Foundational Beliefs
Introduction
Living Waters Academy, its staff, and its Board members embrace the tenets of Christianity as presented in these Foundational Beliefs. We believe that the creeds of the early church are credible summations of God’s desires for humanity. We are in essential agreement with these creeds when they speak to the doctrinal issues addressed in these Foundational Beliefs. Beyond the primary doctrines articulated below, we respect and acknowledge the primacy of the family and refer secondary doctrinal questions to parents for clarification.
Foundational Beliefs
- We believe that the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments present the perfect, inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God, and as such, rightly interpreted, they are the final authority in faith and practice.
- We believe that God Most High is eternally existent in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is unchangeable in His being; the same yesterday, today and forever. He alone is sovereign over all things, ordaining whatsoever comes to pass.
- We believe that God Most High created all things out of nothing, in six (6) days, approximately six to ten thousand years ago. God created man in His image, male and female, perfect, sinless, and immortal, and He charged mankind with the governance of the created world, to cultivate it for His glory.
- We believe in the historicity of Adam and Eve created and set apart to dwell in covenant with God Most High. We believe that though they were created sinless, they did not remain in that perfect state, but willfully and consciously disobeyed their Creator’s command in their desire to ‘be like God’. Consequently, the guilt of Adam’s sin and his fallen nature are covenantally transferred to all mankind.
- We believe that God created and gifted men and women differently for different roles, and that those differences should not be minimized, but rather recognized, encouraged, and enjoyed.
- We believe that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.
- We believe in the unique deity and humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth during the reign of Caesar Augustus, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and sin-atoning death on a cross by the shedding of His blood, in His bodily resurrection from the dead, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
- We believe that, for the salvation of lost and sinful men, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary; salvation is a gift of God, received by grace alone, through faith alone, when a believer puts on Christ in Christian immersion.
- We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling Christians are enabled to live godly lives. We believe that faith without works is dead, and these works are a natural overflow of Holy Spirit indwelling.
- We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost – the saved to the resurrection of life, and the lost to the resurrection of damnation.
- We believe in God’s desire for the spiritual unity of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.
- We believe that parents are responsible for educating their children and for bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.