Additional Guiding Principles

We have three essential beliefs, seven primary guiding principles, and then a series of more specific suggestions and principles.

Additionally, recognizing that we all have limited time here, and limited resources, we also prioritize our activities so as to best serve God and advance His causes.

This page lists additional suggestions and principles for you to consider and adopt in your worship, your church, and your life, as you may choose.

Yes, you can consider the Christian way of life a bit like an onion, or a series of nested boxes. To be a Christian, you first absolutely must embrace the three essential beliefs that are at the heart of the Christian faith.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll then find yourself pulled every which way by different factions, sects and denominations (to say nothing of cults), which to a greater or lesser extent may claim their interpretation of the Bible and their requirements for leading a Christian life are correct, and that other approaches are in some way less correct or even just plain wrong. Before reading on through our own set of such claims, please first make sure you’ve read our seven primary guiding principles, because within those, and our three essential beliefs, hopefully you’ll understand that by the time you drill down to this level, God’s love and forgiveness and tolerance accepts, excuses, and forgives many transgressions and allows for your own humanity and weaknesses.

That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t strive to improve yourself and to move closer to a good and Christian lifestyle. But our sense is that if you do the best you can, then with Jesus Christ as your savior, and your heart in the right place, God’s love will wash over you and your salvation is assured.

We also have confidence in our assertion that if something is not called out in the Bible as being bad, wrong, and prohibited, and as long as the thing in question isn’t obviously related to something that has been specifically referred to, then the Bible’s silence is a permissive silence. God doesn’t seek to trick us into sinning. He seeks to help us to lead a good Christian life, and generally wishes that to be an enjoyable experience for us.

Here are our suggestions on some topics that are often discussed and sometimes struggled with in Christian communities. Please feel free to suggest additional topics.

(Note the following is a list of topics we will be writing about in the future, as we publish articles, we will add links to this list.)

Marriage

Divorce

Celibacy of Priests and Lay People

Tithing and Funding Your Chosen Church

Other Charitable Obligations

Is it Enough to Believe in God or Are There Specific Obligations and Duties as a Christian?

Should the Church Support Non-Core Functions and Non-Congregational Groups?

Building and Using Church Structures

Church Administration and Hierarchy

Is Church Tradition Meaningful

The Role of Women in the Church