We hold Jesus the Christ as the fixed point by whom every soul may find the way to God. He is the way and the life. He does not move. He does not change with the seasons, the pressures of an age, or the shifting claims of men. What He taught is what He taught. What He was is what He was. He stands as the unchanging North Star above every traveler's path.
Trusting Him is more important than understanding Him. One's relationship with the Divine takes precedence over the accuracy of their doctrine. Correct doctrines and personal knowledge are good, but faith in Him is better. Our hope is that, as we submit to Him, God will make our paths straight.
We also hold that the Spirit of God is given to each honest conscience as a compass within — a witness that responds to divine reality, drawing us toward what is true and warning us away from what would destroy us. But the compass in our own hearts is housed in mortal flesh, and mortal flesh carries its own magnetism — our wounds, our fears, our desires, the pull of those we love and of those we resent. So the compass of the Spirit in us must be calibrated always to the North Star of Christ Himself. When the inward whisper points us away from what Christ taught and what Christ was, we know the compass has been disturbed, and we return our sighting to Him.
We further hold that the scriptures are given as the sure map — the testimony of those who have traveled before us, marking the way and pointing always to the same North Star. They experienced their own wrestles with God, and through them the Spirit spoke truth that still lights the way when the wilderness grows dark. Without the map, the compass alone cannot tell us which pathways we have entered or which perils lie ahead.
Each time we find ourselves lost or uncertain, we have the navigational tools to reorient and find our way again. We hold that the disciple's walk does not require the approval of any person, tradition, or institution beyond the approval of Christ Himself, who is the only righteous and eternal Judge of human souls.
We do not walk by the inward whisper alone. We do not walk by written word alone. We walk by Christ, who is the living reference, and by His Spirit, who leads us toward Him and never away. The Father who knows our hearts will guide every soul who comes to Him in sincerity, and the Son who bids us follow has never led any honest disciple astray.
When you feel spiritually lost, which do you reach for first — scripture, the Spirit's witness, or Christ as the fixed reference? Which do you tend to neglect?
