The Bible
Pleasant View Baptist Church
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed, preserved in the Greek language via the Textus Receptus and for the English speaking people via the King James Authorized Version
The Godhead
Pleasant View Baptist Church
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three person - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; co-eternal in being; co-identical in nature; co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections.
The Person & Work of Christ
Pleasant View Baptist Church
(1) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of Mary when a virgin in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men.
(2) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the Cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice; and, that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical bodily resurrection from the dead.
(3) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven bodily, and is now exalted at the right hand of God where, as our high Priest, He fulfills the ministry of representative, intercessor and our Advocate.
(4) We believe God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.
Isa. 2:4; 11:9; Matt. 16:27; 18:8-9; 19:28; 24:27,30,36,44; 25:31-46; 26:64
Mark 8:38 9:43-48 Luke 12:40-48 16:19-26 17:22-37 2l:27-28;
John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11; 17:31; Rom. 14:10; I Cor. 4:5; 15:24-28; 35-58; II Cor. 5.10; Phil. 3:20-21, Col. 1:5, 3:4; I Thess. 4:14-18; 5;l ff; II Thess. 1:7 ff; 2:1; I
Tim. 6:14; II Tim. 4:1,8: Titus 2:13; Heb. 9:27-28; James 5:8; II Peter 3:7;
I John 2:28; 3:2; Jude 14; Rev. 1:18; 3:11; 20:1 to 22:13.
The Person & Work of
the Holy Spirit
Pleasant View Baptist Church
(1) We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and, that He is the supernatural agent in regeneration, indwelling and sealing all believers unto the day of redemption and leading them into the baptismal waters in Christ.
(2) We believe that He is the divine person who guides believers into all truth and life; and, that it is the privilege and duty of all saved people to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Total Depravity of Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that through Adam's sin the race fell, thus man inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and, that man is totally depraved, and of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.
Salvation
((1) We believe that salvation is the free gift of God brought to man through grace and received by man through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; and, that it can in no wise be merited, or earned in part or whole, by human effort; that it was earned for us by the shed blood of Jesus Christ as a sacrifice and payment for our sins.
(2) We believe that only those who truly repent of their sin can and will have true saving faith in Christ. That this repentance is a sacred duty brought in the heart by the Holy Spirit as He shows man his sinful and helpless condition, that it involves a genuine sorrow for sin and a determination to forsake sin; and, that it is a change of mind about God, sin and self in which the individual truly turns to Christ from his sin and believes wholly in Him.
(3) We believe the doctrines of grace traditionally set forth as: total
depravity, unconditional election, definite atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints.
The Eternal Security & Assurance of Believers
We believe that all of the redeemed, once having been saved, are kept saved by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever; and, that they are assured of such by the teachings of the Bible that salvation is eternal.
The Believer's Two Natures
We believe that every saved person possesses two natures, with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy spirit; and, that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural and therefore false.
Separation
We believe that all of the saved should and will live a life in which there is manifested a measure of holiness which brings glory and honor to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; and, that separation unto the Lord from all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations, and from all religious apostasy is commanded of God.
Satan, A Person
We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin and the cause of the fall of man; and, that he is the open and declared enemy of God and of the souls of men, and, that he shall be eternally punished in the lake of fire.
The Eternal State
We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin and the cause of the fall of man; and, that he is the open and declared enemy of God and of the souls of men, and, that he shall be eternally punished in the lake of fire.
The Church
(l) We believe the Church presently is a local, visible assembly of baptized (immersed), regenerate believers organized by the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Each assembly does metaphorically exist as the body of Christ and functions as an autonomous organization. Each member exercises his/her gifts as given by the Holy Spirit for the edification of the body.
(2) We speak of such church as a New Testament Baptist Church whose founder and head is Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:18), having New Testament officers, perpetuating the ordinances, voluntarily banded together by the unity of the Holy Spirit for worship, ministry, and the worldwide propagation of the Gospel.
(3) We reject the teaching of the existence of a universal, invisible church or body, of Christ entered into by the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation. We do believe that when all believers are assembled in Heaven upon Christ Jesus' return such assembly will forever constitute the assembly of Jesus Christ and forever be His body.
The Baptists
We believe that Baptists originated, not in the reformation, not in the dark ages, nor in any century after the Apostles; that no personality this side of Jesus Christ is a satisfactory explanation for their origin; and that Baptist principles are as old as Christianity; and, that the likeness in doctrine and practice of Baptist Churches to the Churches in the days of the Apostles constitute them Churches of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Human Sexuality
We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful perversions of God's gift of sex.
(Gen. 2:24; Gen. 19:5, 13; Gen. 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30;
Rom.l:26-29; 1 Cor. 5:1; 6-9, 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4)
Abortion
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; Psalms 51:5; l39:l4-l6: Isa.44:24; 49:1, 5; Jer. 1:5; 20:15-18; Luke 1:44).
Lawsuits Between Believers
We believe that Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians or the Church to resolve personal disputes. We believe the Church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members. We do believe, however, that a Christian may seek compensation for injuries from another Christian's insurance company as long as the claim is pursued without malice or slander (1 Cor. 6:8; Eph. 4:31-32). For disputes involving Christians not members of this assembly, they must be members of a church after New Testament design that is also in agreement with the Scriptural principals of Church discipline, so that their Church cooperates in settling the dispute. If a Church fails to deal with the dispute scripturally, the professing Christian will not be recognized as a Church member. Also if a Church deals with a dispute and the brother fails to respond and is excluded from their membership he will be counted an unbeliever.
Giving
We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God's
wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially. We believe that God has established the tithe as a basis for giving but that every Christian should also give other offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the Church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel. We believe that a Christian relinquishes all rights to direct the use of the tithe or offering once the gift has been made (Gen.14:20; Prov3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; 1 Cor. 16:2; 11 Cor. 9:6-7; Gal. 6:6; Eph. 4:28; 1 Tim. 5:17-18; 1 John 3:17).
