CONTEST:Biblical Confessions of Faith

[Amazing Rando]

Announcing a Rando's Story Corner contest- write your own confession of faith!

Here's the catch- it has to come entirely from one book of the Bible or one set of writings. For example, you could choose the gospel of Mark, or the letter to the Philippians, or Hebrews, or you could lump 1 and 2 Corinthians together or even the entire Pauline corpus. The key is that all the material you incorporate into your confession of faith must be derived from whatever book of the Bible or set of books you choose. In other words, if you chose the epistle of James, you could not put anything in your confession about the Holy Spirit because James does not mention the Holy Spirit prominantly in his letter.

You may model your confession off of the Apostles Creed, for example, or some other confession of faith, or you may make it entirely your own form. The biggest rule is that all of the material in your confession must come from the book or books you choose to work with. Score well for using as much of the original wording and ideas as possible in your confession.

All entrants will receive 5 pearls. The winner(s) will be chosen by Xavier and myself and will be announced a few days after the close of the contest. The winner will receive one of those cool "contest winner" postbits!

This contest is open to non-Christians as well, however please keep in mind that this is a faith building exercise, so if you intend to submit an entry to the contest, please keep it respectful and in accordance with the rules set out in this thread.

Here is an example of what I'm looking for- this is a confession of faith I wrote using just the book of Revelation. I call it "A Confession of Faith in an Apocalyptic Perspective."

We believe in the Lord our God who sits on the throne, who is worthy to receive glory and honor and power, and by whose will all things were created and have their being.

We believe in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who was slain, and by whose blood saints from every tribe, language, people and nation have been redeemed.

We believe in the Spirit that speaks the word of God to the churches.

We believe that the church is the Bride of the Lamb, prepared and adorned with fine linen which is the righteous acts of the saints.

We believe that Jesus Christ will return, and in that time every eye will see him, and the living and the dead will be judged according to what they have done.

We believe that though we experience suffering at the hands of evil, Jesus is ultimately victorious, and that those who overcome:
will receive the right to eat from the tree of life,
will not be hurt at all by the second death,
will receive the hidden manna and a white stone with a new name,
will receive authority over the nations and will receive the morning star,
will be dressed in white and never blotted out of the book of life,
and will receive the right to sit with Jesus on his throne.

We believe in the New Jerusalem, prepared as a bride that will come when the first heaven and earth pass away. In the new heaven and earth, the river of the water of life flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Here the tree of life grows for the healing of the nations. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. There is no longer any curse.

We believe in the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, who is, and who was, and who is to come. Amen.

Get the idea?

This contest will begin on Thursday and will run until Tuesday. I will start a new thread on Thursday for posting your contest entries in the Story Corner. use this thread for asking questions on any parts of the rules

[Tfbandie]

:b_woot: :rando: I might PM it to you tomorrow since that'll be most convenient.

[Amazing Rando]

:b_woot: :rando: I might PM it to you tomorrow since that'll be most convenient.

Great! I can't wait to read it. I'll be opening the thread for posting your confession of faith tomorrow.

Which Bible book will you be working with?

[Amazing Rando]

As a note of clarification, the confession of faith should be what your book's author believes, not necessarily what you believe. For example, if you picked the gospel of John, you're trying to determine what John's statement of faith might be based upon his writing. Same goes with Romans- try and recreate Paul's confession of faith. Any further questions?

[learning]

Hey, AR, I like that confession of faith from Revelations, that you put in post one.

[Amazing Rando]

:smile: Thanks! I did it for my Intro to the New Testament class. This was the final exercise- everybody was assigned a text from the NT and was to write a confession of faith based on it. I loved the idea because of what we learned about the uniqueness of each writing, and thought it'd be fun to do here on Tweb.

[bandecoot]

Ok can I use the classics? Does it have to be the bible?

[Jaltus]

The thread is titled "Biblcal Confessions of Faith," so I would have to say yes, Bande.

[Amazing Rando]

Ok can I use the classics? Does it have to be the bible?

The goal is to do it from a book or set of writings from the Bible- partly to highlight the different emphases each author has.

[bandecoot]

The goal is to do it from a book or set of writings from the Bible- partly to highlight the different emphases each author has.

Oh well, not much point in me playing then, it would be a bit hypocritical of me to write something like that just to get a postbit. Do let me know if you have a contest I can participate in. :brood:


Andrew

[Amazing Rando]

Oh well, not much point in me playing then, it would be a bit hypocritical of me to write something like that just to get a postbit. Do let me know if you have a contest I can participate in. :brood:


Andrew

You're welcome to try. The goal is to create a confession of faith from the biblical writer's perspective- not neccesarily your own.

[binyanpiel]

Here's my effort, and if it should have posted elsewhere I hope you will forgive and move it for me, I am hopeless in finding things on forums.

I want to thank you, whoever thought this exercise up, because as I reworded it into a statement of faith, it was brought very clear that a lot of the words in this book, when prefaced by "we believe" causes the question, "do I indeed believe?" to arise. This is a marvelously instructive tool!

Statement of Faith using the Book of 1 John

by Binyanpiel

We believe that what from the beginning we've heard, seen with our eyes, looked upon and handled, which concerns the Word of Life, that life which was manifested and we have seen and bear witness to, that eternal life was with the Father and was manifested to us and so we declare to you what we have seen and heard, and believe, that you may have fellowship with us. And we believe that truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

We believe this message which we have heard from Him and declare to you: that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

We declare we have fellowship with Him, and therefore do not walk in darkness, we speak truth and practice it in Him. We walk in the light as He is in the light, have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

We admit we have sin and do not deceive ourselves. We confess our sins and believe He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We believe that if we were to say that we have not sinned, we would make Him a liar, and His word would not be in us.
We believe we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and that He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but also for the whole world.

We believe that to know Him, we must keep His commandments. and that to say we know Him and not keep His commandments, makes us liars, without the truth.

We believe that whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him and that he who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

We believe to be in the light of God is to love our brother so that there is no cause of stumbling in us.

We believe our sins are forgiven for His name's sake.

We believe the love of God precludes love of the world and the things in the world. We believe that if we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us.. We believe that he who does the will of God abides forever.

We believe Antichrist is coming, that even now many antichrists have come.

We believe in the anointing from the Holy One, and that with that anointing we may know all things. We believe that no lie is of the truth. We are not those who deny that Jesus is the Christ. We believe the antichrist is whoever denies the Father and the Son. We believe that whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; and that whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

We believe in the promise of theFather, and this is the promise that He has promised us--eternal life. We believe the anointing which we've received from Him abides in us, and we believe the same anointing teaches us concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and that, just as it has taught us, we will abide in Him.

We believe that because we abide in Him, when He appears we will have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. We believe because He is righteous, everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

We believe the manner of love the Father has bestowed on us is shown in our being called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

We believe we are children of God; and that it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

We believe that everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

We believe sin is lawlessness. that He was manifested to take away our sins, and that in Him there is no sin. We believe whoever abides in Him does not sin. We believe whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. We believe he who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

We believe he who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. We believe it was for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. We believe whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and that he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

We believe whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother, for this is the message we heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

We believe that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. We believe that he who does not love his brother abides in death. We believe whoever hates his brother is a murderer and we believe that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

We believe we know love by this, that He laid down His life for us, and we believe we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethern. We believe to show love for our brethern we mus share with his need in this world's goods. We believe as children of God we are to love in deed and in truth and not in word or tongue only. We believe it is this that assures our heart that we are of the truth.

We believe that even if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. We believe if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.

Because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight we believe that whatever we ask we receive from Him.

We believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. We believe that he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We believe it is by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

We do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. We believe that by this we know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. We believe the spirit of the Antichrist is now already in the world.

We believe we are of God, His little children, and that we have overcome the antichrist spirits, because we recognize that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. We believe the antichrists are of the world, and that therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.

We believe we are of God, and that he who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we believe we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

We believe we are to love one another because love is of God; and that everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. We believe he who does not love does not know God, for we believe God is love.

We believe that in this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. We believe that in this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. We believe that since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

We believe no one has seen God at any time but that if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. We believe that by this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

We believe and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. We believe that whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have known and believed the love that God has for us. We believe that God is love, and that he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

We believe that love has been perfected among us so that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

We believe that there is no fear in love; but that perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. W believe that he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

We believe that because He first loved us, we can love Him

We believe that if someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for since he does not love his brother whom he has seen, he cannot love God whom he has not seen. We believe this is the commandment we have from God: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

We believe that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and that everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.

We believe it is by this we know that we love the children of God: then we love God and keep His commandments. We believe this is the love of God: that we keep His commandments. We believe His commandments are not burdensome.

We believe that whatever is born of God overcomes the world. We believe this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. We believe that he who overcomes the world, is he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

We believe that this is He Who came by both water and blood--Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. We believe it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. We believe there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one. We believe there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and that these three agree as one. We believe the witness of God is greater than the witness of men; and that this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.

We believe that he who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; and that he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.

We believe this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son:. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

We believe in the name of the Son of God, and know that we have eternal life, and that we may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

We believe that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. We believe He hears us, and will give us whatever we ask of Him.

We believe that if anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he may ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. We believe that there is sin leading to death. and that we should not pray about that. We believe all unrighteousness is sin, and that there is sin not leading to death.

We believe that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We believe that we are of God, and that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. We believe that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. We believe this is the true God and eternal life.

We believe that as His little children, we are to keep ourselves from idols.

Amen.