What We Believe
First Presbyterian Church, Dexter, NM
WE BELIEVE:
THE BIBLE IS GOD’S HOLY LIVING WORD. It is authoritative for faith and all of life, and instructive for our everyday lives. It is integral to a life of discipleship, knowing God and understanding God’s will and purpose for us.
First
Presbyterian Church, Dexter, NM February, 2014
The junior and senior high youth of First Presbyterian Church of Dexter, New Mexico are studying the statements of What We Believe as approved by the Session in February, 2014 and wish to record what we are learning as an ongoing testament of our study. Contributions are included below. We welcome your thoughts and expressions.
Genia Devenport and Marilyn Lathrop
All
scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate,
equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy
3:16-17 NAS)
For
the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and
piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow,
and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 NAS)
The following entries include
responses of adults following an interview with the Adult Sunday School class
in February 2015 as recorded by our Junior High Sunday School youth with
Courtney posing questions to the members and Chase recording the event.
What does it mean that the Bible is the Holy living Word of
God? (Courtney)
Sue Freeland: To me it means that
what is said back in His day is pertinent yesterday, and it is pertinent today
and it will be the same tomorrow; never changes.
Neil Breedyk: I agree with that our
forefathers and folks years ago, they lived on the same Word that we live on
and still today; and our great- greatest-grandchildren generations from now
have that same Word also.
Jessica Keeling: It was a history
book. If you take that Word and break it apart, it’s His-story. So, just like,
we’ve also said, it was there and current back in Jesus’ day; it’s current now.
It’s our history book throughout the ages.
Sue Freeland: And Timothy tells us
that all Scripture is God-breathed, living for building us up and doing the
will of God. Something in that order, I don’t remember the exact words.
Babe Butts: Jesus always refers to
it as “God’s Word” and “the truth”. God’s Word … It’s just real to all of us.
Melinda Jackson: It’s our hope, our
faith, for eternal life and without it, we don’t have a lot
of meaning to exist. It exchanges--it puts us in a
different place from the animal kingdom because we are His chosen ones. We’re
given the blueprint and we are given the
hope for eternal life.
Dan Lathrop: Specifically related to
being the living Word, if you read the same passage, the
same Scriptures at the age of 15, again at the age of 30, again
at the age of 45, again at the age of 60, it will apply to your life in different ways, it will live in your life.
And
the tempter came and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command that
these stones become bread. But He
answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on
every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4: 3-4 NAS)
What does it mean that the Bible is authoritative for our life? (Courtney)
Melinda Jackson: It’s our rule book,
our playbook.
June Bible: It’s our guidebook.
Dan Lathrop: I like that.
Sue Freeland: It’s our roadmap to
eternity.
Neil Breedyk: And we can use that as
a guide, I mean, all through life, from Dan’s good
example here, (at age)15, 30, 45 (years), you still come back to that
and it keeps you grounded.
June Bible: No matter what age you
are, it needs to be our goal to learn more about it. I certainly am finding that out, year byyear, that…I don’t know that much about it.
The
law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The
precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the
Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring
forever; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous
altogether. They are more desirable than
gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter
also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Thy servant is warned; in
keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm
19:7-11 NAS)
Courtney: What does it mean that the Bible is instructive for our everyday lives?
Sue Freeland: It teaches us how God
wants us to behave in this way and how we are to love each other
enough to share the Gospel, the Good News.
Jessica: And that everything has a
literal meaning for our life today. Everything in the Bible
has that literal meaning; we can take it to heart and put it into
practice today.
Neil Breedyk: It teaches us in
different situations, it could comfort us, it could lead us and we
can be in God’s presence with the help of the Word.
How do we
know the Bible is truly the Word of God?
1) Ancient copies of the Bible exist today--more copies than
exist for many ancient writings such as those of Julius Caesar.
·
When comparing modern translations with ancient
text the accuracy is stunning--very few errors can be found
·
In the Old Testament, only a handful of numbers
pertaining to how many of something are incorrect--the other information is
accurate in many of its details, including the fact that the Earth had a
beginning (ancient Greeks taught that the universe has always existed and so
did science until Belgian priest, Georges LeMaitre’s “cosmic egg” theory was
proven and nicknamed the “big bang” by Sir Fred Hoyle an atheist. (Atheists
don’t want the universe to have a beginning because that means Someone had to
start it. But they’ve gotten around that problem lately with the invention of
the multiple universe theory, which states our universe isn’t that special,
though physicist, Martin Rees, admits that our universe is “shockingly
unlikely.” The problem with the multiple universe theory is it can’t be proved!
We can’t see past the edge of our universe.)
2) The Bible is a collection of 66 books written over a
period of 2000 years by 40 different authors in three different languages, yet
retains accuracy, coherency and cohesiveness throughout
·
No other text in the world can boast this
3) Prophecies recorded in the Bible have come true
·
Reasons.org states that of the 2500 prophecies
recorded in the Bible, 2000 of them have come true, the others are for the
future and remain to be fulfilled.
Click here for information on fulfilled prophecy.
·
No other religious text has this kind of record.
4) Archeological digs continue to prove the history recorded
in the Bible.
5) Jesus is the pivot of history--He is the center of
Christianity. Without His life, death and resurrection, there is no
Christianity. Secular history records Jesus actually existed; Josephus, a
Jewish historian, wrote,
“At
this time there was a wise man called Jesus, and his conduct was good, and he
was known to be virtuous. Many people among the Jews and the other nations
became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But
those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They
reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that
he was alive. Accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the
prophets have reported wonders. And the tribe of the Christians, so named after
him, has not disappeared to this day.” http://www.4truth.net/fourtruthpbjesus.aspx?pageid=8589952897
6) The Apostles prove Jesus rose from the dead.
·
The Apostles, except John who was exiled, were
all martyred for preaching Jesus was the Messiah and was raised from the dead.
The Apostles claimed that they had seen, spoken with and dined with Jesus after
his death. A person will die for the truth, he will not die for a lie.
7) A believer’s personal experience proves the Bible
·
“Delight yourself
in the Lord, and he will give you the
desires of your heart,” Psalm 37:4, after you have received Jesus as Lord, is
the gateway to Shalom blessing in Christ. The Hebrew word, “Shalom,” means “to
be made whole, lacking nothing.” This includes health, good family relations,
material prosperity and above all, companionship and fellowship with God.
·
God honors His
promises. As a child of God you are joint heir with Christ and share in
everything He has. I can testify, by my personal experience, that God answers
prayers, keeps His promises and blesses His children outrageously. Any believer
who delights himself in God and trusts God to keep him will have similar
experiences.
Marilyn Lathrop
