Articles of Faith

Articles of faith are formal creeds, or lists of beliefs, sometimes numbered, and often beginning with "We believe...", which attempt to more or less define the fundamental theology of a given religion and/or church. Articles of faith are common in both Christianity and Islam.

Catholicism and Anglicanism

The Nicene Creed and the shorter Apostles' Creed are articles, or professions of Faith said by members of the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. The Nicene is predominantly recited during the mass while the Apostles' is typically used for other occasions.

Protestantism

Protestants, so named because they protested against the authority of the pope during the Reformation, believe in general that:

# The Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God and contains all that is necessary for salvation.
# There is one God manifest in three persons, Jesus, the second person of the Trinity received a corporeal body, was born of a virgin (Mary didn't remain a virgin, she was married and had other children), he lived a sinless life, performed miracles, was crucified (prompted by his own people because of religious differences, performed by the Roman rulers, but died of his own accord giving up life as opposed to being killed per se), was ceremoniously wrapped, laid in a tomb, the tomb was sealed, a Roman Guard, or "watch" was stationed in front of that tomb, the tomb was sealed by the Romans, on the third day (buried late on day 1, that is before sunset of the Sabbath before Passover), rose early morning on day three (likely in the grave for about 30 hours), he was resurrected from the dead. He was seen by many over the next month, then ascended into heaven.
# The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity (of course the Father is the first member), an indwells a person who, of his/her own free will accepts the freely offered gift of salvation, that is, payment for their sin (Jesus death satisfies the requirement of a righteous God for a perfect blood sacrifice for sins committed).
# The resurrection of Jesus prefigures the resurrection of the believer after Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead.

From here there are thousands of variants on particulars.

Calvinism and Arminianism disagree on when God knew everything else that was going to happen, Openness theology disagrees with both and disagree that God’s prescience (foreknowledge) extends to what free will beings will choose in the future, rather believe that God learns as man acts, and God, through prophesy, informs man of what he will do when the time comes, not predicts the future per se.Pentecostals believe God gives certain gifts such as speaking in tongues, miraculous healings, etc.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (and related churches), the "Articles of Faith" are a list composed by Joseph Smith, Jr. as part of an 1842 letter sent to "Long" John Wentworth, editor of the "Chicago Democrat". It is a concise listing of thirteen fundamental doctrines of Latter Day Saint theology. Church Apostle, James E. Talmage compiled a series of lectures based on these points, titled "The Articles of Faith", which have been published in a single volume. [Citation
last=Talmage
first=James E.
title=The Articles of Faith: A Series of Lectures on the Principal Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Written by Appointment, and Published by the Church
year=1899
place=Salt Lake City
publisher=Deseret News
url=http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC02850277&id=JecQAAAAIAAJ ]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints views the articles as an authoritative statement of basic theology. It is canonized as part of the "Pearl of Great Price".

# We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
# We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.
# We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
# We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
# We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
# We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
# We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.
# We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
# We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
# We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
# We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
# We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
# We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul--We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Islam

Traditionally, six articles of faith among Muslims:
# One God
# Angels
# Prophets
# Scriptures
# The Day of Judgment and the Akhirah or afterlife
# Predestination

In Sahih Al-Muslim and Al-Bukhari, Muhammad explains, "It (Al-Iman/faith) is to affirm your faith in God, His angels, His Books His Messengers and the Last Day, and to believe in the Divine Destiny whether it be good or bad."

Prophets in here refer to previous prohets such as Adam, Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jacob, David, Solomon and so on all the way until Jesus and Muhammed.

The word "scriptures" refers to the original scriptures that were given to certain prophets. Moses received the Torah (Tawrat), David received the Psalms (Zabur), Jesus inspired the Gospels (Injil), and Muhammed received the Qur'an.

Notes