What We Believe - Who Are We?

Pastor Rudiger is leading a 5-week class immediately after the worship service. During each meeting, we’ll discuss one of the basic questions on which our faith is grounded. This is a great opportunity for anyone who may be interested in joining our congregation but who still may have some questions about the word “presbyterian.” During this first session, we looked at the question: Who Are We? 

Below are the passages we considered during the class:

• Ecclesiastes 9:1-3 - I thought about these things. Then I understood that God has power over everyone, even those of us who are wise and live right. Anything can happen to any of us, and so we never know if life will be good or bad. But exactly the same thing will finally happen to all of us, whether we live right and respect God or sin and don’t respect God. Yes, the same thing will happen if we offer sacrifices to God or if we don’t, if we keep our promises or break them. It’s terribly unfair for the same thing to happen to each of us. We are mean and foolish while we live, and then we die.
• John 6:44 - No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me makes them want to come. But if they do come, I will raise them to life on the last day.
• Romans 1:18-32 - From heaven God shows how angry he is with all the wicked and evil things that sinful people do to crush the truth. They know everything that can be known about God, because God has shown it all to them. God’s eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all he has made. That’s why those people don’t have any excuse. They know about God, but they don’t honor him or even thank him. Their thoughts are useless, and their stupid minds are in the dark. They claim to be wise, but they are fools. They don’t worship the glorious and eternal God. Instead, they worship idols that are made to look like humans who cannot live forever, and like birds, animals, and reptiles. So God let these people go their own way. They did what they wanted to do, and their filthy thoughts made them do shameful things with their bodies. They gave up the truth about God for a lie, and they worshiped God’s creation instead of God, who will be praised forever. Amen. God let them follow their own evil desires. Women no longer wanted to have sex in a natural way, and they did things with each other that were not natural. Men behaved in the same way. They stopped wanting to have sex with women and had strong desires for sex with other men. They did shameful things with each other, and what has happened to them is punishment for their foolish deeds. Since these people refused even to think about God, he let their useless minds rule over them. That’s why they do all sorts of indecent things. They are evil, wicked, and greedy, as well as mean in every possible way. They want what others have, and they murder, argue, cheat, and are hard to get along with. They gossip, say cruel things about others, and hate God. They are proud, conceited, and boastful, always thinking up new ways to do evil. These people don’t respect their parents. They are stupid, unreliable, and don’t have any love or pity for others. They know God has said that anyone who acts this way deserves to die. But they keep on doing evil things, and they even encourage others to do them.
• Romans 3:9-12 - What does all this mean? Does it mean that we Jews are better off than the Gentiles? No, it doesn’t! Jews, as well as Gentiles, are ruled by sin, just as I have said. The Scriptures tell us, “No one is acceptable to God! Not one of them understands or even searches for God. They have all turned away and are worthless. There isn’t one person who does right.
• Romans 5:12 -  Adam sinned, and that sin brought death into the world. Now everyone has sinned, and so everyone must die.
• Romans 8:7-8 - Our desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God’s laws. 8 If we follow our desires, we cannot please God.