Man

1. We believe man is created in the image of God.

“man”= the human race.

What does “image” and “likeness” mean?

Image= a representation

Likeness= similar to

This doesn’t mean that God looks like us. God is Spirit. We are not miniature gods. He is far more glorious in appearance than we are.

We represent God as :

Stewards of the earth

Populators of the earth

Administers of justice

Alleviators of misery

We are like God:

We are moral beings- the justice system

We are intelligent beings- reason, arts, writing, technology

We are relational beings- We love, work together, appreciate one another

We are emotional beings- joy, anger, disappointment, forgiveness.

We are spiritual beings.

We can worship, pray, and we exist forever. In this way we differ from all other living creatures.

We are valuable beings. We have more worth than plants, bugs, fish, or animals. (Matthew 10:31 “worth more than MANY sparrows.”

Now let’s focus on the word “created”.

We believe God created Adam out of the dust of the earth and He created Eve from Adam. We take the Scripture seriously. No honest person can read the Genesis account and believe it teaches that man evolved over billions of years from primordial soup on the ocean floor.

God did not patiently wait and work through mutations.

God did not wait for a humanoid to advance in years and choose him to be the father of the human race.

There are big problems that develop if one believes man evolved rather than was created:

1) The integrity of Jesus. Jesus referenced Adam and Eve as historical figures (Mark 10:6, Matthew 19:4-6).

2) The doctrine of original sin (Romans 5:12-14).

3) The universal need for salvation (Acts 17:22-26) “from one man”.

4) The order of the home (1 Cor. 11:8-12).

5) Marriage (Matthew 19:4-6).

When you embrace evolution, you have opened the door for the crumbling of your faith. There is no need to believe something is true because the world says it is. We trust the Scriptures.

2. We believe that God created two genders.

God created male and female. This does not mean that there are not birth defects that result in intersex people. These conditions are rare but are the result of living in a fallen world. Just as people are born without limbs, with an extra chromosome some birth defects affect sex.

We believe men and women are of equal value.

We believe there are distinctions between men and women.

We believe we should present ourselves in masculine and feminine ways.

We believe men and women have different roles. This is seen primarily in leadership. Scripture teaches that men are to lead.

In the home (Col. 3:18-19)

In the church- Pastors should be men. Women should not teach adult men (1 Tim. 2:12).

We believe that the two genders need one another. It is not good that either should be alone.

Chauvinism and feminism are both sinful. The world needs men and women. Children need men and women.

I would never imagine that we would be where we are concerning gender in our country. The church has the truth. We must stick with the truth.

God has made the genders clear.

God has created the genders in a way they need one another.

God has created two genders.

3. We believe man is fallen.

“Fallen”= sinned.

In the Garden Adam and Eve Sinned. They were punished by God and their ancestors were born with an inherently sinful nature. As soon as a person is able to choose between right and wrong, they will choose wrong.

We inherit a sin nature from Adam.

We sin willfully.

Death is the result of sin. Adam and Eve died spiritually in the garden and immediately began dying physically. Their children died. So on, and so on.

Some people object to the teaching that we fell in Adam. They think that is not fair. They ignore a couple of things:

1) We would have done the same thing Adsam did.

2) Just as we receive a sin nature from Adam we receive righteousness from Jesus. No one complains about that!

Because we believe all of us are sinners, we do not believe the world is going to get better. We may have gotten smarter but we have also become more sinful.

We live in a fallen world. This is how we explain evil, death, sinfulness. Because we are fallen some things are true:

1) We deserve God’s judgment.

2) We will not seek after God unless He does a work in our lives.

3) Our good works cannot overcome the guilt we already possess.

What do Baptists believe about the age of accountability?

There is no clear statement on that. Scripture does not teach an age of accountability. Some have said it is twelve. As Baptists we believe each must come to Christ personally. We don’t baptize babies for this reason.

Most Baptist’s believe as soon as a person is capable of understanding what is right and wrong they will be held accountable before God. While there is no particular verse to point to conclusions are drawn from what we know about the character of God. Those conclusions often lead to the belief that the atonement of Christ covers:

1) The mentally handicapped.

2) The unborn.

3) Young children who die before they reach a point of understanding what is morally right and wrong.

Ex. David and his newborn child.

4. We believe man is loved by God.

God’s love for us it what leads to our salvation (John 3:16).

1 John 4:9-10 says:

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

We see God’s love for us in giving us life in this world.

We see God’s love for us in giving us good things in this world.

We see God’s love for us primarily in Christ.

We believe that all people have dignity. They are created in the image of God. Because we believe people are loved by God, we love people. We treat people with dignity as image bearers of God.

All races

People who live sinful lives

People who are handicapped or deformed

People who are evil toward us

This is what Baptists believe about man:

1) Man is created in the image of God.

2) Man is created as either male or female

3) Man has fallen.

4) Man is loved by God.