Soil from Stone

God - YHWH Elohim, Creator of heaven and earth, is the final judge and authority over all people, places, and creatures. Although he is ultimately beyond our comprehension, YHWH presents many faces to the world to help us relate to and understand him. He loves us and desires us to have close relationships with him, personally and corporately.

Father - God the Father is the creator and lawgiver. He is the primary object of our prayers and worship.

Yeshua - Yeshua is God in the flesh. As the Word, the Firstborn Son, and the right hand of God, through him the world was created, was redeemed, and will be judged. Although he existed before time, his physical body was conceived in a virgin through divine action. He grew from a boy to a man as the son and heir of Joseph in the house of David. He lived a perfectly sinless life, healed the sick and crippled, raised the dead, and cast out demons. He was crucified by Jews and Gentiles and rose from the grave after three full days and nights. He fulfilled many prophecies concerning the Messiah of Israel and will someday fulfill them all. He is the only mechanism by which a person can attain eternal life with the Father.

Holy Spirit - God the Holy Spirit is the teacher, comforter, councellor, and nurturer. He acts in the hearts and minds of his people to transform them into new creations suitable for receiving and living God’s Law. He enables us to hear and act on God’s will, to speak God’s words, and to be a light to the world around us.

Scripture - The sixty-six books of the Bible are all inspired by God and are inerrant in their original forms and languages. Millennia of transcriptions and translations have introduced some minor errors, but their fundamental truths have been preserved intact. The Torah itself is virtually unchanged from the originals recorded by Moses. There might be other inspired scriptures and prophetic works, but they must all be measured against the Canon of the Bible. God does not change or contradict himself.

Sin - Sin is the violation of God’s laws, and all people have sinned. We are sinners by inclination. Death, disease, and evil are the temporal consequences of sin. Separation from God and eventual destruction in an unquenchable fire are the eternal consequences of sin.

Atonement - The Hebrew word translated atonement is kippur, which is a covering. Restoration to God requires our sin to be covered over–hidden–by innocent blood.

Salvation - Only blood can atone for sin, and while the blood of animals can provide a transient atonement, only the blood of a perfect man can take away sin permanently. No one was ever saved from sin by sacrificing bulls and goats. We cannot earn salvation through any action of our own or adherence to any set of rules. Yeshua’s death provided a true cleansing of sin for all people in all times. Anyone in any age and in any nation can gain salvation by acknowleging their own inadequacy and appealing to God’s mercy and forgiveness. By God’s grace, the blood of Yeshua removes our rebellious stench, enabling us to be restored to relationship with him.

Torah - The Torah (aka the Penteteuch, the first five books of the Bible) contains God’s written standards of behavior for his people. The instructions it contains are simple and easy to understand. However, Torah is multi-dimensional. Through allegory and example, it describes Yeshua’s role in our redemption as the Messiah, highest priest, and king of kings. It is both life and death, blessing and cursing. We can find life through obedience and death through disobedience or through obedience with a wrong heart. If we are in a right relationship with God, then the Torah helps to set us free from bondage to sin. If we are not in a right relationship with God, then the Torah witnesses against us and we are under condemnation by it. When we place our faith in Yeshua for salvation, the Torah no longer holds authority over us to condemn us, but the laws it contains still apply to us. We are free to obey out of love for our Creator and King instead of fear of condemnation.

Israel - All those who have joined in covenant with God, made possible through the blood of Yeshua, are grafted into Israel. We are made children of the King and citizens of his kingdom by his grace, no longer foreigners or sojourners in Israel, but true Israelites and children of Abraham. All laws, all blessings, and all curses that apply to Israel apply equally to all of God’s people. The physical descendants of Jacob require salvation just like anyone else. They have the benefit of having been given the Torah and having been born into Israel, but if they do not produce good fruit they will be cut off.

Jews - The Jewish people today are descendants of the southern kingdom of Judah as well as many converts and adoptees to Judaism. As physical children of Israel, they are recipients of irrevocable promises from God. They should be honored as his chosen people and respected for their role in history and God’s plan. So far as they place their trust in God for their salvation and not in strict obedience to rules, they are saved by the blood of Yeshua whether they know his name and acknowledge him as the Messiah or not. I would like all people everywhere to know Yeshua, but I have no special drive to convert Jews to Christianity. My mission lies in another direction entirely.

Prophecy - A prophecy will usually have a single focus, but it may have echoes or ripples throughout time. Like the contractions of a woman in labor, prophetic fulfillment comes and goes but tends to increase in severity with temporal proximity to its focus.

The Messianic Kingdom - Yeshua will return to fulfill all remaining prophecies of the Messiah and will physically rule his people from Jerusalem. The nations will serve him and be judged by him.

Polygamy - God allows a man to have multiple wives. It is not a sin, and it is sometimes even necessary. However, I have no desire to have more than one wife myself. Most men in most times will have only one wife by mathematical inevitability. Most men are probably not capable of being an adequate husband to multiple women.

Still Learning - There are many things that I don’t know or about which I am uncertain. I might have opinions or theories, but they do not belong in a statement of faith.