What Are the Core Beliefs of Christianity?

---

Core beliefs of Christianity are presented as eight points in logical succession with a traditional Southern Baptist, Wesleyan/Arminian flavor.
  Core Beliefs of Christianity Set Forth as Eight Points in Logical Succession with a Traditional Southern Baptist, Wesleyan/Arminian Flavor   The Bible is the inspired, infallible and inerrant word of God. This concept is discussed in Chapter 10 of Christian Handbook of Reason and Insight for Scientists and Technologists at http://www.christianapologetic.org/.
The one true God exists as three distinct, transcendent, immanent, infinite, eternal, and immutable persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Some have claimed the Holy Spirit is not a person.
This claim is refuted by the following Scriptures: (John 14:26, 15:26, 16:7-11, 14; Acts 5:3, 13:2, 16:7; Rom 8:16, 26; 1 Cor 12:11; Eph 1:14, 4:30).   Jesus Christ is God the Son.  Jesus Christ is man.  Jesus Christ is one person whose divine and human natures cannot be changed, divided, separated or mixed.  Jesus Christ was resurrected bodily from the dead.  Jesus Christ was born of a virgin.
  Every person since Adam and Eve, except Jesus Christ, was born with a sin nature and no person, except Jesus Christ, has lived a sinless life. (T) The spotless lamb, “without blemish,” was required for the Passover (Ex 12:5) and the words, “without blemish,” constantly recur in the descriptions of the sacrifices which pointed forward to the atonement accomplished by Christ.
The Scriptures are completely unanimous in declaring the perfect sinlessness of Christ under all circumstances.  The sinlessness of Christ is not merely a personal attribute, characteristic of His human nature as well as His divine nature, but it is an attribute which is absolutely essential to the atonement.   Salvation from the consequences of sin is offered to all persons by the grace of God and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ.
(L)   The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all persons: (a) the requirements of the law are written by God on every heart,  (b) Jesus Christ knocks at the door of every heart, (c) the Holy Spirit calls and convicts each person and (d) God’s eternal power and divine nature are evident in the world around us.  Nevertheless, many resist the grace of God. (I) The grace of God that comes before salvation is called prevenient grace.  Prior to salvation, God initiates, advances and perfects everything that can be called good in man.  God leads the sinner from one step to another in proportion as He finds response in the heart and disposition to obedience.  Some men allow God to quicken, assist and nudge their free will to facilitate confession of sin, remorse, repentance, faith and obedience so they may receive the great gift of salvation (1 Pet 1:9).  Other men choose to resist and reject the grace of God (2 Thes 1:8-9).
  Each person who responds to God’s grace and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ by confession of sin, remorse, repentance, faith and obedience receives the great gift of salvation.  Each person who resists God’s grace is condemned to everlasting punishment. (U) Christian belief must be preceded by repentance and followed by obedience to qualify as faith.  Faith is not just an intellectual exercise (Jam 2:19) or an emotional experience (Jer 17:9).
  Faith precedes regeneration; faith is an act of human free will responding to the grace of God. Calvinists reject this doctrine.  Calvinists contend regeneration precedes faith because God elected only certain persons for salvation.  Those persons alone are regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit and subsequently demonstrate repentance, faith and obedience.  The rest of mankind is condemned to everlasting punishment.  Here is what Scripture says: The T, U, L and I symbols after core beliefs 4, 7, 5, and 6 respectively denote which points of the TULIP correspond to each of the indicated core beliefs.  These four core beliefs express the first four points of the Remonstrance.  One more core belief is generally added to a Wesleyan/Arminian list but not to a Traditional Southern Baptist list: Those once united to Christ by faith may, by turning away from God, lose the great gift of salvation.
(P) This is the fifth point of the Remonstrance corresponding to the P of the TULIP.   Within the SBC, Traditional Baptists are battling insurgent Calvinists to preserve the Traditional Southern Baptist Theology of the 20th century.  The following is a statement of that theology as it relates to salvation (soteriology) with T, U, L, I and P indicating the corresponding points of the TULIP.
Statements Covering the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation We affirm that every person inherits a sin nature.  We deny that any sinner is saved apart from a free will response to the drawing of the Holy Spirit. (T)  We affirm that the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ was offered by God to save all persons from the consequences of sin.  We deny that this atonement results in salvation without a person’s free will response of repentance and faith.  We affirm that any person who responds to the Gospel message with repentance and faith is born again.  We deny that any person is regenerated prior to or apart from hearing and responding to the Gospel message.  We affirm that election speaks of god’s eternal plan to have a people who are His by repentance and faith.  We deny that election means that, from eternity past, God predestined certain people for salvation and others for condemnation.  We affirm God’s eternal foreknowledge of every person’s salvation or condemnation.  We deny that God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge require Him to cause a person’s acceptance or rejection of Christ.  We affirm that God, as an expression of His sovereignty, endows each person with free will.  We deny that a decision of faith is an act of God rather than a response of the person.
(U) We affirm that the Gospel message is the good news that God has made possible a way of salvation for every person through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This is in keeping with God’s desire for every person to be saved.  We deny that only a select few are capable of responding to the Gospel message while the rest are predestined to an eternity in hell. (L) We affirm that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all persons.  We deny that: (1) grace negates the necessity of a free will response of faith, (2) grace cannot be resisted and (3) a response of faith is a meritorious work.
(I) We affirm the eternal security of the believer.  We deny that anyone can lose their salvation (P). Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com http://www.articlesfactory.com/author/Bruce%20McLaughlin.html  .