SKEPTICAL OF CHRISTIANITY?

It is a drama because it is a story, yet not fiction. We believe that real events happened, events that can be investigated. We believe that God, the author of the story, has revealed himself in history to mankind.

And this revelation in the story of humanity gives way to the doctrines of the faith. Doctrines are answers to why God has revealed himself: what is the purpose of this revelation which was committed to writing by the holy prophets and apostles?

The doctrines of Christianity are defined. Christianity is not some wax nose, or a label indiscriminately applied to everything. B. B. Warfield, an early 20th-century theologian of Princeton Seminary, noted:

“If everything that is called Christianity in these days is Christianity, then there is no such thing as Christianity. A name applied indiscriminately to everything, designates nothing.” - “‘Redeemer’ and ‘Redemption’”, Princeton Theological Review, p. 199

Christianity has always been defined by belief and confessing those beliefs together (Romans 10:5-13, 1 Timothy 3:16). The Church is creedal in confessing the ecumenical creeds such as the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed to summarize the teaching of Scripture. Finally, in our Reformed tradition, we confess in addition to the Ecumenical Creeds the Three Forms of Unity (The Belgic Confession, The Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort). When we confess these, we unite ourselves to the church throughout the ages by that common confession, and to the churches arising out of the Reformation.

We believe Christianity should be examined and can withstand such an examination. We are not asking seekers or members to believe irrationally. Though we believe in things that cannot be seen, we do not think that we cannot reason together about things that are transcendent.

When we understand and believe that God the author revealed himself in the story and that he did so to have a restored relationship with his people (the Church), we are led to doxology. When we understand the story and its meaning, we are led into thankful praise of that God. We come together in the Church (literally the assembly) called by God to praise him in worship, which is what we do at our church. Our worship is shaped primarily by God’s word to us in the Holy Scriptures. We also express our unity to the universal church by confessing creeds and singing the psalms.

Finally, we believe that thankful praise results in discipleship. We do not do good to be accepted, but we do good because we are thankful to God. We are sharpened and formed as Christians in a thankful, worshipping community. It is gratitude that produces our prayers and obedience, not guilt. Thus we find catechesis, which means Christian instruction, to be an integral part of the worship and discipleship of the Church.