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.