What are My Fundamentals?

If Timothy Keller is correct in  his assessment that I blogged about the other day, and we are indeed all fundamentalists in some fashion; I thought I might attempt to dig down and see what my baseline assumptions are regarding my own faith as a Lutheran pastor.

What are my fundamentals?  What are the statements of belief that I hold which are foundational and which I am uncompromising about?  Time for some major self reflection.

1. First, I believe in the triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  This automatically makes me Christian.

2. I believe in and am a follower of Jesus Christ as the only Son of God.

3. I believe we live in a world that God created to be good, but it has become warped beyond repair.  There's still plenty of good to go around, but there is more than enough bad and evil as well. 

4. I believe this dichotomy has entered into humanity in that all folks have both good and bad within them as well.  As a Lutheran, I live with the tradition that I and others are both saint and sinner at the same time.

5. I believe I can't personally rectify this situation and drive out all my badness no matter how hard I might try.

6. I believe God demands perfection out of me as a perfect Being Himself.

7. Since I can't live up to that perfection, I stand condemned before Him.  However, I believe God forgives me through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

8. Therefore, I strive to live a holy and upright life because of what Christ has done for me.

9. God also sent a message through the death and resurrection of Jesus: evil, death, injustice, et.al. do not have the last word.  God does, and it is always good.  God will right the wrongs of this world even though we have a hard time perceiving it.

10. Such acts by God lead me towards a life of humility and humble service toward others.  I cannot judge another knowing I'm in the same boat as him/her; rather, I will serve, help and love my neighbor (with both tough love and mercy) as Christ first loved me.

11. I believe this Christian message is for everyone, no exceptions. 

12. I believe such humility demands we do not simply seek out those who agree with us, but we intentionally also work, play, worship, and engage those whom we disagree with.  The early church astounded non-believers because they saw people who society said shouldn't eat together actually eating together.

13. I believe I am called to spread the news of Jesus to others.  I cannot wait for them to come to me, I'm called to go out.

14. I believe practicing my faith brings true joy and meaning to my life.  Without it, I would not be fulfilled.

15. I believe I cannot compel anyone to believe as I do.  I can only point the way.

16.  I believe the Bible is the source and norm of faith and life.  I do not believe it is inerrant.  I do believe it is infallible.

I think I'll stop there for a moment.  I may have to do some editing in the future as I may need to make additions. 

Unfortunately, such self reflection is difficult.  Oftentimes, we cannot fully see ourselves because there are parts which we cannot, do not, or flat out refuse to see.  If anyone out there sees anything I've missed, ding me.  Let me know something that comes across as "fundamentalist" to you.  I'll add it to the list.