What is Biblical Christianity?

[Clete]

I've been interacting with Chat GPT to try and formulate a list of doctrines that would comprise what I've been calling "Biblical Christianity". When I use that phrase, the idea in my mind is that version of Christianity that is formulated entirely through the application of the plain/contextual reading of Scripture, the observed nature of God’s created order, the rational implications of those two sources and NOTHING ELSE (e.g. no reliance on tradition for its own sake, church councils or creeds, inherited dogma, or pagan philosophy including Hellenistic metaphysics like immutability, timelessness, exhaustive foreknowledge, etc).

Chat GPT does a pretty good job on this sort of thing but I can't say that it great. I want great! To that end, I submit it here for your consideration, comment and critique. What's right, wrong, miss-worded, redundant, missing completely, etc?


Doctrines That Comprise Biblical Christianity

I. The Nature of God
• God is personal, relational, and morally perfect—He loves, communicates, and acts in righteousness and justice.
• God is the source of all reason; logic and truth flow from His very nature.
• His sovereignty means He holds the highest authority, not that He micromanages creation.
• God knows all He chooses to know and can discover anything knowable that He does not already know.

II. The Nature of Humanity
• Humans are made in the image of God, possessing reason, conscience, will, and the capacity for relationship.
• Because of Christ’s atonement, all are born spiritually alive—there is no inherited guilt from Adam.
• Spiritual death results from personal, volitional sin, not from being born human.
• Mankind has genuine free will and is capable of moral decision-making, for better or worse.

III. Sin and Salvation
• Sin brings physical, spiritual, and ultimately eternal consequences unless remedied.
• The atonement of Christ universally removed the inherited guilt of Adam, resolving the issue of “original sin.”
• Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ—not by works, rituals, or law.
• To be saved is to be united with Christ—sharing in His life, His righteousness, and His destiny.
• The Holy Spirit indwells believers, empowering a life of transformation, discernment, and sanctification.

IV. The Person and Work of Christ
• Jesus is fully God and fully man—born of a virgin, lived sinlessly, and revealed the Father perfectly.
• He died voluntarily to atone for the sins of mankind, making reconciliation possible.
• He rose physically from the dead, securing victory over death and confirming His identity.
• He will return bodily to judge the world, reign in righteousness, and restore all things.

V. Scripture and Truth
• The Bible is the inspired, trustworthy, and authoritative Word of God.
• Scripture must be interpreted with reason, in context, and with careful exegesis.
• Truth is objective and discoverable because God is a rational and moral Being.

VI. The Church and Christian Life
• The Church is the body of Christ—believers spiritually united across time and geography.
• Christians are ambassadors of reconciliation, entrusted with the message of God’s peace through Christ.
• Discipleship involves growing in knowledge, character, and faithful living.

VII. Final Things
• Death is not the end—resurrection awaits both the just and the unjust.
• The Day of the Lord will include the outpouring of divine wrath following the rapture.
• Heaven and hell are real and eternal; eternal life belongs to those united with Christ, and eternal separation awaits those who reject Him.

 

[Derf]

I've been interacting with Chat GPT to try and formulate a list of doctrines that would comprise what I've been calling "Biblical Christianity". When I use that phrase, the idea in my mind is that version of Christianity that is formulated entirely through the application of the plain/contextual reading of Scripture, the observed nature of God’s created order, the rational implications of those two sources and NOTHING ELSE (e.g. no reliance on tradition for its own sake, church councils or creeds, inherited dogma, or pagan philosophy including Hellenistic metaphysics like immutability, timelessness, exhaustive foreknowledge, etc).

Chat GPT does a pretty good job on this sort of thing but I can't say that it great. I want great! To that end, I submit it here for your consideration, comment and critique. What's right, wrong, miss-worded, redundant, missing completely, etc?


Doctrines That Comprise Biblical Christianity

I. The Nature of God
• God is personal, relational, and morally perfect—He loves, communicates, and acts in righteousness and justice.
• God is the source of all reason; logic and truth flow from His very nature.
• His sovereignty means He holds the highest authority, not that He micromanages creation.
• God knows all He chooses to know and can discover anything knowable that He does not already know.

II. The Nature of Humanity
• Humans are made in the image of God, possessing reason, conscience, will, and the capacity for relationship.
• Because of Christ’s atonement, all are born spiritually alive—there is no inherited guilt from Adam.
• Spiritual death results from personal, volitional sin, not from being born human.
• Mankind has genuine free will and is capable of moral decision-making, for better or worse.

III. Sin and Salvation
• Sin brings physical, spiritual, and ultimately eternal consequences unless remedied.
• The atonement of Christ universally removed the inherited guilt of Adam, resolving the issue of “original sin.”
• Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ—not by works, rituals, or law.
• To be saved is to be united with Christ—sharing in His life, His righteousness, and His destiny.
• The Holy Spirit indwells believers, empowering a life of transformation, discernment, and sanctification.

IV. The Person and Work of Christ
• Jesus is fully God and fully man—born of a virgin, lived sinlessly, and revealed the Father perfectly.
• He died voluntarily to atone for the sins of mankind, making reconciliation possible.
• He rose physically from the dead, securing victory over death and confirming His identity.
• He will return bodily to judge the world, reign in righteousness, and restore all things.

V. Scripture and Truth
• The Bible is the inspired, trustworthy, and authoritative Word of God.
• Scripture must be interpreted with reason, in context, and with careful exegesis.
• Truth is objective and discoverable because God is a rational and moral Being.

VI. The Church and Christian Life
• The Church is the body of Christ—believers spiritually united across time and geography.
• Christians are ambassadors of reconciliation, entrusted with the message of God’s peace through Christ.
• Discipleship involves growing in knowledge, character, and faithful living.

VII. Final Things
• Death is not the end—resurrection awaits both the just and the unjust.
• The Day of the Lord will include the outpouring of divine wrath following the rapture.
• Heaven and hell are real and eternal; eternal life belongs to those united with Christ, and eternal separation awaits those who reject Him.

Just beware, Clete:

People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies

Marriages and families are falling apart as people are sucked into fantasy worlds of spiritual prophecy by AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT

www.rollingstone.com

 

[Clete]

Just beware, Clete:

People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies

Marriages and families are falling apart as people are sucked into fantasy worlds of spiritual prophecy by AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT

www.rollingstone.com

I noticed a long time ago that Chat GPT definitely tries to tell you what it thinks you want to hear. It constantly compliments your reasoning, even when it's intentional stupidity (I've tested it).

It is good at being thorough though. It would have taken me hours - maybe forever - to think of all seven of those categories and even as it is, the list as presented is the 5th or 6th iteration of it. The current list is what remains after I corrected several points and even deleted one altogether. And it may yet happen that I go for a total reboot and start it all over almost from scratch. The current list feels a little bare bones to me right now so I might have it go through and write in a different format or have it write it as if it were C. S. Lewis or Abraham Lincoln and then use that version as the starting point for yet another rework of the whole list. It can be rather time consuming but if you use it as a tool instead of a surrogate brain, it can really help you create something worthwhile.

Also, I've been using it to train myself to be more eloquent - for want of a better word (sounds pretentious). I'll write something in a couple of different ways and ask it to tell me which it thinks is better. It will pick one and then offer suggestions to make it "tighter" (that's the adjective it likes to use) and then what I use is usually a mix of all three or four versions. At first, it would almost completely rewrite my comments but lately it's been more like just slight tweaks, most of which aren't any better than what I've already written and so I don't even bother using them. It's been a pretty cool learning curve.