What We Believe

Creeds

Here at Tending Our Nets, we hold to the basic tenets of the Christian faith, as outlined in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381.

Basic beliefs

We believe that God is Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus is both fully God and fully human. And we believe that God chose to make salvation available by grace, through faith in Jesus. We believe that the very possibility of this salvation at all, and the fact that God chose to make the availability of salvation hinge not on a person’s place of birth, nationality, or bloodlines - but on faith - are gifts of God. We believe that the incarnation, death, resurrection, kingship, and deity of Jesus are all central to the Gospel, and we believe that trust in Jesus as our Savior, King, and God is necessary for people to receive salvation. We believe in the continuity of truth through both the Old and the New Testament. Though we see different aspects of God’s character revealed in different situations, and clearly see a progression in the details that are revealed about God and His plan to provide salvation to those who seek Him - the same God is revealed in both Testaments. The “I Am”, the “Alpha and Omega”, is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Scripture

We believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and that it contains the clearest, most complete revelation of the truth about God, the universe, and who we are - including our creation, identity, and destiny. We believe that God reveals truth in other ways (through creation, through visions, through prophecy, through messengers, etc.), but that any revelation that is received must be tested in the Spirit, and measured according to the truth revealed in the Bible. We believe that God chose to have the Bible written and revealed to humanity in the context of Ancient Israel (the Old Testament) and 2nd temple Judaism (the New Testament), and that it is best understood when studied prayerfully, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, in a community of faith where a thorough knowledge of the original context is understood.

We believe God chose the specific authors, in their contexts, with their life experiences, to communicate the truth about God to their original audience, and that these communications definitively describe the truth about God for us today - though the original meaning may take some studious efforts, and/or revealing through the Spirit, for us to fully understand, since we do not live in the original context of the Biblical writers/audience, and don’t automatically understand what they left unsaid. We believe the Bible we have today accurately presents the truth that God commissioned and inspired the Biblical authors to convey through the writing of Scripture. Thus, the Bible is BOTH the product of divine inspiration, AND the product of direct, creative, literary human activity. It is the Scripture God intended us to have. Thus, Paul writing his letters was uniquely Paul - but also inspired of the Spirit. We believe this is the only accurate way to account for what we see in the text, across thousands of years and a variety of genres. We believe that passages of the Bible are best interpreted in light of the whole witness and narrative of Scripture - rather than being used as proof-texts without context.