The Bible NETWork ~ Impacting the World for Christ one post at a time!

The Bible.org forum is a strategic resource designed to meet a variety of needs in the international Christian community and to serve as a lighthouse of the grace and truth of God found in Jesus Christ as revealed through the Holy Bible. This forum is administered and moderated by friends and volunteers of bible.org who are committed to provide a location near the city gates where individuals can gather to ask questions, to share ideas and best practices, to encourage one another, to talk strategy, and to provide informal Christian education. When people visit the bible.org forum we want them to be built up in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ by the time they leave. Regardless of culture or Christian tradition, we want them to consider the forum as a place of integrity to which they will want to return.

The purpose of this public forum is to further the ministry and vision of Bible.org to help one-another in evangelism and the Christian maturing process, so we all will finish the task that Christ expects us to accomplish here on earth. It is also a safe place for those who are genuinely searching for answers concerning the Christian faith to come and interact with believers.

Topics that fall outside orthodox Christianity in their understanding of God and salvation belong in the Worldviews Forum. Here are the primary doctrines regarding God and salvation that define orthodox Christianity:

• God is a Trinity, meaning that he is one God who exists in three persons. Those three persons are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. They are identical in essence, characteristics, power, omniscience, eternal existence and purpose.
  
• Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Trinity. He has existed eternally as God and is not a created being. He came to earth as God Incarnate, born of a Virgin. He was both fully man and fully God. He was crucified, rose the third day, and ascended to Heaven where He intercedes on our behalf.
  
• Christ's death is the only means by which we may be saved. His resurrection is evidence that His death did effectively deal with our sin. His work on the cross is the only basis for salvation. Those who know Jesus will spend eternity in heaven with God. Those who reject Jesus will ultimately spend eternity in the lake of fire.
  
• Satan is a real being, created as an angel by God, who rebelled against him and fell from God's presence. Christ will return some day and will deal with Satan who will, ultimately, end up in the lake of fire.

Advocates of beliefs regarding God, salvation, the devil and heaven/hell that differ from the above are asked to discuss them here in the Worldviews Forum. For example, anyone advocating universal salvation (or any universalistic teachings) or denying Christ's godhood or the Trinity or the existence of heaven and hell should talk about these beliefs in the Worldviews Forum.

There are secondary doctrines on which Christians disagree including baptism, women in ministry, Calvinism, the security of salvation, the Rapture, etc. that do not directly deal with the identity of God or his plan of salvation. These are to be discussed in the appropriate forums (General Bible Discussion, New Testament, Old Testament, Prophecy, etc.), not the Worldviews Forum.

Non-Christians religions may be discussed here as well. This includes Jehovah Witnesses and the LDS Church which do not hold to orthodox Christian beliefs and, therefore, are included in the Worldviews Forum.

Discussion of other belief systems (e.g. New Age), mythologies, folklore, ancient religions (e.g. Gnosticism), and non-Christian religious practices in general may be discussed here as well.

It is not our intention to offend anyone who holds to beliefs outside orthodox Christianity. Nor do we wish to discourage anyone from talking about them. In fact, we encourage such discussions as this board is here to help people learn, not just about Christianity, but about other people's beliefs as well. But please keep in mind that this is a board that upholds the orthodox Christian beliefs listed above and we will, therefore, defend them.

We encourage everyone to read the board's Statement of Faith as well as our Code of Conduct. Should you have any questions about the board, its rules, its many forums or individual posts, please pm a moderator or post your concerns in the Interact with Moderators sub-forum in the Welcome Forum. We will try to respond to all inquiries within a 72-hour period.

Please know the staff does reserve the right to lock and/or close a thread at their discretion when they deem that they have become unfruitful. Thank you very much for your attention to these guidelines.