Statement on Inerrancy
We believe and affirm that the Bible is the authoritative, infallible, sufficient and inerrant revelation of God to man. The Bible, specifically the 66 books of the historic Protestant canon, are the supreme, written authority about God and His creation for all humankind. It is God’s special, self-disclosure to all humanity regardless of culture and time. It is infallible in that it cannot lead man astray about the nature of God, His creation and how man is saved and sanctified. It is sufficient for knowledge about God, God’s creation, and how we are saved and sanctified. It is without error in its original autographs, in all that it teaches and affirms.
The Bible is, therefore, utterly reliable and entirely true. No other book, set of books, creedal pronouncements, theological statements or traditions are revelatory in the same sense. The Bible is sui generis and all other related writings, statements and utterances of men must be gauged and evaluated in light of the words of the Bible as we have it. The Bible’s affirmative propositions on all issues related to God, His creation, His moral laws, and on the nature of humankind are fixed and universal, their truth values independent of changes in time or culture.
Statement on Men and Women in the Church
We believe there are only two biological sexes. They are “male” and “female.” These terms refer to two essential yet equal natures, both of which possess the same ontological value in the sight of God, but which are nevertheless not identical or the same. Given their essential, yet important, differences, men and women of good faith are called by God to function together toward a common end, performing different roles and functions with regard to the governance of God’s church and for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Men and women complement each other and serve God’s purposes on earth by fulfilling certain callings, as well as refraining from certain callings, in light of what the Scriptures teach. These roles are defined by the Scriptures and relate most saliently to the life of the church and to the natural family.
While we are convicted that this traditional view more accurately reflects the ontology of God’s creation and the affirmations of Scripture, we recognize there are faithful churches and denominations who believe that men and women can perform all of the same functions and roles in the Church without qualification. While we see this as an important difference among faithful churches, we do not consider it a “first-tier” Gospel issue.
Statement on Gender, Sexuality & Marriage
We believe there are only two biological sexes. They are “male” and “female.” These terms refer to two essential yet equal natures, both of which possess the same ontological value in the sight of God and that tell us something about the divine image and likeness that is innate to us. The reality of “maleness” and “femaleness” cannot be denied, nor their value underestimated, even if social aspects of both can and do change over time and across cultures.
As the act of eating is fundamentally about nourishing the body, so is the sexual act fundamentally about procreation—even though pleasure and enjoyment are generated by both. Thus, sexual intercourse is meant to be engaged in only between biological men and biological women living within the covenantal ordinance of marriage. Marriage is a divinely ordained institution, and authentic marriages can only be between biological males and biological females. All conjugal acts outside of these divinely designed and determined biological and relational boundaries are sins before God; a rejection of His plan for humankind. They cannot ultimately lead to any true human flourishing and will only hinder one’s relationship with Christ.
[We affirm that there is no third sex. In the rare case of “intersex” persons, where the anatomy is ambiguous, we believe the individual retains the right to choose to live as “male” or “female,” given their understanding of their own, unique bodies, but not as some ambiguous third sex.]Statement on Human Life
We believe that human life begins at conception and that all human life is stamped with the image of God (Imago Dei) and, therefore, possesses intrinsic value. Abortion is a grave evil as it freely eliminates innocent human life that bears the image of God. There are no exceptions for elective abortion. In the rare case of “the life of the mother,” where two image bearers of God cannot both continue to live due to extreme or unforeseen medical concerns, we do not consider this an abortion, but a genuine moral dilemma where one life must be sacrificed for the sake of the other. The decision on who lives and who does not should fall first and foremost to the immediate family members.
Human life should always be promoted, supported and sustained so long as it is able to live on its own, unassisted by extreme medical intervention. Suicide is murder and it is never acceptable to opt for suicide regardless of how much pain, physical or psychological, is present in a person. As such, we defend human life from conception to natural death in all, or nearly all, cases. Only in the case of capital punishment for severe crimes, i.e., murder, might there be an exception to this moral law.
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