What We Believe

Following is the Statement of Faith of Cornerstone Baptist Church based on the foundation truths taught in the Bible.  All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines. Those seeking membership should adhere to these beliefs as well.

We believe that the Holy Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, was written by men divinely inspired and is a perfect and completed treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter; that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions shall be tried.  We believe that the King James Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God preserved from the English-speaking people and, therefore, is the only Bible used by this church.
Psalm 12:6-7; I Thessalonians 5:21; II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:19-21

We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God, an infinite, intelligent Spirit whose name is JEHOVAH, the Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth; that He is inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons -- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost – equal in every divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.
Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 6:4; Psalm 3:8; Matthew 28:19; Mark 12:30; John 4:24; Ephesians 2:18

 We believe Jesus Christ to be the one and only Saviour of mankind. We believe Jesus Christ to be eternally God and to possess all the attributes of Deity. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was virgin born as no other man was ever born or can ever be born of woman, that He was God incarnate, and that the purposes of the incarnation were to reveal God, to redeem men, and to rule over God's kingdom. We believe Jesus Christ never relinquished any attributes of His Deity, but merely veiled them. We believe He lived a perfect, sinless life, at the end of which He was offered for all mankind as a substitutionary sacrifice for man's sin. This sacrifice was a just payment to God for the forgiveness of sin. It was activated by His death through the shedding of His blood on the Cross and was accepted by God upon His resurrection. We believe He ascended into Heaven after His resurrection to be seated at the right hand of the Father, waiting for the time of receiving His church at the Rapture, and returning seven years later to earth to rule and reign as King for 1,000 years.
 Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:1, 3, 14, 18, 29

We believe the Holy Spirit is a divine person, equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was active in creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled, and He convicts of sin, of judgment, and of righteousness; that He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent in the new birth; and that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the believer.
John 14:26; Acts 5:30-32, I Corinthians 12:14

We believe that man was created in holiness under the law of his Maker but by voluntary transgression fell from that holy and happy state, in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners, not by constraint but choice, being by nature utterly void of that holiness required by the law of God, positively inclined to evil, and therefore under just condemnation to eternal ruin without defense or excuse.
Genesis 1:27,31; Genesis 3:6-24; Isaiah 53:6; Ezekiel 18:19-20; Romans 1:20, 5:19

We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God, Who, by the appointment of the Father, freely took upon Him our nature; that being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, yet without sin, He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and by His death made a full atonement for our sins; that having been risen from the dead, He is now enthroned in Heaven and, uniting in His wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with divine perfection, He is in every way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate and an all-sufficient Saviour.
Isaiah 53:4-7; John 3:16; I Corinthians 15:1-8; Ephesians 2:8; Colossians 2:20; Hebrews 2:18

We believe that the great Gospel blessing, which Christ secures to such as believe in Him, is justification; that justification includes the pardon of sin and the promise of eternal life in principles of righteousness; that it is bestowed not in consideration of any works of righteousness, which we have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood, by virtue of which faith His perfect righteousness is freely imputed to us of God; that justification brings us into a state of most blessed peace and favor with God and secures every other blessing needful for time and eternity.
John 1:16; Acts 13:39, Romans 4:4-5, 5:1-2,9

We believe that the blessings of salvation are made free to all by the Gospel; that it is the immediate duty of all to accept them by a cordial, penitent, and obedient faith, and that nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner on earth but his own inherent depravity and voluntary rejection of the Gospel, which rejection involves him in an aggravated condemnation.
Isaiah 55:1; John 3:19, 5:40; Romans 16:25-26

We believe that, in order to be saved, sinners must be regenerated or born again; that regeneration consists in giving a holy disposition to the mind; that it is effected in a manner above our comprehension by the power of the Holy Spirit, in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the Gospel; that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance, faith, and newness of life.
John 3:3; II Corinthians 5:17; Galations 5:16-23; Eph 5:9

We believe that repentance and faith are sacred duties and also inseparable graces, wrought in our souls by the regenerating Spirit of God, whereby being deeply convinced of our guilt, danger, and helplessness and of the way of salvation by Christ, we turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication for mercy; and at the same time we heartily receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King, and rely on Him alone as the only and all-sufficient Saviour.
Psalm 51:1-4; Mark 1:15; Acts 2:37-38; Romans 10:9-11; Eph 2:8

We believe that sanctification is the process by which, according to the will of God, we are made partakers of His holiness; that it is a progressive work; that it is begun in regeneration; and that it is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Sealer and Comforter; in the continual use of the appointed means – especially the Word of God, self-examination, self-denial, watchfulness, and prayer.
Romans 8:5; Philippians 2:12-13; I Thessalonians 4:3; IJohn 2:29

We believe that such only are real believers as endure unto the end; that their perseverance and attachment to Christ is the grand mark which distinguishes them from superficial professors; that a special Providence watches over their welfare; and that they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
John 3:31, 6:37; Romans 8:28; Philippians 1:6; I John 2:19

We believe that the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of His moral government; that it is holy, just, and good; that the inability which the Scriptures ascribe to fallen men to fulfill its precepts arises entirely from their love of sin; that the one great end of the Gospel is to deliver them from this inability and to restore them, through the one and only Mediator Jesus Christ, to unfeigned obedience to the holy law and of the means of grace connected with the establishment of the visible church.
Romans 3:31,7:21, 8:2,4,7-9

We believe that a Baptist church is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by His Word to fulfill the Great Commission; that its only Scriptural offices are pastors (bishops, elders, or overseers), and deacons, whose qualifications, claims and duties are defined in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus.
Matthew 18:17, 28:20; Acts 2:41-42; I Corinthians 1:1-13, 11:2; I Timothy 3

We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a believer in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by the authority of the local church, to show forth a solemn and beautiful emblem of our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Saviour with its effect in our death to sin and  resurrection to a new life; and that it is prerequisite to the privileges of a church membership and to the Lord’s Supper, which the members of the church by the use of bread and the fruit of the vine are to commemorate together the death and coming of the Lord, preceded always by solemn self-examination.
Matthew 28:19; John 3:22-23; Acts 2:41-42, 8:36-39; Romans 6:4; I Corinthians 11:26, 28

We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interests and good order of human society, and that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed, except only in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only Lord of the kings of the earth.
Matthew 22:21, 23:10; Acts 5:29; Romans 13:1-7

We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked; that such only as through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and sanctified by the Spirit of our God are truly righteous in His esteem, while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse; and that this distinction holds among men both in and after death.
Malachi 3:18; Luke 16:25; John 5:19; Romans 1:17

We believe that the end of this age is approaching.  We believe in “that blessed hope” – the personal, imminent, pre-millenial return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved, and the everlasting punishment of the lost.
Matthew 24:31-46; Acts 1:11, 24:15; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Peter 4:7; Revelation 22:11

We believe that God created the universe in six literal, 24-hour periods.  We reject evolution, the Gap Theory, the Day-Age Theory, and Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin.
Genesis 1-2; Exodus 20:11

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged outside of a one-man, one-woman marriage.  We believe that any form of adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex.
Genesis 2:24, 19:5, 13, 26:8-9; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29

We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being.  Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life.  Abortion is murder.  We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the mental well-being of the mother are acceptable.
Job 3:16; Psalm 51:5, 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24, 49:1, 5; Jeremiah 1:5, 20:15-18; Luke 1:44

We believe that man was created in the image of God; that all human life is sacred and given by God; and that only God has the authority and divine right to end life.  We believe when decisions about life and death need to be made, they should be governed by the sanctity of life standard rather than by the quality of life standard.  We believe God’s word specifically condemns murder, and this would include active forms of euthanasia in which another person (doctor, nurse, friend, family) hastens death in a person whereby denying God the opportunity of work sovereignly within a shattered life and bring glory to Himself.
Genesis 1:27, 5:1-2; Exodus 20:13; Matthew 19:4

We believe that God’s method of financing His earthly work, which is the spreading of the Gospel to all nations, the care of the churches, and the support of the ministry, is by the tithes and offerings of His people; that it is to be given to the Lord through His church or storehouse to be distributed as directed by the leadership of the Spirit as the need arises; that the time to tithe is upon the first day of the week; that everyone is accountable to the Lord for one-tenth of his income; and that tithing was instituted long before the law was practiced by the early church.
II Corinthians 8:7; I Corinthians 16:2; Malachi 3:10; Hebrews 7