3.3 Statements of Faith

[Jaylen]

The short answer is letting the Holy Spirit influence these moments. I believe that the Bible is the ultimate authority; if it says something directly, there is no room for argument. Yet still, the Holy Spirit is a gift to us with purpose. One of those purposes is to open our eyes and help us discern the things of God. In this context, I believe the Holy Spirit plays a vital role in our interpretation of “controversial” parts of scripture. Where things aren’t explicitly taught in the Bible and disagreements cannot be confirmed either right or wrong, the most important thing we need to do in those times is lean into the Holy Spirit to guide us as to what is the wisest, most loving, most upright way to conclude such matters. I believe this is God’s expectation, not a suggestion like “hey you could involve the Spirit, or you could not”. The Spirit was given for a reason, we should not shy away from His guidance.

[Lorna Anne]

We can guard against falling into either of this two errors by studying the word of God, asking the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and understanding of his word.

Talking to our mentors or leaders of the church, encouraging one another, sharpening minds to one another. We are not alone.

Seeks God for the answered. We need to be familiar with the word of God.

[Melany]

I think teachings like this would be an answer to these two errors. These errors have been seen in virtually every church I’ve been a part of, and have caused much devision, mostly for no reason as the issues at hand were not of the core category. We need to learn to be clear about what we believe but maintain love and recognize the difference between these categories

[Deleted User]

We need to recognize that there are some things we all agree on, these are the foundational things (core beliefs) regarding Jesus and salvation. Then we need to recognize that it is ok to disagree with each other on the rest. We need to demonstrate love and respect for one another and let that be the reigning factor. Jesus demonstrated that love needs to be our mandate not only for each other, but also those who do not know the truth yet.