Core Essentials of Our One Faith (for fellowshipping with others)?

[Vine Abider]

6 hours ago, First and the Last said:

In summary, while every believer is encouraged to seek and receive the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues as a personal experience, the specific gift of tongues used in church settings for communal edification and requiring interpretation is given according to God’s sovereign will and purpose. This distinction clarifies the different roles of speaking in tongues within the body of Christ, both for individual spiritual growth and for the edification of the church.

I know several who have spoken in tongues and some who do so from time to time. I have sought and prayed for tongues, yet this has not come.  However, I believe I received the baptism of the Spirit some years after my initial salvation, however, this did not come with tongues, but rather with an incredible sense of His love, wisdom & understanding, and close fellowship with Him.

[Tristen]

Hi VA, I'm late to the party again. I hope I don't repeat too much.

I firstly think the question should be divided in two:

1 - What is the minimum requirement of Christian salvation?

My answer: to sincerely surrender one's life to the ownership of Christ - i.e. confess Jesus as Lord. If that is a sincere confession, then the Holy Spirit can subsequently correct doctrinal errors and moral issues.

I look to the cross and I discern that God is trying to save us (and looking for reasons to save us). He is not motivated to place hurdles in the way of our salvation. The point at which we submit our will to His is the point that gets us across the line (perfecting us)- giving Him the opportunity to go about fixing us (sanctifying us).

Hebrews 10:14
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

 

2 - What makes a ministry (or denomination) "Christian"?

I'd suggest there are five fundamental doctrines that all legitimately Christian ministries agree on: 1) The Eternal Deity of Christ, 2) The Divine Authority of Scripture, 3) The Virgin Birth of Christ, 4) The Vicarious Death of Christ on a Roman Cross, 5) The Bodily Resurrection of Christ.

These are the basic ("core") beliefs that define the word "Christian" - and distinguish Christianity from other beliefs.

[D. Adrien]

16 hours ago, Vine Abider said:

I know several who have spoken in tongues and some who do so from time to time. I have sought and prayed for tongues, yet this has not come.  However, I believe I received the baptism of the Spirit some years after my initial salvation, however, this did not come with tongues, but rather with an incredible sense of His love, wisdom & understanding, and close fellowship with Him.

I could have written this except for the part about speaking in tongues. In my twenties, twice, a number of years apart, before my conversion, I had a dream of standing at a podium or lectern reading from a large, thick, heavy book in an ancient language, to a small audience I could not see clearly.  I awoke speaking what I thought was this ancient language as if I'd always known it. I never thought of it as speaking in tongues until it was labeled as such by someone else I spoke to, who was a Christian about the dream. I suppose it was.

1. I have a phobia about public speaking.

2. I've never desired to be in education or any position of authority.

[enoob57]

God is about understanding not anything else...

Isaiah 1:18 (KJV)

[18] Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

 

[Sower]

On 6/26/2024 at 10:34 PM, First and the Last said:

Outpouring of the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues marked the beginning of the Church. If His disciples received why wouldn't we want it as well. We can't pick and choose what part of the Bible to receive, we either accept it as a whole or not at all.

"Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God.

Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth"

"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace,

and things wherewith one may edify another"  Romans 14

If you believe you received the gifts, go for it, have it to thyself before God ! 
Can you respect that my doubt does not allow it?

Thanks, First and Last

PS; I don't have the faith to raise the dead either....
(A little humor, brother:)

[Vine Abider]

19 hours ago, Tristen said:

Hi VA, I'm late to the party again. I hope I don't repeat too much.

I firstly think the question should be divided in two:

1 - What is the minimum requirement of Christian salvation?

My answer: to sincerely surrender one's life to the ownership of Christ - i.e. confess Jesus as Lord. If that is a sincere confession, then the Holy Spirit can subsequently correct doctrinal errors and moral issues.

I look to the cross and I discern that God is trying to save us (and looking for reasons to save us). He is not motivated to place hurdles in the way of our salvation. The point at which we submit our will to His is the point that gets us across the line (perfecting us)- giving Him the opportunity to go about fixing us (sanctifying us).

Hebrews 10:14
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

 

2 - What makes a ministry (or denomination) "Christian"?

I'd suggest there are five fundamental doctrines that all legitimately Christian ministries agree on: 1) The Eternal Deity of Christ, 2) The Divine Authority of Scripture, 3) The Virgin Birth of Christ, 4) The Vicarious Death of Christ on a Roman Cross, 5) The Bodily Resurrection of Christ.

These are the basic ("core") beliefs that define the word "Christian" - and distinguish Christianity from other beliefs.

So what would you say are the basic core essentials of the Christian faith, that you would consider as a premise for fellowship?

[Marathoner]

Not everyone speaks in tongues.

After the Lord restored me from the verge of death He taught me how to speak, reason, and live again. I had been very ill for two years and suffered considerable damage to this body, particularly to the brain. A combination of malnourishment and bacterial infections did that. Malnourishment alone can inflict permanent damage to the brain. It was difficult for me to eat food and keep it down. 

His Spirit promised to remain with me as He did during that period of time when He taught me how to use the rejuvenated regions of the brain He had healed. The Lord healed the damage I suffered, but it pleased Him to teach me how to use them all over again and live according to His instruction. 

When I was restored to His satisfaction, He set a task before me that was daunting and terrifying: reach out to the man He had sent me to decades ago and tell him everything that had happened since we parted ways. This man was the one who introduced me to the scriptures and stood by my side when I was baptized. 

I didn't grasp how more than more purpose --- obeying the Lord --- would be involved with this task. Of course not, because I'm only a man! 

After this was done, the Lord was pleased with my obedience; He pointed out the courage required to seek my old friend and brother again, something which I had been ashamed of. I was ashamed because that task terrified me, but I pressed on carried it out faithfully. That was a lesson in courage from the Lord: courage is not the lack of fear, but the resolve to face fear and thus overcome. 

Later that same day, the Lord called me to stand in the place where I had fallen to die two years before. I was taken up into what seemed like a limitless expanse of clouds and the Lord declared that He would speak, and I would listen; whatever He set before me to do, I would do it, and He would prosper me in the midst of my enemies. I would never be ignorant of His will, and nothing would be the same again. 

First, the Lord breathed on me... and then, I looked upward and saw fire rushing like the wind toward me. The fire washed over me and into me and for the first time in my life, my eyes were opened. After this was done, I was standing in that place on the caliche where I had fallen to die. It pleased the Lord to use that as an example of His promise: You will never taste death. That's His promise to us all.

I never spoke in tongues. Not all of us do.

[warrior12]

2 hours ago, Vine Abider said:

So what would you say are the basic core essentials of the Christian faith, that you would consider as a premise for fellowship?

Here are two that I find vital  to as you say the core.  I think there is much more to that core as the OP states, but to each his own.

Have nothing to do with the unfruitful work of darkness, but in contrast expose them.

Watch out, Be viglilant, for the devil prowls around looking for some one to destroy 

Edited June 29, 2024 by warrior12

[Tristen]

4 hours ago, Vine Abider said:

So what would you say are the basic core essentials of the Christian faith, that you would consider as a premise for fellowship?

I'll happily "fellowship" with anyone who is happy to "fellowship" with me.

 

[Vine Abider]

3 hours ago, warrior12 said:

Here are two that I find vital  to as you say the core.  I think there is much more to that core as the OP states, but to each his own.

Have nothing to do with the unfruitful work of darkness, but in contrast expose them.

Watch out, Be viglilant, for the devil prowls around looking for some one to destroy 

Those aren't core essentials of the faith, they are negative things to look out for.