(27 Dec 2009)
By registering you agree to accept these rules and to become a part of this community. As a member of this community you agree to possibly recieve the periodic E-mail announcements of this board as sent out by the administrators of this site and to accept the notifications of Private Messages to your account. E-mail announcements are for informational and site-support issues only, not for commercial purposes. You will never recieve more than three (3) email announcements in one week except in cases of emergencies, such as hacker attempts that bring the site down. As a member of this community you have the right to participate in discussions and forums. Also, you agree to allow us to contact you should the administrators deem it necessary and to make yourself available within reason. If you have no desire to participate nor contribute to this online Christian community, and your desire is only to browse our discussions, you are more than welcome to do so as a visitor/guest instead of as a member.

Rules of Conduct

Disrespect or belligerence towards any Administrator, Moderator or Member is strictly not allowed. Rules and Statements are subject to change without prior notification and full compliance is necessary.

1) Close-mindedness, stubborn attitudes and willful rebellion MUST be left at the door.

2) The purpose of this site is to practice arguments against worldviews and share points of faith.

3) Respect must be given to the other members, especially the administrators and moderators of this site. This includes word choice and intonation.

4) No preaching at or to other members, directly or indirectly. Only sharing is allowed.

5) Arguments are to be made against arguments, not people, they should be either impersonal or hypothetical.

6) No cursing, foul language or profanity. No derogatory language, hate speech or language for which the purpose is to insult or to purposely agravite other members.

7) Verses posted must be posted including the surrounding context of verses. A minimum of one verse before and after, or more where necessary. An explanation for the use or intent of the verse(s) are required.

8 ) All topics, posts, articles or other forms of writing or part thereof are copyright and remain the property of The Christian Defense unless we release such work. It is illegal to copy and reuse the topics, posts, articles or other forms of writing without the written consent of The Christian Defense. All works such as topics, posts, articles or other forms of writing which are submitted to the site and are already copyrighted remain the property of the original author and we, The Christian Defense, are not liable for the posting and submitting of works belonging to other person..

9) Upon the banning, deletion or removal of an account it is up to the member to remove any or all posts which they desire to be removed from The Christian Defense prior to their accounts banning, removal and deletion. The Christian Defense, nor its moderators, staff, board of directors or any other persons related to The Christian Defense are responsible for removing posts or posted material of and for members whose account has been banned, removed or deleted. Any requests by members whose accounts have been banned, removed or deleted to remove or delete any posted works or material, copyrighted or otherwise, by themselves or any other party will be taken under consideration. The Christian Defense and or any persons related to The Christian Defense are under no obligation to act on behalf of any such accounts that have been banned, removed or deleted. In other words, if you want it removed or deleted, do it yourself before you request that your account be deleted or removed, it's not anyone elses responsibility but yours.

10) Problems with other members or posts will be brought to the direct attention of a moderator or administrator. Posting rebukes or personal rebuttals is not allowed. Any replies, posts or threads related to such will be immediately removed by the staff and you will be notified by PM. Do not take this personally, we do it in love of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Three chances only, are given. After three violations the member will have the choice of being put on probation or leaving. Racial comments or language will be given one warning, banishment will follow immediately after a second infraction. After probation if the appropriate change in behavior has been made you will be restored to full status. The administrators of this site reserves the right to ban, revoke or restrict any users memberships or rights for any reason they see fit.

Probation includes censoring all of your new posts and replies in all forums. We do not enjoy doing this and find it laborious, however, if that is what is required it is what we will do, with diligence.

The TCD staff is not here to "police" the site and are far from being experts on every bibical subject. While we are Administrators and Moderators our goal is to ensure everyone has a pleasurable time during their visit. We do reserve the right to delete any thread or post if we feel is harmful or may cause or encourage substantial harm or to the reputation of The Christian Defense or its readers and members.

The above rules apply to your content anywhere on the website, including usernames, blogs, article comments, and any other community pages that you have the ability to post content to or edit. We will not censor members for expressing an opinion on issues raised on the site, within the limits of these Rules of Conduct. Yet to maintain a welcoming and entertaining environment, and to ensure that everyone feels free to participate, we cannot permit comments that insult or attack individuals or groups of people. (Express your opinion about an idea or expression, not about the person who wrote it.) Please refrain from writing negative personal remarks about a person's age, gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or any other personal characteristic. The Christian Defense reserves the right, though not the obligation, to delete, edit or move any member-generated content for any reason, without notice.

[b]Statement of Faith

This is the statement of faith for The Christian Defense. As you read this keep in mind that we do not require you to change your beliefs or to submit to these if you are in disagreement. What we do require is that you respect these beliefs, respect the members of this Forum that hold them to be true and presuppose these statements as true as the basis of argumentation, discussion and all posts. You may of course differ, and even voice your difference in opinion so long as it does not violate the Rules of Conduct or Statement of Faith with the exception that by special permission of an administrator or moderator a "Devils Advocate" status is granted on topic by topic or post by post basis as seen fit by the administrator or moderator.

1) We believe in one God. We believe that there was no God before Him, nor shall there be any other God after Him. We believe He has eternally existed in three persons: The Father, The Son/Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. All three are co-equal, co-eternal, and fully God.

2) We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the inerrant, inspired, infallible Word of God. We believe that the Scriptures hold supreme and final authority in all matters pertaining to not only faith and salvation, but also upon other areas as may the Scriptures touch upon.

3) We believe that our Triune God made all things ex nihilo, or "out of nothing". We believe that God did not use evolutionary processes, but that He made all things as outlined in Genesis 1 and 2.

4) We believe that all human beings are created in the image of God, but that with the entrance of sin into the world, we are born, and even conceived as sinners. We are totally depraved. We believe that God made a man and a woman to be joined as one flesh, thus instituting marriage, and only a man and a woman. We believe that no one has ever lived, except for the Lord Jesus, who has been sinless [Romans 3:23]. We believe that anyone who claims to be without sin at any point in life is deceiving him/herself [I John 1:8]

5) We believe that Jesus Christ is coming back again in the same manner that he left and that every eye will see Him, and no one will have to be told that He has returned.[Matthew 24:26]

6) We believe that Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the Messiah. We believe that He died on the cross at Calvary to take the punishment from God the Father as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. We believe that He died, was buried, and rose on the third day. We believe that Jesus Christ is 100% man and 100% God. He was born to the virgin Mary and after he died, He was resurrected in a bodily state, albeit a glorified body. He now sits at the right hand of God the Father interceding on behalf of the saints.

7) We believe that there is one and only one mediator between God and man. That mediator is Jesus. Other than the Holy Spirit, no one else intercedes for us. We do not believe that it is proper for a Christian to pray to anyone but God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Neither spirits of any form, mediums, psychics or the like there of, nor departed humans mediate for us.

8 ) We believe that those who are not born-again and become a child of God through faith in Christ Jesus have a grim future that is beyond description. We believe that these persons will experience an eternity of conscious punishment in hell without end. We do not believe that God will annihilate anyone, nor will the punishment be upon those in an unconscious state. We also do not believe in "soul sleep". We believe that at the moment of death, our soul enters either eternal bliss, or eternal punishment dependent upon one thing: Did we truly believe in Jesus and receive His Spirit? We do not believe in purgatory.

9) We believe that it is essential unto salvation for a person to be born again. Without this, there is no hope for him/her. To be born again means that we have received the Spirit of God because of our conscious declaration of faith in Christ Jesus. This rebirth does not happen to someone apart from their knowledge. [I Peter 3:21] We believe that the born-again believer should enter the fellowship of a Bible-believing church and be baptized. (changed order)

10) We believe that salvation is found in Jesus Christ only [Acts 4:12]. Salvation is by faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, apart from our works. We believe that our "good works" merit us nothing in terms of salvation. We believe that it is impossible to enter heaven unless you have trusted in Jesus Christ alone.

11) We believe that the Holy Spirit has certainly given miraculous, supernatural gifts in times of old, as is outlined in the Holy Bible. We also recognize that true born-again Christians can disagree about the current state of the Holy Spirit's outpouring of these gifts. We do NOT believe that any or all of these special gifts must be exercised to demonstrate salvation [i.e. speaking in tongues, handling snakes, healing, etc].

12) We believe that God has called His people to unity in the midst of diversity. We believe that there are certain essentials of the faith that one must believe to be saved. We also believe that there are other issues which are considered to be peripheral, rather than central, to faith in Jesus. In these matters, we shall not pass judgment on one another [Romans 14:13], and we will strive also to not unduly offend our brother or sister [Romans 14:15]. These peripheral matters include, but are not limited to: Music styles, clothing, hair styles, games, entertainment, food, wine and other alcoholic beverages, end-times prophecy beliefs, Calvinism and Non-Calvinism doctrines, money, debt, and Bible translation preferences.

---

By checking this box, you declare having taken knowledge of the terms, and agree with them
 *