Personal Creed on Scripture

Personal Creed on Scripture Personal Creed on Scripture (100 points) One page, single-spaced, concise statement ofwhat you believe the Bible teaches about Scripture - i. e., articulate the basics ofa biblically-based doctrine of Scripture (the doctrine ofRevelation). Note carefully: This is not to be a summary of your beliefs about doctrines other than the doctrine of Scripture. Nor is it to express a personal creed or belief statement about all of life (e.g., “I believe in God . . .”). The sole focus of this creed or belief statement is the doctrine of Scripture (unit III of this course). If you’re wondering what the doctrine of Scripture or revelation involves, consult Grudem, chapters 2-8 (required reading for the class). The topics you’ll want to address are exactly those topics discussed by Grudem and in class lectures. For example: the nature and meaning of “revelation” (the doctrine of revelation, not the Book of Revelation - the last book in the New Testament!); what the “word of God” means and refers to; the authority, inerrancy, clarity, sufficiency of Scripture, etc. You will be writing similar personal creeds or belief statements about other Christian doctrines (Christology, Eschatology, etc.) in other theology courses at Biola. Here are afew more thoughtsfrom “Guidelinesfor Reading Grudem, ”found on page 131 of your coursepack: The kinds of questions you need to answer, based upon Scripture (cite key passages - list, but don’t quote), in your Personal Creed include: Your understanding of what it means that God has revealed himself to us, and why he has done so. Your understanding of general and special revelation and how they relate. The authority of Scripture - what it means, how far it extends, what its implications are for us, how God ’s words relate to human words in the Bible. What constitutes the canon of Scripture and why? What you understand and hold concerning the inerrancy, clarity, necessity, and sufficiency of Scripture. You must be very brief, so you’ll need to distill and make every shot count. (This is not just a paraphrase of Grudem or me, or what you think you “should” write - the point is to get you to dig into Scripture and theology for yourself, in order to figure out what you believe and why). From Dr. Thoennes’ description of a personal creed: A good creed is well written and must include: 1) The creed must represent your beliefs, not merely a paraphrase ofGrudem or what you think you should write. Your grade will not be affected by your personal beliefs. You may use Grudem and the course notes to point you to the key issues and biblicalpassages relevant to them. However, you should then write yg‘ beliefs, in your words. This assignment is a great opportunity to work through your beliefs on central issues ofthe Christian faith and clearly articulate them. 2) A good creed addresses the important issuesfor each doctrine. Because it is your creed does not mean you may write about whatever you want. These are your beliefs, but relative to a Christian perspective. Therefore showing an understanding ofthe central issuesfor each doctrine in light ofthe biblical, historic Christianfaith is essential. While your grade will not be affected by your personal beliefs regarding these central issues, it will be affected ifthe key doctrinal issues are not addressed. 3) A good creed gives sufficient biblical basisfor statements made. You should actually read the passages cited and decidefor yourself if they support the doctrine being discussed. To cite a passage without knowing itfrom memory or reading itfirst is considered plagiarism. It is also considered plagiarism you use a creed or grade checklist from a creed written by someone who has had this class before to write your own. I do encourage you to work on your creeds with those in your cohort group. You will be given a model personal creed (“Assignment Descriptions” folder) on Christology (the doctrine of the person, nature, and work of Jesus). Note carefully: the model is simply meant to show you how to write a personal creed, what a personal creed or belief statement looks like. The creed you are to write in this course is not about Christology; it is about Scripture. So your creed should look similar in form to the supplied creed on Christology: assertions that summarize what you think the Bible teaches on specific subjects that are relevant to Scripture, God speaking, general and special revelation, etc. Like the model, these statements should list (in parentheses) the biblical references they are summarizing. Roughly, each paragraph should cover one general aspect of the doctrine (e.g., the idea of revelation: how does Scripture indicate that God speaks, and where does the Bible fit in to that?). The sentences in that paragraph should all relate to and unpack more specific aspects of that idea (e.g., general revelation, special revelation). Do not plagiarize. In addition to being careful to avoid other plagiarism-related activities (e.g., copying from websites), note this very specific instruction here: Do not ask another student, either in your class or another section (this semester or a previous semester) to send you an electronic copy of their paper - for any reason, even if you do not plan to plagiarize from it. Likewise, do not send your paper to any other student, for any reason. It is fine for you to advise and help each other in personal discussion, but you may not send each other copies of papers. If you plagiarize from another student’s paper, the SafeAssign software will catch it, and you will face the harsh penalties outlined in your syllabus and on Blackboard. Some students in the past have actually-mistal<enly-submitted the paper someone else had loaned them. Note carefully that if you do this, or if in any other way I discover that you have borrowed someone else’s creed or loaned yours to someone else, even you or they did not in fact copy it, I will consider you to have plagiarized the assignment and you will face the same penalties.