Ok, I am resurrecting my intro thread to actually do an intro not of me, but of where I am coming from vis-a-vis a Christian perspective. Let's call this:
BiggAndyy's Teeny-Tiny-Itsy-Bitsy Catechism.
I am a Reformed Baptist (for the most part). That means I take the Sovereignty of God VERY seriously. Everything I encounter either scripturally or through prayer, lesson, or experience is first filtered over and against if it does violence to the Sovereignty of God. If there is even a hint that we would remove, deflect, or appropriate even the smallest portion of the Glory and Honor due to God I
am very wary and skeptical until I can study my concerns further.
Next is Predestination, in this instance, Double Predestination; briefly, we are already born condemned so our Election is an ACTIVE, monergistic justification from our sin we receive from the Lord (i.e. God "saves" us with no input or acceptance from our part at all -- we are DEAD in our sin, and once quickened we are already saved), second Condemnation is a PASSIVE act, for the Lord allows those He does not choose to save to continue on in their sin and receive the just penalty for their sin.
I am also a Pre-Tribber (pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Body of Christ).
Next up on my quick "Theology of BiggAndyy" overview, I am a Partial Cessationist, that is, the Signs and Wonders Gifts of the Holy Spirit have temporarily ceased when Judah was finally conquered at the Battle of Masada and later when the final Apostle (John) died on the Isle of Patmos. The Gifts of Healing, Prophesy, Tongues, and Miracles are no longer volitionally exercised by the Believer today. I do not deny those events still occur, but they occur at the behest of God and not of our own will (making them acts of God not the freewill exercise of our individual Spiritual Gift).
Another stop on this small journey is the Inspiration of Scripture. I am of the firm opinion that the Word of God was not only divinely inspired but it was also divinely protected throughout the ages. However, only the autographs (original letters themselves) bear the mark of true inspiration. The copies and copies of copies (and so on) can and probably do bear the mark of divinely protected so that an enormous amount of ancient manuscript evidence is abundant for us today to be able to reconstruct what the autographs actually contained from the day they were written, to an astonishing level of accuracy and dependability. No translation from the original (donor) language to a second (receptor) language can bear either of those marks, but through diligent scholarship of gifted and Spirit filled men and women, we can hold in our hands (as closely as is allowed by human language) the very words of God Himself, in whatever receptor language we desire to translate the scripture to.
Hope this clears up a bit what I firmly believe and hold to be the Truth of Scripture and of The Lord.