The Bible teaches there is only one God. God is Holy, all-powerful, and all-knowing. He made everyone and everything that exists. When He made the world and people, everything was good. People sinned and broke that good relationship with God. The relationship is broken because a holy God cannot tolerate sin. However, He loves His human creation so much that He made a way to remove our sins from us, something we couldn't do by ourselves. God sent His Son, Jesus, to become a man and live a mortal but perfect life. Since Jesus is both God and Man, He can be perfect and sinless (living a holy life), but He could also take mankind's punishment onto Himself. He died even though He didn't deserve to in order to give us a chance to live when we don't deserve to. The best part is Jesus came back to life, showed himself to his followers, and promised to return for us who believe in Him and to take us back to Heaven with Him.

Anyone who believes that Jesus died and returned to life and turns away from their sins (repents), anyone who trusts in Him for eternal life, anyone who publically confesses Jesus as their Lord (in other words, Master), and who follows Him to the best of their ability, is considered a disciple of Christ (a Christian). They will live forever with God in Heaven after their worldly body dies. Anyone who doesn't repent and follow Jesus will live forever in Hell's torments. We at Riverside see it as our duty, goal, and joy to tell others the Good News (Gospel) that God loved them enough to make a way for anyone to be with Him in Heaven.

 

Our full doctrinal statement is the Baptist Faith and Message from 2000 and can be read External link opens in new tab or windowhere.