Our Beliefs: Mankind
Our Beliefs: Mankind
Humans, created male and female in God’s image and mortal, are physical beings whose life is in the blood. However, God imparted a spirit essence to humans, empowering man with intellect and setting him far above the animals. This human spirit enables God to join His Spirit with man’s so he might become a child of God. When a man dies, his conscious thoughts cease, his spirit returns to God who gave it and his body returns to dust. God’s purpose for man is that he enter the Family of God by means of a spiritual birth upon baptism and receipt of the Holy Spirit, and later be changed to spirit in a resurrection from the dead to immortality and glory.
Scripture References:
Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7, 17; 3:19; Psalm 146:3-4; Ecclesiastes 3:19; Ezekiel 18:4, 20; Job 32:8; Zechariah 12:1; I Corinthians 2:11; Hebrews 12:28; I Timothy 6:15-16; Romans 8:29; I Corinthians 15:44, 50-54;