I. THE BIBLE
We believe the Holy Scripture as originally given by God, to be divinely inspired, infallible, inerrant and all sufficient in all matters of faith and daily living.
II Timothy 3:16 & II Peter 1:20-21
II. GOD
We believe in one God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, co-equal in being, nature, power and glory.
Genesis 1:1, 26; Matthew 28:19
A. GOD THE FATHER
We believe God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.
Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7.
B. GOD THE SON
We believe that Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, performed divine miracles, suffered a sacrificial and atoning death and had a bodily resurrection from the grave, ascended on high, making intercession until His return in power and glory.
Genesis 18:1; Psalms 2:7; 110:1; Isaiah 7:14; 53; Matthew 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1-6,19; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18,29; 3:16; 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:7-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20,28; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 8:9; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7-9; 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:9; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16.
C. GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe the Holy Spirit to be equal with God the Father and God the Son. He is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He is responsible at the moment of salvation to accomplish on behalf of the believers spiritual baptism, which is being placed into the Body of Christ, indwelling and sealing him unto the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit is the supernatural agent of regeneration and is used of God to draw men to Christ. We believe the Holy Spirit is the Divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth, and that it is a privilege and duty of all the saved to continually yield to the filling of the Holy Spirit. We are also to avoid grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit.
Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11; 139:7; Isaiah 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mark 1:10,12; Luke 1:35; 4:1,18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; John 4:24; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Romans 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:12-14; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:14; 3:16; Hebrews 9:8,14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 2:17 & 19; 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation 1:10; 22:17.
III. MAN
We believe that Man is the special creation of God however sin entered the world through the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. As such we believe that all men are by nature sinners, alienated from God, and that each must repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior in order to be saved.
Genesis 1:26-30; Genesis 3:1-22; Romans 5:12 & 19
IV. SALVATION
We believe that repentance consists in a sincere sorrow for sin as committed against God, and in forsaking all known sin. We believe that faith in Christ consists in yielding of our will to His will for justification before God, and taking Him as the Savior, the Teacher, and the Ruler of the Soul. We believe that man must be reborn by the power and work of the Holy Spirit, justified by imputed righteousness, a gift of God to believers upon profession of their faith in Christ as their only Savior, associated by covenant in faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and excercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested to them by His Word.
Genesis 3:15; Exodus 3:14-17; 6:2-8; Matthew 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 10:9,28-29; 14:6; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; 20:32; Romans 1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3ff.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Galatians 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:9-22; 3:1ff.; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:12; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James 2:14-26; 1 Peter 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6-2:11; Revelation 3:20; 21:1-22:5.
V. ASSURANCE OF SALVATION
We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by the power of God and are thus secure in Christ forever. It is the privilege of all believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Word and that this privilege of security is not in any way a license to use Christian liberty as an occastion to satisfy the flesh. Every saved person possesses two natures with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through a yielded will to the possessor of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We believe that the sin nature is part of every believer and is in no way removed from us until we are glorified with Christ.
Genesis 12:1-3; John 6:37 & 10:27-30; Romans 6:13, 8:1, 8:12-13 & 13:13; I Corinthians 1:4-8; Galatians 5:13, 15 & 17; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:10; Titus 2:11-15; I Peter 1:5, 14-16; I John 3:5-9.
VI. THE CHURCH
We believe that the Church, which is the body and espousal bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born again persons of this present age and that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament. We believe in the autonomy of the local church, free from any external authority or control.
Matthew 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42,47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3; 14:23,27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 3:16; 5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11,21; 5:22-32; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:18; 1 Timothy 2:9-14; 3:1-15; 4:14; Hebrews 11:39-40; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Revelation 2-3; 21:2-3.
VII. BAPTISM AND THE LORD’S SUPPER
We believe that there are only two positive ordinances given to the church by its great Head, Jesus Christ; they are Baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is to be administered to believers only. The Lord's Supper is to commemorate the death of Christ until He comes again, and is open to all believers.
I Corinthians 11:17-34; Matthew 28:19-20.
VIII. THE LORD’S DAY
We believe that Sunday, the First Day of the Week, is the Lord's Day; that it should be kept sacred and holy as unto the Lord; that it is to be observed by the Church collectively and by individual members.
Hebrews 10:24-25
IX. RAPTURE, SECOND COMING & FINAL JUDGEMENT
We believe in the personal, imminent, pre-tribulational and pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones, and His subsequent return to earth with His saints to establish His literal Millennial Kingdom. We believe that there will be a bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust. The just shall stand before the Bema Judgement, and the unjust shall stand before the Great White Throne Judgement, to be judged according to the life lived upon this earth in the body. In the final separation of the wicked from the righteous, we believe that the wicked shall go into eternal punishment (a literal hell) and the righteous into eternal life with God.
Zechariah 14:4-11; Luke 23 & 43; I Thessalonians 1:10, 4:13-18 & 5:9; I Corinthians 3:11-15; II Corinthians 5:8; Revelation 3:10, 19:11-16 & 20:1-6, 11-15;
X. HEAVEN & HELL
We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection when the body and soul are reunited in a glorified body forever with the Lord. The redeemed will spend eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ in the place prepared by Him called New Jerusalem. We believe that the redeemed will live for all eternity with Christ on the new earth with a new heaven formed by God for the purpose of our eternal dwelling. We believe the souls of the unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection when body and soul are reunited at the Great White Throne Judgement and are cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting, conscious punishment.
Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26, Luke 23; Revelation 20:4-6, 21:9-15; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23, 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16-17; John 14:2-3; II Peter 3:13; Jude 6
XI. EVANGELISM AND MISSIONS
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man's spirit by God's Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.
Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5-6; Isaiah 6:1-8; Matthew 9:37-38; 10:5-15; 13:18-30, 37-43; 16:19; 22:9-10; 24:14; 28:18-20; Luke 10:1-18; 24:46-53; John 14:11-12; 15:7-8,16; 17:15; 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2; 8:26-40; 10:42-48; 13:2-3; Romans 10:13-15; Ephesians 3:1-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:5; Hebrews 2:1-3; 11:39-12:2; 1 Peter 2:4-10; Revelation 22:17.
XII. SANCTITY OF LIFE
We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Therefore abortion is murder. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, population control, or the mental well-being of the mother are acceptable.
Psalms 51:5, 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24, 49:1, 5; Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 1:44
XIII. STEWARDSHIP
God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their possessions. They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for helping others. According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer's cause on earth.
Genesis 14:20; Leviticus 27:30-32; Deuteronomy 8:18; Malachi 3:8-12; Matthew 6:1-4,19-21; 19:21; 23:23; 25:14-29; Luke 12:16-21,42; 16:1-13; Acts 2:44-47; 5:1-11; 17:24-25; 20:35; Romans 6:6-22; 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 4:1-2; 6:19-20; 12; 16:1-4; 2 Corinthians 8-9; 12:15; Philippians 4:10-19; 1 Peter 1:18-19.
XIV. CREATION & FALL
We believe that the first eleven chapters of Genesis are the literal history of the early Earth. We believe that this material universe is the result of a sequence of unique creative acts of God the Son, accomplished with the aid of God the Holy Spirit and directed by God the Father. These creative acts were ex nihilo, completed by the mere spoken commands of God. We further believe that these acts were accomplished in six literal twenty-four hour days. Therefore we hold to a young earth view supported by the genealogies and other time information provided in the Word of God. We also believe that the material universe was created in total perfection but subsequently was sentenced to a slow decay and eventual destruction by the Curse (binding), which was part of the penalty for the disobedience of the parents of all mankind, Adam and Eve, whom we view as real, literal people, created on the sixth day of Creation. We reject all concepts of a pre-Adamic race. We believe that the biblical Noahic Flood was a real, year-long global event, the result of the judgment of God on the hopelessly rebellious descendants of Adam and Eve, and resulted in much of the present geology of the Earth, including most of the fossil graveyards of myriads of plants and animals then living. We believe that only eight souls, Noah and his family, survived the Flood and that all mankind now living are descended from this family, dispersed over the face of the Earth by the confusion of tongues described in Genesis 11.
Matthew 19:4, 24:37; Genesis 1:1-2; Colossians 1:16; II Peter 3:5; Exodus 20:11; Genesis 1:27 & 31, 2:7-3:19, Chs. 6-8; I Peter 3:6
XV. MARRIAGE & SEXUALITY
We believe that marriage is an institution established by God in the Garden of Eden that is a sacred relationship between one man and one woman. It is our belief that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography is condemned by God as sinful perversions of His creation. In addition, no membership will be granted for any individuals living in open sin contrary to the Word of God. No leadership of the church is allowed to perform any ceremonies that might be construed as an endorsement of any lifestyle that is contrary to the union of one man and one woman for life. Ceremonies for same sex couples are strictly prohibited from being performed on any church property and by any church leadership, including those who are not on paid staff. We believe that this is forbidden by scripture and Thomas Terrace Baptist Church will not be associated with these acts.
Genesis 2:24, 19:5, 13; Leviticus 18; Matthew 19:4-5; Romans 1:26-29; I corinthians 5:1, 6:9; I thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4
XVI. THE FAMIILY
God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.
Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God's unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.
The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.
Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God's pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.
Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Joshua 24:15; 1 Samuel 1:26-28; Psalms 51:5; 78:1-8; 127; 128; 139:13-16; Proverbs 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22; 22:6,15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15,17; 31:10-31; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 9:9; Malachi 2:14-16; Matthew 5:31-32; 18:2-5; 19:3-9; Mark 10:6-12; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3-5; Titus 2:3-5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7.
XVII. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary to His Word or not contained in it. The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no church or denomination should be favored by the state more than others. Civil government being ordained of God, it is the duty of Christians to render loyal obedience thereto in all things not contrary to the revealed will of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends. The state has no right to impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind. The state has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.
Genesis 1:27; 2:7; Matthew 6:6-7,24; 16:26; 22:21; John 8:36; Acts 4:19-20; Romans 6:1-2; 13:1-7; Galatians 5:1,13; Philippians 3:20; 1 Timothy 2:1-2; James 4:12; 1 Peter 2:12-17; 3:11-17; 4:12-19.
XVIII. PEACE & WAR
It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness. In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ they should do all in their power to put an end to war.
The true remedy for the war spirit is the gospel of our Lord. The supreme need of the world is the acceptance of His teachings in all the affairs of men and nations, and the practical application of His law of love. Christian people throughout the world should pray for the reign of the Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 2:4; Matthew 5:9,38-48; 6:33; 26:52; Luke 22:36,38; Romans 12:18-19; 13:1-7; 14:19; Hebrews 12:14; James 4:1-2.
