s insurance company as long as the claim is pursued without malice or slander. (I Cor. 6:1-8; Eph. 4:1-21)

  1. Giving

We believe that every Christian, as the steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially. We believe that God has established the tithe as the basis for giving, but that every Christian should also give other offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel. We believe that a Christian relinquishes all rights to direct the use of the tithe or offerings once the gift has been made. (Gen. 14:20; Pro. 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; I Cor. 16:2; II Cor. 9:6-7; Gal. 6:6; Eph. 4:28; I Tim. 5:17-18; I John 3:17)