Camp Thurman Beliefs

On God

The basis for our faith is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Lord and Savior of the world as revealed through God’s written Word, the Bible. We believe that embracing what God said allows us to live in freedom, joy, and purpose.

We believe the Bible to be the inspired, unfailing, steadfast Word of God. Written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God gave the words of the Bible through human personalities. The essential beliefs of the Christian faith and eternal truth have been recorded and preserved in His Word. The Bible reveals the character of God and His will for the behavior of men and women today and throughout the history of the world (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

We believe there is only one God, one in being, essence, and nature (Deuteronomy 6:4), eternally existing as three inseparable yet distinct co-equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), united in purpose and will.

All the works of God are intrinsically Trinitarian (1 Cor 8:4-6), including the work of redemption, and the Trinity is the central doctrine by which the Christian faith stands. The Father eternally sends the Son to do His work (Eph 1:3-5), the Son is eternally sent to accomplish this work (John 6:37-40), and the Holy Spirit is sent by the Son and the Father to testify about the works of the Father and Son (John 15:26).

 

On Christ

We believe God the Father sent His Son to be born of a virgin (Matthew 1:18, 25), to grow to manhood while teaching and healing His fellow humans, to suffer and give up His life on the cross (Hebrews 9:15-22), to be buried, and then literally and physically rise from the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-8).

He returned to heaven to the right hand of the Father, where He is preparing a perfect place for those who receive His gift of salvation and is interceding on their behalf (Acts 1:9-11; Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 2:1).

Upon Christ’s incarnation, He took upon Himself the nature of man and all that nature entails (Hebrews 2:7), including the ability to be tempted and to suffer just as man is tempted and suffers—yet was without sin.

 

On Humans

Though God created mankind upright and good (Genesis 2:25), because of the fall of Adam (Genesis 3:22-24), human nature is inclined towards and guilty of the sin of Adam and Eve our first-parents (Romans 5:12).

We believe that this original corruption of the nature of humans, coupled with each individual’s willful sin, makes all humans guilty before God (Romans 3:23) apart from the mercy and forgiveness of the Father (Ephesians 1:7), offered by the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:4-10).

Humans are unable to save themselves or choose to follow God without the work of the Holy Spirit (John 6:44, 65) who reveals and indwells His people (John 14:17). Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can the human race be reconciled to God (John 16:8).

We believe that God has established in His Word a sexual ethic that is unchanging as reflective of God’s perfect character (Hebrews 13:8; Psalm 102:25-27). This includes marriage as defined by God in the revelation of His Word as being between one man and one woman (Mark 10:6; Genesis 2:24).

We believe that any other sexual activity outside this covenant of marriage is sinful and explicitly forbidden (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Colossians 3:5).

 

On Salvation

We believe because of His sinless life (Hebrews 4:15), death for the sins of mankind, His glorious resurrection, and ascension into the presence of God, Jesus has made the way for men and women to experience forgiveness of sins (John 3:16; John 5:24; Titus 3:3-7), live eternally with Him through repentance, and receive salvation by grace through faith, found only in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:27-28).

We believe that one day, at a time appointed by the Father (Galatians 4:2), Christ will return to judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31; Matthew 25:31-32). Those who have placed their faith and repentance in Him for the remission of sins will be physically resurrected into a perfect, sinless state to enjoy in God’s goodness and everlasting reign forever (1 Thessalonians 4:16; Romans 8:17).

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6)

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