Statement of Faith

Here’s a condensed version of my Statement of Faith:

• On God:
  • Jesus Christ, fully human and fully God, lived, died for our sins, and was resurrected.
  • All of us fall short, and our salvation was purchased for us by Jesus’s death on the cross.
  • We do not earn our salvation and we cannot take any credit for God’s grace.
• On free will and sin:
  • Made in God’s image, we were created with free will.
  • We continually sin as we exercise free will.
  • We cannot hold God responsible for evil; endowed with free will, “the buck stops with us.”
• On Scripture:
  • Scripture was inspired by God, and God did not cause Scripture to be so esoteric as to be intelligible only to a few.
  • The earth could not shield Moses from even a portion of God’s glory. Who are we to presume that behind human language we might withstand God?
• On political power:
  • Christianity cannot justify any particular style of government.
  • How can any historical earthly power claim to have been been irrevocably invested with God’s authority any more than its successors?
• On action:
  • We are obligated to work for good and against wrong.¹
  • When we work, we must not do so in the hopes of receiving some reward from God. Salvation is neither a contest nor something to be bought.
  • Instead, the reason we must work is this: how could we do otherwise, having been given the greater gift?

If you find anything vague, I would be happy to chat about it in person! I’ve been a Christian my whole life, but the first time I wrote down these beliefs was in 2021, when I formally became a member of a church in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

I first made this webpage in January 2024 and hope to keep it updated over time. I wasn’t confident about making it public but decided that I would rather not risk appearing to agree with things with which I disagree.

In my opinion, the most significant passage from the Gospels is:

³⁹And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. ⁴⁰But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? ⁴¹And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. ⁴²And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. ⁴³And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

— Luke 23:39-43, KJV

The beginning of my favorite Psalm, Psalm 73:

¹Truly God is good to the upright,
 to those who are pure in heart.

 

²But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
 my steps had nearly slipped.
³For I was envious of the arrogant;
 I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

 

⁴For they have no pain;
 their bodies are sound and sleek.
⁵They are not in trouble as others are;
 they are not plagued like other people.
⁶Therefore pride is their necklace;
 violence covers them like a garment.
⁷Their eyes swell out with fatness;
 their hearts overflow with follies.
⁸They scoff and speak with malice;
 loftily they threaten oppression.
⁹They set their mouths against heaven,
 and their tongues range over the earth.
¹⁰Therefore the people turn and praise them,
 and find no fault in them.
¹¹And they say, “How can God know?
 Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

 

— Psalm 73:1-13, NRSV

And a final verse:

²⁰Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.

— Psalm 9:20, KJV