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ACOP Narrative Commentary
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Respond in paragraph format to the following prompt(s):
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- When it comes to statements of faith, why is it important to distinguish between core beliefs, doctrinal distinctives, personal beliefs and personal opinions?
- How familiar are you with ACOP’s statement of faith (or another denomination’s)? Have you looked at the Narrative Commentary to help get a better sense of the doctrines expressed in the statement of faith?
Distinguishing between core beliefs, doctrinal distinctive, personal beliefs and personal opinions are important to equip believers to walk in unity through diversity. They hold us together in the essentials of faith while allowing us to be unique fulfilling calling and mission. I am thankful for ACOP’s statement of faith and the accompanying Narrative Commentary.
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It is important to distinguish first order beliefs from second order beliefs so that there is unity. This is also very beneficial so that lines are not blurred on the importance of beliefs. As Christians, there are some things that must be believed, and there are some things that may be viewed differently, that aren’t as crucial to believe one certain way. Having these things written out formally keeps communication clear.
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- It is important to distinguish between these different things because it is important to know how your personal beliefs can impact how you interpret statements of faith. Organizations need to have statements of faith that clearly state the things their organization believes to have constructive conversations with individuals regarding how their personal opinions and beliefs fit in compared to doctrinal distinctive and core beliefs.
- Throughout this course, I have had the opportunity to look at ACOP’s statement of faith a few times. I am quite familiar with other statement of faiths as well as I have grown up and around a number of different denominators that all have different emphases in their statements of faith. In this lesson, I also looked at the narrative commentary that I didn’t know existed before. It was interesting to see the biblical passages that reveal why the ACOP believes what they believe. It is important to have that be the pre-requisite for any statement of faith.
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It is important to distinguish different levels of belief because without order there is simply chaos. It would not be articulated that we, for example, might believe doing communion every month is a more important belief than that Jesus is the Son of God.
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