What Distinguishes Our Standards?

by C. Ray Miller and Paul R. Fetters

Anyone who claims to be a child of God should live like a child of God. For this reason we, like similar denominations, hold certain doctrinal and behavioral standards for members. While persons may profess to be Christians without displaying purity in these areas, the church feels that as people mature in the faith, they will show increasing purity in belief and behavior.

Purity of Doctrine: Christ and Salvation

First, members must accept our Confession of Faith. It states the key beliefs about Jesus Christ--that he is both God and man, that he died on the cross and rose from the dead, that he ascended into heaven and now sits at God's right hand interceding for us, and that he will someday come again. We believe that salvation comes only through faith in Him.

Our view of salvation conflicts with the teachings of various lodges (such as Freemasonry), which claim salvation can be achieved through human effort or degrees. We do not say that a lodge member can't be a Christian. But to uphold doctrinal purity, we do not allow a lodge member to join the church. That has been our stand since 1841. A number of other evangelical denominations share our position.

Purity of Life: How You Treat Yourself

God wants us to show good stewardship of our body, mind, soul, and influence. The Bible implies that we should avoid anything--whether heard, seen, eaten, inhaled, or injected--that would harm the body, mind, soul, or influence.

No Bible verse states, "You shall not drink alcohol." Nevertheless, our church states that temperance involves discipline of all emotions, passions, and appetites. Therefore, the church teaches that members "are to abstain from the use of beverage alcohol of any kind."

The "Standards of the Church" section in our Discipline lists various other standards concerning purity of life. Although a person can disobey some of these and remain a member, we urge members to abstain and to show the same stewardship of person as they do regarding alcohol.