B E N B O R N A G A I N . F A I T H

WHAT I BELIEVE AS A BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN

WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH OBEDIENCE & FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST ALONE 

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." -Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." -Galatians 2:16 (KJV)

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. -John 14:6 (KJV)

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. -John 3:3 (KJV)

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. -Matthew 24:13 (KJV)

 

BEING BORN AGAIN IN CHRIST JESUS

I believe that when you truly accept Jesus into your heart as God and as your Lord & Savior, you become 'born again' as described in John 3:3, upon which God will then begin a work in your heart that regenerates you, as a "new creation" described in 2 Corinthians 5:17. And even though we will always battle our sin nature until our death, after you are born-again the sins you once found joy in will now grieve you, as the Holy Spirit now resides within, and you are permanently changed to always put your relationship with Jesus first. 

WHO IS GOD?

There is one living and true God, who is an infinite all-knowing Spirit, perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, eternally existing as a triune or trinity, in three distinct persons, 3 in 1—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each equally deserving worship and obedience. God has no beginning and no end. 

WHO IS JESUS CHRIST?

Jesus is the incarnation of God becoming man, representing humanity and deity in oneness. The purpose of this incarnation was to reveal God, redeem mankind, and rule over God's kingdom. Jesus is called "The Son of God" but is not the literal son in a anthropomorphic "created being" or "birthed" sense. Jesus is literally "God incarnate." He is the 2nd person of the Triune/Trinity. 

THE FALL OF MANKIND

Mankind exists within a fallen realm and contains a fallen nature due to Adam and Eve's disobedience to God. Man was created by God in His image and likeness, to glorify God, enjoy God's fellowship, and to live his life in the will of God. When Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden he lost his innocence and separated himself spiritually and physically from God. Mankind was corrupted by default and inherited a sin nature.

"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." -Isaiah 64:6 (KJV)

"They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one." -Psalms 14:3 (ESV)

Yes, by human standards, most of us are "good" people, because we haven't murdered anyone. However, when we are compared to the standards of an almighty Holy Creator God, we fall short, in everyway.

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." -Ephesians 2:1-6 (ESV)

It is only through faith in Jesus Christ as God, as the Lord, and as our personal Savior that we are saved from eternal spiritual death--yes, literal Hell. Through the cloak of Jesus' righteousness, through his sacrifice as the spotless lamb, are we redeemed, reconciled, and adopted as children of God. 

THE BIBLE

The Bible is God's written revelation to man, given and inspired by the Holy Spirit by a process of dual authorship with humans through their individual personalities and different styles of writing to compose and record God's written Word.

The Bible contains 66 books, divided into 2 categories, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Prophets, priests, kings, and leaders from the ancient nation of Israel wrote the Old Testament books, and apostles of Jesus Christ and their associates wrote the New Testament.

The 39 books of the Old Testament speak about the history of Israel and the promise of the coming Savior, while the 27 New Testament books talk about the person of Christ and the establishment of the church. 

After the completion of the Old Testament, there were 400 years of silence, during which no prophet spoke or wrote any scripture. That silence was broken by the arrival of John the Baptist announcing that the promised Lord Savior had come. The New Testament records the rest of the story from the birth of Christ to the establishment of the gospel and the church, ending in prophetic revelation for the end of days. 

THE BIBLE IS THE FINAL AUTHORITY

The Bible is the only true and final authority in determining the gospel of Jesus Christ. All other sources of information, including all institutions, denominations, and humans claiming to be authorities of Christ, should be heavily scrutinized and discarded if they contradict what is written in the Bible. 

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WHICH BIBLE TRANSLATIONS DO I PREFER?

Did God preserve his Word? Yes.

But does that mean the specific Bible you read from is perfect? No.

Every different Bible translation has it's pros and cons. My personal favorite Bibles to read from are the ESV, NASB, KJV, and GENEVA.  These translations are the one's I use most when I am reading the New Testament (translated from the Texus Receptus Greek manuscripts.)

However, when I am reading the Old Testament, I have come to prefer the Greek Old Testament Septuagint LXX (Brenton English translation) in favor over the Masoretic Text, due to the historical authoritative credibility (translated in 285 BC by 72 Hebrew Isrealites—6 from each tribe, according to the Jewish historian Josephus.) These are the Old Testament scriptures that Jesus and the Apostles quoted word for word in the New Testament, proving that they used the Septuagint LXX as their main source of scripture during their lives and ministry.

Also, I personally stay away from Bible translations that have been revised to cater to specific denominational doctrines, or cults like the Sacred Name and Hebrew Roots, or Bibles that were translated under very suspicious and uncredible methods, such as:

  • The HalleluYAH Scriptures
    • This is the preferred Bible used in the Sacred Name movement, because it uses replacement faux paleo-Hebrew names for Jesus, God the Father, and the Apostles and Prophets. For example: Isaiah = Yeshayahu, Jesus = Yahushua, God the Father = Yahweh
    • It condemns many English words, falsely linking them to "paganism" including: spirit/heaven/priest/holy. It teaches that saying these words are unacceptable and has invented new replacement faux paleo-Hebrew words for these as well: Spirit = RAUCH, Holy = Qodesh, Heaven = Shamayim,  
    • Trying to read this version requires learning their bizarre invented version of what they think paleo-Hebrew sounded like. 
    • We could consider this Bible as HEBLISH (like how "Spanglish" is a mix of English and Spanish.)
    • The HalleluYAH translation is nearly identical to the South African Institute for Scripture Research Version (ISR) a translation created mainly by one person, Chris Koster.
  • The Mormon's Joseph Smith translation of the KJV Bible
    • Joseph Smith even added 13 verses to the very last chapter of the Book of Genesis, in which he boldly invented prophecies that foretold of himself! Aside from that, the JST version mostly just includes footnotes that Joseph Smith inserts with his personal "interpretation" of the KJV scriptures.
  • Jehovah's Witness New World Bible translation.
    • There are a number of changes that were all suited to fit the beliefs of JW founder Charles Taze Russell, and the Watchtower Organization, but the change that sticks out to me was clearly done to demote Jesus' true identity in John 1:1 where their Bible was changed to say "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was A GOD" instead of "the Word WAS GOD."

I also stay away from "paraphrased" translations like The Message and The Passion as well.