Beyond the Fundamentals
Beyond these fundamental beliefs, the Father allows each group the liberty to make its own rules as to appropriate conduct and behavior according to our national, racial and social heritage, that will serve to facilitate fraternal harmony and social betterment:
“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
– Matthew 18:18-20
Although no man is obligated to keep the Law Covenant mediated by Moses, those laws served as a tutor and can be used as a guide for healthful behavior.
“Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one. Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.”
– Galatians 3:19-25
With the appearance of the Christ, mankind was freed “liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:21) We are no longer under law, but are now under faith – a living faith (Galatians 3:25) with an obligation to love our brothers as we love ourselves. This freedom is based on the fundamental beliefs that:
God, the Father, begot a son, the Christ, who, by the Father’s will, is the Creator of our universe. Notwithstanding, the Father maintains personal contact with all His children by means of His indwelling Spirit. The Father has always purposed to adopt His earthling children, first as faith-sons on earth, and then as spirit sons and daughters in heaven. The error of Adam and Eve only sidetracked and confused mankind; it did not change the Father’s purpose. Christ incarnated as Jesus of Nazareth in order to redirect mankind back to the Father. After his death, he poured own his own spirit, the Spirit of Truth, to guide us into all truth in his absence, and to awaken the indwelling spirit of the Father so that we all will know that we are God’s children with a hope of being adopted into the heavens as His spirit children.
All those who recognize their sonship, enter into the spiritual brotherhood, the Kingdom of God on earth. They remain in the Kingdom by loving the Father with their whole soul and loving their brothers as themselves. And they carry on the work Jesus started, acting as ambassadors in his absence, seeking to reconcile all mankind to the Father so they can share in His original purpose and get a firm hold on “the real life” in the heavenly realm.
These are the fundamental beliefs upon which a living faith can thrive. Maintaining these fundamental beliefs allows us to expand our spiritual potential and think outside the box that has trapped and confined so many of our brothers into serving men and judging one another’s faith.
These beliefs free us to establish our own associations according to our individual and local needs, while at the same time allow for a united brotherhood – united in the same mind and the same line of thought (1 Corinthians 1:10) as respects the important aspects of worship and soul survival.
Again, these are our beliefs. We do not intend to impose them on anyone. But we wholeheartedly share them with everyone.
