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What Presbyterians Believe

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Faith in Jesus Christ as God redeeming us ... Bible is ultimate authority in matters of faith and life. Presbyterian Distinctives ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: What Presbyterians Believe


1
What Presbyterians Believe
  • Octoberfest 2007

2
Presbyterians are Christians
  • Faith in God as creator
  • Faith in Jesus Christ as God redeeming us
  • Faith in the Holy Spirit as giver and sustainer
    of life and faith
  • Bible as Word of God written
  • Church as community of Gods people

3
Presbyterians are Reformed
  • Share in heritage of John Calvin
  • Trust that God is loving and gracious
  • Salvation as free gift, not earned
  • Bible is ultimate authority in matters of faith
    and life

4
Presbyterian Distinctives
  • Sovereignty of God
  • Independence from all that is not God
  • God is at work in human history
  • Freedom from undue concern about salvation
  • Ethics and a life of holiness
  • Life of the Mind in service to God
  • Quality, literate preaching
  • Discipline and pastoral care
  • Preference for simplicity

5
Sovereignty of God
  • God is Lord of all
  • The center of religious life is the praise of God
  • All other aspects are secondary to praise
  • Worship, obedience, generosity are responses to
    Gods goodness

6
Independence from all that is not God
  • Nothing can take the place of God
  • Critique of materialism, greed,
    self-aggrandizement, even lesser loyalties

7
God works in human history
  • God is not confined to the spiritual realm
  • God works in history, politics, nature, and the
    cosmos
  • Church is concerned with the transformation of
    the world, not mere the salvation of souls

8
Freedom from undue concern about salvation
  • Predestination
  • God saves - not us
  • We love because we have been loved, not out of
    fear

9
Ethics and the Life of Holiness
  • Sanctification - growing in the means of grace
  • Emphasis on ethical living, practices as a
    response to Gods love
  • Faithful life as gratitude, not legalism

10
The Life of the Mind in Service to God
  • Value education have advocated for public
    education, started colleges
  • Tradition of scholarship among pastors, teachers
  • Members of our congregations are better educated,
    more intellectually demanding

11
Quality, Literate Preaching
  • Dependence on Scripture
  • Relevant to human life and circumstances
  • Clarity and directness
  • Literacy and intellectual coherence

12
Pastoral Care and Discipline
  • We share a common life one is not a Christian in
    isolation
  • We live together in covenant Book of Order
  • Purpose of order and discipline pastoral and
    reconciliatory, not punitive
  • Pastors guide members toward constructive
    participation

13
Preference for Simplicity
  • Simplicity in worship, dress, lifestyle
  • Shuns ostentation
  • Simplicity of church architecture
  • Increasing detachment from the things of the
    world
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