Evangelical Catholic Church (Independent)

A personal God who is the creator and sustainer of all things truly exists, independent of human belief.

The Son is of the very same essence (consubstantial) as the Father, not merely of a similar essence.

There is exactly one God, numerically a single divine being.

Father, Son, and Spirit are genuinely distinct persons, not merely three modes, masks, or roles of a single person.

The one God exists eternally as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God is an immaterial spirit, without a physical body of any kind.

Love is essential to who God is in himself, grounded in the eternal love among the persons of the Trinity, not merely something God does toward creatures.

God genuinely hears and responds to petitionary prayer, sometimes acting differently than he otherwise would have.

God is omnipotent: able to do anything that is logically possible and consistent with his nature.

God is fully present everywhere in his being, not merely in knowledge or power.

God knows all true propositions, including all of the actual past and present, exhaustively.

God infallibly and exhaustively knows the entire future, including all future free choices, as settled certainties.

God transcends gender entirely, so feminine images and language for God (e.g. God as Mother) are as fitting as masculine ones.

God genuinely suffers and is moved with grief and compassion in response to creaturely suffering and sin.

God experiences temporal succession: there is a real before-and-after in God's own life and knowledge.

God's wrath against sin is a real and proper disposition of his holy character, not merely a metaphor or an absence of relationship.

Jesus rose bodily in the same (transformed) body that was crucified.

Jesus committed no sin during his life.

Right relationship with God comes specifically through Jesus Christ and not through any other name/mediator.

Father, Son, and Spirit are one single person manifesting in three modes or roles.

Jesus had a complete, real human body of flesh.

Deity and humanity are united in one single person (hypostasis) in Christ.

The New Testament directly identifies Jesus as "God" (e.g. John 1:1; 20:28; Titus 2:13).

Jesus Christ is identified with the LORD (YHWH) of Israel.

The Son was created/originated by God and is therefore a creature, however exalted.

The Son is a distinct divine person from the Father (not merely a mode or role of one person).

The Son is "of the same essence" (homoousios) as the Father, not merely of a similar essence.

Jesus Christ is fully and truly God, sharing the one divine essence with the Father.

The Son existed as a divine person before his human birth, prior to and apart from creation.

Jesus is rightly given the worship due to God.

There was a state or "time" in which the Son did not exist.

After the incarnation Christ exists "in two natures," divine and human, each retaining its own properties.

Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary, without a human father.

Mary may rightly be called "Theotokos" (God-bearer / Mother of God) because the one she bore is God.

The titles given to Jesus ("Lord," "Son of God," "Word") connote true deity, not merely a high human office.

The union of divine and human in Christ occurred at the moment of conception, not at a later point such as baptism.

The Son remains permanently incarnate: he retains a glorified human nature forever.

There was a real, primeval historical event ("the Fall") in which the first humans disobeyed God and lost an original state of integrity.

The Genesis Fall narrative is best read as a symbolic or mythic depiction of the universal human condition, not a report of a singular past event.

Adam and Eve were real, historical individuals from whom humanity descends.

Satan is a real, personal spiritual being who tempts and opposes God, not merely a symbol or personification of evil.

Physical death entered the human race as a consequence of Adam's sin; humans were not originally subject to death.

Adam's first sin has real, inherited consequences for all his descendants (an "original sin"), not merely a bad example.

After the Fall sin is so deep that it has become the very substance/essence of fallen human nature.

Sin is fundamentally the transgression of God's law/command (an offense against a divine standard).

Moral evil arises necessarily from the gift of genuine creaturely free will, which God could not give without the possibility of its misuse.

The root of all sin is pride / inordinate self-love (turning from God to self).

Properly speaking, something counts as sin only if it is voluntary (chosen knowingly and willingly).

Sin is most fundamentally a rupture of relationship/covenant with God and neighbor, more than law-breaking or substance-corruption.

No one in this life (apart from special exception) is wholly free from sin; the regenerate continue to sin.

The finally unsaved suffer conscious punishment in hell that never ends.

Justification is a forensic, declarative act in which God legally pronounces the sinner righteous, distinct from the inner process of being made holy.

On the cross Christ bore the penalty/punishment that sinners deserved, satisfying God's justice in their place (penal substitution).

Salvation is fundamentally a lifelong process of being saved rather than a single completed event.

The righteousness by which a believer is justified is Christ's own righteousness credited/imputed to them, external to and not produced by the believer.

Salvation is accomplished by God alone working in the person (monergism); the human will does not cooperate in the new birth.

A believer can have a settled present assurance that they are saved.

Good works/holiness are necessary not merely as evidence but as a real condition of final salvation.

A person is justified by faith alone (sola fide), apart from any contribution of their works to the ground of justification.

Saving faith necessarily includes submission to Christ as Lord and a commitment to repent/obey, not mere intellectual assent.

Baptism is a symbol/ordinance that publicly signifies a salvation already received by faith and does not itself convey saving grace.

A person who is genuinely saved can never lose their salvation ("once saved, always saved").

Repentance (a real turning from sin) is required for salvation.

A genuine believer can fall away and forfeit salvation (apostasy / conditional security).

God is one indivisible person who manifests successively or simultaneously as Father, Son, and Spirit, rather than three eternally distinct persons.

The Spirit is a distinct hypostasis/person, genuinely other than the Father and the Son, not merely a mode or aspect of the one God.

The Holy Spirit is eternal, without beginning, and shares the one uncreated divine nature.

The Holy Spirit is the divine author who inspired the writers of Scripture.

The Holy Spirit is fully and truly God, equal in divine essence to the Father and the Son.

The Holy Spirit is a distinct personal agent (who can be grieved, speaks, wills, and intercedes), not merely an impersonal force or energy.

The Spirit works savingly in people who are outside the visible institutional church, including beyond explicit Christian profession.

There is a specific sin against the Holy Spirit that is unforgivable.

The Spirit so guides the Church's official teaching that it can be preserved from error (infallibility) on matters of faith.

The Spirit's saving, regenerating grace is ultimately irresistible in those God has chosen.

The fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, etc.) is the truest evidence of the Spirit's presence, more than the spectacular gifts.

The Spirit distributes gifts sovereignly as He wills, so believers cannot simply claim or work up a particular gift.

Being "filled with the Spirit" is a repeatable, commanded experience distinct from the one-time indwelling.

By the Spirit, a believer may reach a state of entire freedom from conscious/willful sin in this life.

Baptism in/with the Holy Spirit happens at conversion and is identical with becoming a Christian: not a separate later event.

Spirit-baptism is primarily for power/empowerment for witness and service, distinct from the saving work that makes one a believer.

The Spirit "seals" the believer as a permanent guarantee of final salvation that cannot be undone.

The bishop of Rome (the pope) holds a divinely instituted primacy of jurisdiction over the whole church.

The church is apostolic: it must stand in genuine continuity with the apostles' teaching and mission.

The church is the mystical Body of Christ, organically united to him as its head.

The church is catholic (universal): the whole company of Christ's people across all times and places, not confined to one nation, culture, or congregation.

The church is a divine institution founded by Christ, not merely a voluntary human association of like-minded believers.

The church is holy (set apart and sanctified by Christ) even though its members remain sinners.

The true church is essentially ONE (a single body) despite outward divisions.

Belonging to the visible, organized church is normally necessary for the Christian life, not an optional add-on to private faith.

The church's central mission is to proclaim the gospel and make disciples (the Great Commission as its defining task).

The pope, under defined conditions (ex cathedra, on faith and morals), teaches infallibly.

The church should formally practice corrective discipline, up to exclusion, against unrepentant serious sin among members.

Local churches are properly bound together under a wider connectional structure (conference, synod, communion) with real authority over them.

In this age the visible church is a mixed body containing both genuine believers and the unregenerate (wheat and tares, sheep and goats together until the end).

Every believer is a priest with direct access to God, with no need for a mediating human priest.

The institutional church is a provisional, this-age reality that will give way to the consummated Kingdom, rather than itself being the final goal.

Scripture is the sole final authority for the church's faith and practice (sola scriptura); all other authorities are subordinate and fallible.

There are exactly two ordinances/sacraments instituted by Christ: baptism and the Lord's Supper.

There are seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation/chrismation, Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders, and matrimony.

The mode of baptism (immersion, pouring, or sprinkling) is a matter of indifference and does not affect validity.

Valid baptism must use the Trinitarian formula "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Valid baptism requires full immersion of the body in water.

Sacraments function chiefly to confirm, seal, and strengthen a faith already given, rather than to originate grace.

The Supper is purely a memorial; the bread and wine remain only symbols that prompt remembrance, with no presence or reception of Christ.

Baptism and the Supper are primarily acts of human obedience and public testimony rather than channels of divine grace.

Christ is truly and really present in the bread and wine of the Supper, not merely symbolized.

The outward form and style of worship is largely a matter of indifference (adiaphora) to be decided by culture, pastoral wisdom, or preference.

A primary purpose of the worship service is evangelism and calling outsiders to conversion.

Worship should be deliberately shaped to feel familiar and accessible to outsiders and the unchurched.

The collection of tithes and offerings is itself an act of worship within the service.

The Lord's Supper should be celebrated every Lord's Day.

Contemporary worship music (CCM, praise-and-worship bands, modern choruses) is fitting and desirable for the gathered church.

Jesus Christ will return personally, visibly, and bodily to the earth at a future point in history.

At death the believer's soul consciously enters the presence of Christ and remains aware while awaiting the bodily resurrection.

A specific future seven-year period of unprecedented tribulation (often tied to Daniel's seventieth week) remains to be fulfilled.

The finally unrepentant suffer conscious punishment in hell that continues without end.

The prophecies of Daniel and Revelation should be read primarily as literal predictions of still-future events.

The thousand-year reign of Christ (Revelation 20) denotes a literal, future, earthly period of roughly a thousand years.

There is no distinct "rapture" doctrine at all; the New Testament describes one return of Christ at which the living and the dead are gathered together.

Christ's return could occur at any moment, with no remaining prophecy that must be fulfilled first.

Christ returns bodily before the millennial kingdom and personally inaugurates it on earth.

Identifiable signs (wars, earthquakes, gospel preached to all nations, rise of deception) will mark the approach of the end and can be discerned.

Christ's return will be accompanied by literal cosmic upheaval: darkened sun, falling stars, and visible glory seen by all.

Scripture is the sole infallible rule of faith and practice for the Church.

The canon of Scripture consists of exactly the 66 books of the Protestant Bible.

The historical narratives of Scripture (e.g., the exodus, the conquest, the bodily resurrection) record events that actually happened in space and time.

Inspiration extends to the actual words of the original text, not only to the general ideas or concepts.

The Holy Spirit is properly called the divine author of Scripture.

All parts of Scripture are equally inspired, not merely the doctrinally central or "religious" portions.

The Christian Scriptures originated through a genuine act of God, not merely human religious reflection.

God created the universe out of nothing (ex nihilo), not from pre-existing matter.

God genuinely reveals something of himself through the natural world and the created order, apart from Scripture.

Adam and Eve were real, historical individuals, the literal first human beings.

The fall of humanity into sin was a real historical event by the first humans, not merely a symbol of the universal human condition.

God can and does act in the world in ways that supersede or suspend ordinary natural causes (genuine miracles are possible).

Whatever knowledge of God nature provides is insufficient for salvation; saving knowledge requires special revelation in Christ and Scripture.

A clear and reliable knowledge of God and his saving purposes requires God's special, verbal self-revelation, not merely general revelation.

Genesis 1-3 is intended as an account of actual historical events, not primarily as theological symbol, poetry, or myth.

God still performs miracles today (healings, signs, answered prayer beyond natural explanation) as he did in biblical times.

Abortion is morally permissible when continuing the pregnancy would directly threaten the mother's life.

Human life possesses a special, inviolable dignity because human beings are made in the image of God.

The direct, intentional killing of an innocent human being is always gravely wrong, with no exceptions.

Human life is a gift over which we are stewards, not owners; we may not dispose of it (our own or another's) at will.

Non-abortifacient contraception (barrier/hormonal methods that prevent fertilization) is morally acceptable for married couples.

Abortion is impermissible in all circumstances, including rape, incest, fetal anomaly, and threat to the mother's life.

Using lethal force to defend oneself or others from a deadly attacker is morally permissible.

The state may, in principle, justly impose the death penalty for the gravest crimes.

Donating one's organs after death is a morally good and praiseworthy act of charity.

Deliberately ending a pregnancy by killing the unborn is in itself a grave moral wrong.

A competent adult's autonomy over their own body is the decisive moral consideration in life-and-death medical choices.

Deliberately ending a patient's life to relieve suffering (active euthanasia) is always morally wrong.

A distinct human person, bearing full moral status, exists from the moment of conception/fertilization.

When a life involves sufficient suffering or loss of function, considerations of "quality of life" can outweigh the duty to preserve it.

A physician may permissibly help a competent, terminally ill patient end their own life at the patient's request.

Suicide (taking one's own life) is morally wrong.

The church should liturgically bless and solemnize same-sex unions.

Christians who experience exclusive same-sex attraction are called to lifelong celibacy or to a mixed-orientation marriage with the opposite sex.

By definition and divine design, marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

Sexual acts between two people of the same sex are always morally wrong.

Same-sex sexual attraction is an objective disorder of desire even when not acted upon.

A covenanted union between two people of the same sex can be a true marriage in God's sight.

A person's sex is a fixed, binary, God-given reality determined at conception, not something that can be changed.

One's stance and conduct on sexual ethics bears on salvation/standing before God, not merely on discipleship maturity.

Sexual sins are not categorically graver than other sins and should not be singled out for special emphasis or discipline.

Premarital sex (fornication) is always sinful, even between an engaged or committed couple.

Scripture provides binding, authoritative norms for sexual conduct that the church is not free to revise.

Sexual intercourse is morally reserved exclusively for marriage.

The gospel is essentially a message of individual reconciliation with God, and social transformation is at most a secondary by-product, not part of its core content.

Racism (partiality and contempt on the basis of race or ethnicity) is a sin contrary to the gospel.

Scripture's command to welcome the foreigner and care for the sojourner imposes a real Christian duty toward immigrants and refugees today. (This question does not consider any political orientation's specific definition of what constitutes a legitimate "immigrant" or "refugee.")

Civil government is divinely instituted, and obedience to lawful authority is a Christian duty (Romans 13).

It can be morally legitimate for Christians to use lethal force under some circumstances (e.g. defense of the innocent, just war).

Active civic participation (voting, advocacy, holding office) is a positive Christian duty in a free society.

Christ's lordship extends over every sphere of life (politics, economics, art, science) and Christians are called to bring all of them under his rule.

It is fitting for Christians to seek and hold civil office in order to govern justly.

Opposing abortion and protecting unborn life should be among the highest priorities of Christian political engagement.

Scripture provides binding, authoritative norms not only for personal conduct but for the ordering of society, economics, and the state.

Beliefs about angels and demons should be limited to what Scripture plainly teaches, rejecting speculative hierarchies, named extra-biblical angels, and elaborate demonologies.

Angels are created beings, made by God, and are not eternal or self-existent.

Biblical "angels" are best understood as symbols, personifications, or mythological language for God's action and human experience, not as actually existing spirit-persons.

Angels are real, personal, created beings who actually exist, not merely literary symbols or pre-scientific imagery.

Demons are real, personal evil spirits (fallen angels or their kind), not merely symbols of disease, vice, or social evil.

The devil and his angels will suffer eternal, conscious punishment in the lake of fire.

The traditional ninefold scheme of angelic orders (seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels, angels) reflects a real heavenly order.

Satan is a fallen angel (a created good being who rebelled) not an independent evil principle or co-eternal power.

Satan/the devil is a real, personal spirit-being, not merely a symbol or personification of evil.

A portion of the angels rebelled against God and fell from their original state.

Adam and Eve were real, historical individuals who are the biological ancestors of all humanity.

Human beings are created in the image of God.

Human beings inherit a corrupted nature (original sin) from Adam, prior to and apart from any actual sins they commit.

The human soul is by nature immortal and continues to exist consciously after the death of the body.

There is exactly one mediator between God and humanity (Jesus Christ) and no creature shares in that mediating office.

Mary was preserved free from the stain of original sin from the very first moment of her own conception.

Mary now reigns as Queen of Heaven, crowned and exalted above all the angels and saints.

Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit while Mary was a virgin, without a human father.

It is good and proper to ask the saints in heaven to pray to God on our behalf.

Mary remained a virgin throughout her whole life and never had marital relations or other children after Jesus ("ever-virgin").

Mary may rightly be called "Theotokos" / "Mother of God" (God-bearer) because the one she bore is truly God incarnate.