God

I believe there is only one God, Yahweh (יהוה). Who is the creator of the universe and is eternal, uncreated, omnipotent, omnipresent, omnibenevolent, and personal. He has always existed in one nature but three different personhoods, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Which Christians have defined as the Trinity of God. I like to compare the Trinity with the human trinity (body, soul, and spirit) both because we both are described as having a spirit, and because we seem to have one part be in charge of the other parts (mind vs body and spirit).

The Father

The Father is the person within the Trinity which controls the actions and makes the decisions of the Trinity. Even though all three persons of the Trinity have unique wills, the Son and the Spirit bow to the will of the Father.

The Father is not the father of the Son in a biological sense or in an origin sense (the Son is also uncreated). He is the father in a positional/authority sense.

I think of the Father as the “mind” of God in that the body (Jesus) and the spirit (Holy Spirit) seem to follow his desires and he is unknown and unseeable unlike the other two.

He is represented by the matzah hidden in the echad in the Passover seder.

Jesus Christ

The Son of God, Jesus is the uncreated eternal “body” of God. He is the only one who appears physically who has physical substance to him. Before the incarnation, Jesus was called the Angel of Yahweh. He has always had physical form and he is the one who spoke creation into being.

Jesus, as God, came to die for sin and to reconcile humanity with Yahweh by his own sacrifice. He was born of a virgin, betrayed by his own disciple and fulfilled many prophecies of the Old Testament.

The man whom the entire bible is about.

He is represented by the matzah which is broken, pierced, and ransomed, the afikoman, in the Passover seder.

The Holy Spirit

The eternal, uncreated “spirit” of God. The Holy Spirit is a unique person from the Father and the Son and are equally God with them. He is the part of the Trinity which lives inside of those who have faith in Christ. He causes our change when we are born again and empowers us as Christians to live the life which is pleasing to God.

He also imparts spiritual gifts to his followers and helps us in sanctification and growing in holiness.

He is represented by the matzah which is eaten and taken in whole in the Passover seder. 

The Bible

The revealed word of Yahweh to mankind. Yahweh has revealed himself to many cultures, but he most clearly revealed himself to the Israelite people, his chosen people. It is broken into two parts.

1) The Old Testament which contains the creation of the universe, the history of the patriarchs, the exodus, the law, the history of his people, and prophecy. It is all about Jesus.

2) The New Testament which contains the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as well as the history and teachings of the early church until the destruction of the second temple in 70AD. It is all about Jesus.

The bible is God-breathed. This means it is inspired by God but written by man in cooperation with their spirits. This then includes all of their personality and writing styles that one would expect from human writing. The bible is also inerrant and noncontradictory in its original writings (the autographs). We no longer have the originals so the version we have today is susceptible to corruption, but we have so many documents to pull from that we know exactly what the autographs said. 

Salvation

Salvation is justification from the Law. We are justified from the guilt of breaking the Law by the death and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross in order to pay our blood guilt. Without the shedding of blood there is no salvation. Jesus took the death and punishment we deserve onto himself on the cross and puts his righteousness onto us. In this way, we are declared holy in front of the courtroom of heaven on the last day.

This is received by faith (intellectual ascent and trust) that Jesus actually is God, that he died for our sins, and that he resurrected defeating death. If you trust in his work on the cross alone, you will be saved. If you trust in your goodness or your works for salvation, you will not be saved.

The Church

The Church is the united body of Christ on Earth. We come in many different flavors and creeds but those who are born again and hold to the essential doctrines are members of the Church of Christ and will be saved on the last day.

Those in Heaven are no longer members of the Church but are with Christ.

Heaven

The current, temporary resting place for those who have had faith in Jesus. It is also the dwelling place of Yahweh and the heavenly hosts (angels, kinda). 

This is not the final destination for those in Christ. We will live with Yahweh forever in the New Earth in New Jerusalem as one big family.

Hell

The future place of torment for Satan and his demons. Humans who have committed the unforgivable sin and reject Yahweh will also end up here after the resurrection and judgement day.

There is currently no one in hell (Tartarus). Those who have rejected God and not called on Jesus’s name for salvation are currently in Gehenna which is a subpart of Hades (the underworld of the dead).

I go back and forth on if Hell is guaranteed eternal torment or possibly eternal torment with the possibility of reconciliation with God (I will have a long post on this).

Creation

I believe that Yahweh created the Earth with just his speech. I personally believe in a form of young Earth creationism because of some statements made by Jesus as well as a variety of evidence that I find compelling together (I will also have a much longer post(s) on this).