Ceder Mills Bible Church - Statement of Faith

One thing I enjoy doing when I go to other churches is looking at the statements of faith. Yesterday I was at Ceder Mill Bible Church. So I picked up their statement of faith, read through it... thought this is pretty Good. I will give two example directly from the Statement of Faith, one good and one questionable.

We Believe in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as inspired of God and inerrant in the original writing, and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life. (II Timothy 3:15-17; II Peter 1:21)

This is a Good example of a clear statement. It gets the the point, it is supported by Scripture and it oozes confidence. Well done.

This next example is from the same Church.

We Believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also spiritual death which is separation from God; and that all human beings are born with sinful natures, and in the case of those who reach moral responsibility, become sinners in thought, word and deed. (Genesis 1:26,27; Psalms 14:1-3; Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:10-19; Ephesians 2:1-3; 1 John 3:8)

There is a lot to unpack here. I would put into the 5 statements I see.

1. We are made in the image of God
2. Adam sinned and Earned Physical and Spiritual Death
3. Spiritual Death is separation from God.
4. All men are Born with a sin nature.
5. We only become sinners once we reach 'moral responsibility.'

First, I want to say that the wording of this is somewhat unclear. It isn't simple, like there other statements. It lacks the clarity of the previous statement. In fact, when showing this statement to two pastors they both said they were unclear on the exact meaning, and timing of said moral responsibility.
Second, this is my major point of contention. I believe that they have failed to provide any clear reference from scripture to support statement 5. Not that I think it is wrong, per se, but I think it is unsupported. Perhaps the addition of a scripture like James 4:17 and 1 John 3:4 could clear up what sin is and when it is committed. I see No biblical warrant for statement 5. Sin is Breaking the Law of God at any age.


I think that if they support there statement that this could be a very good statement of faith.