What does Cornerstone believe? click here
How does a person become a Christian? click here
The question of “What do you believe?” deserves a detailed explanation for those who honestly want to know.
“No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible.”
Cornerstone is a member of a fellowship of believers commonly called the Restoration Movement, sometimes called the Stone-Campbell Movement, after two of it’s founders, Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone. Other founders include Alexander’s son Thomas, Walter Scott, Abner Jones, and James O’Kelley.
At the turn of the 19th century, with little or no contact among these men and the churches they pastored all over pioneer America and the British Isles, they and others around them came to believe that a divided church was not God’s will, and that the creeds of men, however correct they might be in substance, perpetuated sectarianism and denominational barriers when they were made tests of fellowship. So our pioneer leaders called people to the simple Gospel of Christ, the authority of the scriptures, the right of private judgment in matters of opinion, and the unity of all believers.
They sought to abandon divisive names, calling themselves simply ‘Christians.’ We recognize that there are many Christians around the world, and that they follow the same Jesus as us, hence we are Christians only, but not the only Christians.
Alexander Campbell said that where the scriptures do not implicitly give a command, man has no right to demand of others the adherence to rules created by men. This has often been quoted as “where the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent.”
We also strive to call Bible things simply by Bible names, not wishing to cloud any issue or mislead any discussion.
We want to model the New Testament church as closely as possible, they being the earliest example of the fellowship of believers, influenced directly by the Apostles. Therefore the New Testament has become our only rule for faith and practice.
Lastly we are devoted to the principle of unity, and therefore we recognize that in matters of opinion, there must be room for discourse and disagreement. Therefore, we believe, as our founders did, that, “in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love.”
Garfield’s Statement
Because of the many inquiries the he received concerning the views of one of the fastest growing movements of the 19th century, President James A. Garfield wrote his classic statement, “What We Stand For.” It is included below, not as a creed, but as a concise, open, and honest statement of our values and what we consider to be ‘essentials’:
1. We call ourselves Christians.
2. We believe in God the Father.
3. We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and our Savior. We regard the divinity of Christ as the fundamental truth of the Christian system.
4. We believe in the Holy Spirit, both as to his agency in conversion and as indwelling in the heart of the Christian.
5. We accept both Old and New Testament Scriptures as the inspired Word of God.
6. We believe in the future punishment of the wicked and the future reward of the righteous.
7. We believe that the Deity is a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God.
8. We observe the institution of the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day. To this table we neither invite nor debar; we say it is the Lord’s Supper for all of the Lord’s Children.
9. We plead for the union of God’s people on the Bible and the Bible alone.
10. The Christ is our only creed.
11. We maintain that all the ordinances should be observed as they were in the days of the Apostles.
How does a person become a Christian?
Salvation comes through the atoning work of Christ alone. However it is not any one thing on our part that rescues us from our sins. Salvation is not one act, but a process or a journey. While this journey has some easily identifiable steps, it is one we walk our whole lives, always growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a life-long journey, and one may begin as early or late in life as the circumstances require. While we are all sinners, praise God there is hope! Our hope is in Jesus, who is the Christ, or promised messiah of God. By no other name may a man or woman be saved.
So how do we begin this journey? First we must believe that Jesus is God’s only son, and that His death on the cross of Calvary by the shedding of His blood. (Ephesians 2:8-9, Hebrews 11:6, John 3:16)
Then we must be willing to repent. Repentance is recognizing that we are sinners and that we need Jesus’ blood to save us. It is based on a word that means ‘u-turn’ in Latin, and this about-face shows our willingness to God to turn our lives towards Him. (Luke 13:3, 2 Peter 3:9)
Next we must be willing to confess our sins to one another and ask for prayer, and also to God, asking His forgiveness. We must also be willing to publicly, unashamedly confess Christ as our Lord. (Romans 10:9-10, James 5:16, Luke 12:8)
The next step is to be immersed underwater, and this is commonly called baptism. Only someone who is old enough to recognize his or her own sinfulness and ask God’s forgiveness can be immersed, therefore we do not practice infant baptism. There is nothing special in the water itself, but it is through the act of obedience to what Christ commanded us that our sins are washed away and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (John 3:1-8, 1 Peter 3:21, Acts 2:38, Colossians 2:12, Galatians 3:27)
Lastly we must live the rest of our lives in humble obedience to God and to God’s will. It is only through our continued faith, worship, fellowship and obedience to God that our salvation is assured. (1 Peter 2:9-12, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-21, Philippians 1:9-11)
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