Like other Christians:
We believe that the Bible is the inspired
word of God. We believe that Jesus was God’s only son and that he gave his life to save us. We believe that sin leads to death but that because Jesus died without sin our debt is paid and we can live forever with God in heaven.
Like other Protestants:
We believe that the only way to salvation, eternal life with God, is through a personal relationship with Jesus. Through Bible study, worship and prayer, we strive to learn more about God and his son Jesus. We strive to create a personal one-on-one relationship with the creator of our universe. We believe that the way to salvation is to first realize that we are sinners, that we have all in some way broken Gods commandments. Second, we need to realize that, as the Bible tells us, the wages of this sin is death, which means that without forgiveness we will not experience eternal life in heaven when our bodies die. And third, we need to accept that Jesus Christ paid the debt of our sin by giving his own life in exchange for ours. And we need to repent, or be truly sorry for what we’ve done wrong and be ready to change our lives for Jesus, who died to pay for our sins. Finally, we need to ask the Lord, through prayer, to be a part of our lives. He is listening.
Like other Baptists:
We believe in baptism by immersion according to Jesus’ example, after a Christian has made a personal decision to follow Christ.
We belong to a national association of Seventh Day Baptist Churches but are not governed by a national or regional body. All church decisions are made by the church members. Our church is a democratic organization. We run the business of the church by majority vote. The calling of pastors, creation of programs, financial decisions, and anything else the church does is managed by all local church members as one decision making body.
How are we different?
The most obvious difference between ourselves and most of the other Protestant churches is our observance of the Sabbath Day. We believe that in the Old Testament God created the seventh day as the Sabbath.
According to the Bible, God created the world in six days and on the seventh day rested from the work.
“Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which He had done.” Genesis 2:3
Keeping the Sabbath is one of the ten commandments given by God to Moses.
- You shall have no other Gods Before me.
- You shall not make any graven image (idols) .
- You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
- Honor your father and mother .
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness (lie).
- You shall not covet (be jealous).
-Exodus 20:1-17 paraphrased
For us, the Sabbath is not only a day we attend church. The Sabbath is a day of rest, a day to put aside our daily problems and concerns. We spend six days a week doing our lives’ work; the Sabbath is set aside for God.
“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant, your cattle or the sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
- Exodus 20:8-11
For more information on Seventh Day Baptists and our beliefs, please see the National Seventh Day Baptist Denomination Web Site.