Most of my beliefs and perspectives may be thought of as conforming to the principles of classic, orthodox, Reformed theology. As Charles Spurgeon noted, "Reformed theology is just another name for the theology of the Bible." Some of the key principles of my faith include the following.
I believe in the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Though three distinct persons, God is one in essence and in spirit. God exists for His own purposes and created all things for His good pleasure. God is transcendent and majestic, having spoken worlds into existence with a word; yet He is also immanent and personal, caring for His people in every detail of our lives. Through His divine decrees, God sovereignly superintends the course of history, acting to carry out His intent, conceived before the foundations of the earth. God is infinite and eternal, omniscient and omnipotent. God’s holiness makes Him wrathful toward sin, but He also loves His people. He binds Himself in covenant with us and is always faithful to His promises. God is a just judge to all and merciful in saving many. There is but one true and living God: the Creator God, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe that Jesus Christ, God's only Son, is the incarnate Word of God, fully God and fully man. In His humiliation, He gave up the prerogatives of heaven, came to earth through virgin birth, and lived a sinless life, though tempted as any man. Jesus performed miracles, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and even raised the dead. Though innocent of any guilt, He suffered and died on the cross, in perfect obedience to His Father’s will. In His exaltation, Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven, and will come again in power and glory to judge and rule over all. Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father, and as our High Priest intercedes for us with the Father.
I believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and was given to the church at Pentecost. The Spirit convicts us of our sin, taking our hearts of stone and giving us hearts of flesh - that we might repent and trust in Christ for our salvation. He unites us with Christ in a mystical union, empowering us for service and comforting us in our woundedness.
I believe that I was created in the image of God, with all the dignity and freedom that He endowed. I am a sinner, fallen through Adam and sinful by nature, and undeserving of any good on my own merit. Through the Father's merciful election, Jesus' righteous life and atonement on the cross, and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, I have been born again as a new creation, saved by grace alone through faith alone. I have been justified, declared to have the righteousness of Christ, though I am a sinner. I have been adopted - accepted as a child of God, though I was an enemy of God. I am being sanctified and shaped more and more into the image of Christ. I will be glorified, given a new body and sinless existence, fitted for eternal life with Christ, my Lord and Savior.
I believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God, given to us as revelation and truth, authoritative and sufficient as our guide to faith and life, through the witness of the Holy Spirit working within our hearts. I believe the church is the Bride and Body of Christ, instituted by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do God's work on earth: loving, worshipping, serving, and making disciples of every tribe and tongue. It is the duty of the true church to properly preach the whole counsel of God, to rightly administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and to exercise discipline over the flock so that none are lost.