"The Bible"
I believe the Bible was written by men, inspired by God and that it is the "instruction" God has given us in order for us to live our lives according to His will.  I believe that through the Bible God reveals to us what  He wants us to know, when  He wants us to know it.  And although it was written thousands of years ago, I believe that it is relevant to how we should live our lives today.

I refuse to believe one part of the Bible and not another.  I believe the entire thing.  It drives me crazy when people say they believe in the Bible and then they read something in black and white that is clearly spelled out for them and they say, "oh but I don't believe that  part".

HOWEVER, that doesn't mean I pretend to understand everything, or even half of what is written there.  I don't study it enough to understand it all.  That is something I need to work on.  (Note to myself:  Bethany, read the Bible and then you'll know what you're talking about.)

"God"
What can I say about God?  He is more than I could ever explain.  I believe there are three parts of God.  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  This is called the Trinity.  This is one of the hardest things to comprehend about God.  This is the way I've heard it explained...

There are three parts of an apple; the apple core, the apple flesh, and the apple skin.  They are three separate parts but together form an apple.  So imagine that God the Father is the apple core, God the Son is the apple flesh (since Jesus was born as God in the flesh), and God the Spirit is the apple skin.

"Jesus"
I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He was born, lived a sinless, perfect life, and was hung on a cross to die for us.  I believe that three days later he came back to life and proved to many people that even death could not defeat God.  I believe He died for us, for our sins.

Before Jesus came, when people sinned they had to sacrifice an animal because in order for our sins to be forgiven there had to be blood shed.  I don't know why exactly.  But anyways, Jesus dying on the cross symbolized the sacrifice for all men, for all sin.  He sacrificed His life, He endured alot of pain and at any point He could have said, "What in the world am I doing?  I'm outta here!" and could have gotten Himself off the cross.  He could have done anything, He was the Son of God.  But He didn't, because He loved us and wanted to obey God.

Then He ascended to Heaven to be with God which is where He is now.  I believe He will come back and those of us who are dead and those of us who are still alive who believe in Jesus and have accepted Him in their heart will live eternally with God in Heaven.

That whole process is alot more complicated than what I have explained but my mind can only comprehend so much.  All that matters to me is that after I die I will live with God in Heaven and from what I read in the Bible, Heaven will be pretty COOL!

"The Holy Spirit"
So after Jesus ascended to Heaven to be with God, the Holy Spirit descended to Earth to be with us.  God sent the Holy Spirit to guide us because we no longer had Jesus with us.  This is the part of God that dwells within us and is another aspect that is hard to explain.  I think the Holy Spirit reveals Himself to us through our thoughts, emotions, and consciences; the tiny voice we hear in the back of our minds that is constantly reminding us what is right and wrong.  However it's very important not to confuse this with our OWN thoughts, emotions, and natural, human tendencies to sin.

So far I've shared some of the foundation of my faith, in bits and pieces.  I'll share more of my beliefs throughout my entire web site and will add little by little to this particular page.

These are some of the other things I believe strongly about...

"Abortion"
This is an issue that I feel the strongest about.  I believe that abortion under any circumstance is wrong.  However I would never judge or condemn any woman who chose or is choosing to have an abortion.  I have no right to judge anyone; that is God's job and He does it much better than I!

I reserve the right to state my opinion on this matter.  However I would never stand outside an abortion clinic to protest, even quietly.  Any woman who is making that choice needs to be prayed for and loved no matter what she has decided to do.

But it breaks my heart to see so many women throwing away precious lives.  I may be biased on this subject because I have not been able to get pregnant yet and it's hard for me to understand why so many babies are destroyed when I can't even have one.  The whole thing bothers me.

I believe life begins at conception.  This is why:

Psalm 139: 13-16
"For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be."

From the moment of conception I had everything I needed to become who I am today.  All I needed was time.  Time for my body to form, time for me to grow, time for me to be born.  My mom gave me time and I'm so thankful.  I'm happy to be alive.  And alot of other people are happy that I'm alive too.  =o)