Welcome to the forum <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/hello.gif" alt="" />
First, I would look at
Refcon 3.0 and make a link to it on your new forum. These have references to Confessions, etc, with the Scripture references.
Second, IMO there need to be “some” correction and/or clarifications to some of your statements.
Lastly, IMO it would just be easier to use the Confessions and Catechisms.
Here are a few illustrations (this is
not meant to be a complete analysis):
Blanding states,
Hello there. I'm new to the forums, but seeing the subject of this forum, I thought this would be a good place to come to help. I'm going to be setting up my own forums of a Christian theme. They are not going to be specifically reformed, but I want to maintain the core truths of Christianity in them, and so as part of the rules I've been developing, I've made a list of doctrines which I consider to be absolutely necessary to the Christian faith. But, I wanted to provide proof texts for these doctrines, and it's taking me a lot time to gather verses for each one. The following is my list of doctrines which I plan to include in the rules. Would you be able to help me? By the way, I've already tried using the catechism and confession of WM, but it's still proven very difficult, especially when I wrote these myself.
I would like to note that while certain doctrines are
absolutely necessary to the Christian faith, it is
not absolutely necessary that a Christian believe everyone of them in order to be a Christian. i.e. once a person becomes a Christian over a period of time they may and should be able to better articulate what they believe, however I have NEVER met a “new” Christian that has been able to articulate EVERY doctrine without error – especially the doctrine of the Trinity!
See: HC, 1-2.
Blanding states,
God is unique in that He is the only true God, is sovereign over all of His creation, and there are no other gods.
Uhmm, there is no other true God (“G”) Isaiah 45:21-22, but there are other false gods (“g”) (the Bible itself lists many and we may all study: Ishtar, who has been identified with the Phoenician Astarte, the Semitic Ashtoreth, the Egyptian Isis, the Greek Aphrodite, and the Roman Venus. Ishtar's male fertility counterpart was Tamuz who was closely associated with the Canaanite fertility god, Baal. Baal's mistress or lover was Anat. Anat is sometimes identified with the queen of heaven in mentioned in Jeremiah. Molech was the national deity of the Ammonites whose worship was accompanied by the burning of children offered up in sacrifice by their own parents. Chemosh was the national god of the Moabites who was also worshiped with child sacrifices. Ashtoreth was the ancient goddess of the moon, sexuality, sensual love, and fertility and is often associated with the worship of Baal Zeus was the supreme god of the Greeks. All this and then we need not forget also about the “unknown god," Acts 17:22-23, who’s not known but can be mentioned, which means he had to be known in some way, anyway <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/igiveup.gif" alt="" />)?
See: WCF, 2; BC, 1.
Blanding states,
God is a Trinity: the Father, the Son (Who is Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit; three equal persons but one God.
See: WCF, 2; LC, 9-11; BC, 8-11.
Blanding states,
God is infinite (and as such omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent), eternal in existence, entirely self-sufficient, invisible (as He is a Spirit and is not a physical being, nor was any member of the Godhead until the incarnation of Christ), perfect, unchanging in His perfection, completely good, wise, and infinitely superior to any created being.
See WCF, 2; LC, 7-8; SC, 4-6.
Blanding states,
Christ is God the Son incarnate, fully God with God’s divine nature, and fully flesh with the flesh’s creaturely (yet sinless) nature; He was truly physical and was not a phantom or apparition. Furthermore He was born of a virgin and not conceived by man, but rather miraculously by the work of the Holy Spirit.
See: WCF, 8; LC, 36-45; SC, 21-28; BC, 18.
Blanding states,
Christ’s death on the cross was a true physical death, and was not a coma, suspended animation, or an alien life-preserving beam. Through Christ’s death He became the perfect sacrifice and substitutionary atonement for the sins of all believers.
See: WCF 8, LC, 46-50, SC, 21-28.
Blanding states,
Christ’s resurrection was a full physical resurrection of the body through the power of God. The resurrection was neither figurative nor faked, and was a manifestation of the fulfillment of the promises of eternal life we have through faith in Christ.
See: LC, 51-54; BC 21.
Regeneration is an action performed on us by God alone according to His judgment, in which He imparts to us Christ’s righteousness and an indwelling of the Holy Spirit who compels us to believe and trust on Him for salvation. This is also known as God’s “calling.” We are also given in regeneration a new nature which seeks Him and is contrary to the sinful nature.
Uhmm, I have some problems here? Regeneration I would say is more according to God’s “grace” which He ordained by His eternal judgment. Personally, IMO the term “judgment” may be misinterpreted the way you are using it. Moreover “regeneration” and “calling” are
not the same, etc. Look at your ordo salutis.
See: WCF, 10-11; LC, 57-59; SC, 29-32; BC, 22; CD, 2nd Head of Doctrine.
Blanding states,
Regeneration is irrevocable and permanent, and as such our salvation is secured by God Himself, and His will to keep us in the fold, and is not secured by any action that we perform. If a person is truly regenerated by God, he cannot lose his salvation, and if he becomes delinquent in his life, God will shepherd him back to a state of submission to Himself.
See: WCF, 17; LC, 79-81; CD, 5th Head of Doctrine.
Blanding states,
The saving work of Christ on the cross was completely sufficient for the salvation of believers. As believers are the product of regeneration and regeneration is done by God, our salvation is thus completely dependent on the mercy of God and not in any way dependent on our works, and no action we take can add to or detract from our salvation.
Believing on Christ for salvation from sin and its punishment is the only means one can be saved. This inherently excludes anything that teaches any other means of salvation.
See: WCF, 9-16; LC, 57-78; SC, 29-38; BC, 16; CD, 1st Head of Doctrine.
Blanding states,
No sacrament, rite, or action can save us, convey saving grace, or add anything to our salvation; likewise the lack of any sacrament, rite, or action cannot detract from our salvation if we are indeed regenerated. God’s act of regeneration is totally independent of any action that we take, and as already specified, any work of salvation by God is completely sufficient and irrevocable.
No sacrament, rite, or action cleanses us from sin. The cleansing and covering of our sin took place at the moment of salvation, and from that point onward God’s grace covers all of our sin and our sin nature which remains with us until death.
Uhmm, just to clarify in Reformed circles we say that our baptism may be improved upon — that meaning that we CAN GROW in grace and truth (sanctification). Think of salvation as the car (complete) and these other things as divine luggage, added as one is on his pilgrimage upon this earth.
See: WCF, 27-29; LC, 161-177; SC, 91-97; BC, 33-35; 39 Articles, 25-28.
Blanding states,
Through God’s independent work of salvation we receive all of the promises of God and blessings therein which are given to those who are joint heirs of God the Father with Christ, adopted children. These promises include the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (which regenerates us in the first place), the resultant faith, the covering of our sins by Christ’s righteousness, the new God-seeking nature, the fruit of the Spirit (which we act out in obedience), and others which can be found in Scripture.
See: above.
Blanding states,
God is the only divine being. We are not part of God’s divinity, though we are adopted. We do not become any kind of demi-gods or little deities, as that is a quality exclusive to the Trinity.
Sin entered the world at the beginning of Creation through the disobedience of Adam, and through Adam, all others born on earth are born corrupted with an innate sin nature of selfishness and detachment from God which condemns them from conception. The only exception to this was Christ.
Sin is anything which deviates from obedience and submission to God, either in failure to obey His commands or committing that which He has forbidden. This lack of obedience and submission starts in the very nature of the heart, which is the sinful love of self and predisposal towards sin that opposes the love of and obedience to God (what we call “Sin Nature” or “Fallen Nature”).[/
See: WCF, 4; LC, 21-23; CD, 3rd and 4th Heads of Doctrine.
Blanding states,
Heaven and Hell are real places, not metaphors, the first being a place of eternal glory and blessing under God’s grace for those who believe on Christ, and the second being a place of eternal punishment under God’s wrath for the angelic beings that opposed God and those who reject the true message of Christ by following a false message, or rejecting it altogether.
Christ is coming again for the final judgment of this world, after which this old corrupted world will be destroyed, and a new Heaven and new Earth will be put in place as part of the Heaven that is promised us in eternal life.
See: WCF, 32-33; LC, 87-90; BC, 37.
The Bible is God's word, divinely inspired and as such infallible, protected by God's guidance and all-encompassing sovereign action, and surviving the corruption of men.
Uhmm, since your whole intention of this post is to “proof text” your doctrine wouldn’t this better being item #1 in your list – as it is in the WCF?
See: WCF, 1; LC, 3-6; SC, 1-3; BC, 3; Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy.
I would say, aside from the corrections and clarifications that need to be made that the use of the confessions and catechisms would be a “better” example of “the core truths of Christianity.” This is not meant to be a poor commentary on what you have written, but we should be as complete as possible and thus… <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/shrug.gif" alt="" />
