Candidate's Doctrinal Statement       Link back to "WEFC Events: Candidating Weekend"
     
 

An Expanded Doctrinal/Missional Statement of Dr. David Craig

First, I am a Christian which distinguishes my beliefs from other world religions and cults. Therefore, I adhere to both the Apostles and Nicene Creeds.

Second, I am an Evangelical and in agreement with the doctrinal statement of the National Association of Evangelicals:

        I believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

        I believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

        I believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

        I believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

        I believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

        I believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

        I believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Third, I am Missional:

        I believe that our local churches must be faithful to the content of unchanging Biblical doctrine (Jude 3).

        I believe that our local churches must be faithful to the continually changing context of the culture(s) in which they minister (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).

        I believe that our mission is to bring people into church so that they can be trained to go out into their culture as effective missionaries.

Fourth, I am Reformed:

        I believe that God created the heavens, the earth.

        I believe that God created man and woman in a state of sinless perfection with particular dignity as His image bearers on the earth.

        I believe that our first parents sinned against God and that everyone since is a sinner by nature and choice. Sin has totally affected all of creation including marring human image and likeness so that all of our being is stained by sin (e.g. reasoning, desires, and emotions).

        I believe that because all people have sinned and separated themselves from the Holy God that he is obligated to save no one from the just deserved punishments of hell. I also believe that God in His unparalleled love and mercy has chosen to elect some people for salvation.

        I believe that the salvation of the elect was predestined by God in eternity past.

        I believe that the salvation of the elect was accomplished by the sinless life, substitutionary atoning death, and literal physical resurrection of Jesus Christ in place of His people for their sins.

        I believe that the salvation of the elect, by God's grace alone, shows forth in the ongoing repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ that leads to good works.

        I believe that God's saving grace is ultimately irresistible and that God does soften even the hardest heart and save the worst of sinners according to His will.

        I believe that the gospel should be passionately and urgently proclaimed to all people so that all who believe may be saved through the preaching of God's Word by the power of God's Spirit.

        I believe that true Christians born again of God's Spirit will be kept by God throughout their life, as evidenced by personal transformation that includes an ever-growing love of God the Father through God the Son by God the Spirit, love of brothers and sisters in the church, and love of lost neighbors in the culture.

        I believe that God is Lord over all of life and that there is nothing in life that is to be separated from God.

        I believe that the worship of God is the end for which people were created and that abiding joy is only to be found by delighting in God through all of life, including hardship and death which is gain.

What do I not believe?


 To help clarify my beliefs I believe it may also be helpful to declare what I do not believe.

I am not a liberal, who embraces culture without discernment and compromising the distinctives of the gospel, but rather a Christian who believes that the truths of the Bible are eternal and therefore fitting for every time, place, and people.

        I am not a fundamentalist who retreats from cultural involvement and transformation, but rather see myself as a missionary who is faithful both to the content of Scripture and the context of my ministry.

        I am not an isolationist and seek to partner with like-minded Christians from various churches, denominations and organizations to be involved in equipping and evangelistic endeavors.

        I am not a hyper-Calvinist who gets mired down in secondary matters, but rather pray, evangelize, and do good works because I believe that the sovereign plan of God is accomplished through the church, His people.

        I am not an eschatological Theonomist or Classic Dispensationalist (e.g. Scofield) and believe that divisive and dogmatic certainty surrounding particular details of Jesus Second Coming are unprofitable speculation, because the timing and exact details of His return are unclear to us.

        I am not an egalitarian and do believe that men should head their homes and male elders/pastors should lead their churches with masculine love like Jesus Christ.

        I am not an Open Theist and believe in the sovereignty and foreknowledge of God in all things.

        I am not a religious relativist and do believe that there is no salvation apart from faith in Jesus Christ alone.

        I am not a nationalist seeking to simply improve one nation but instead an ambassador of the King of Kings commissioned to proclaim and demonstrate the coming of His kingdom to all nations of the earth.

        I am not a moralist seeking to help people live good lives, but instead an evangelist, laboring that people would become new creations in Christ.

        I am not a relativist and do gladly embrace Scripture as our highest authority above such things as culture, experience, philosophy, and other forms of revelation.

        I am not a Universalist and do believe that many people will spend eternity in the torments of hell as the Bible teaches.

        I am not a naturalist and do believe that Satan and demons are real enemies at work in this world and subject to God.

        I am not a rationalist and do believe that not everything can be known but that God calls us to live by faith with mystery and partial knowledge regarding many things.

    I am not an evangelical feminist and do believe that God reveals Himself as a Father and is to be honored by the names He reveals to us without apology.

        I am not embarrassed by the bloody death of Jesus Christ and do believe He died as a substitute for the sins of His people in selfless love.

        I am not ashamed and do proclaim a loving gospel of grace which sounds like foolishness and offensiveness to the unrepentant while also saving multitudes with ears to hear good news.

        I am not a cessationist, but a continuationist who believes that God sovereignly distributes spiritual gifts as He wills and deems best for each church body and its needs for His ultimate glory.

        I am not a polemicist who believes that it is my task to combat every false teaching but am passionate about preserving the integrity of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

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Web page uploaded 6/27/10.