We believe that the holy scriptures found in the 66 books of the Bible are the written word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error in the original autographs. The scriptures are God’s truth and are infallible, authoritative, and practical in all matters of faith and daily living, and all true revelation from God will be consistent with and is to be tested by the scriptures (1 John 4:1). The scriptures are spiritual (Rom. 7:14). Therefore, the carnal or natural mind of man is incapable of understanding the scriptures, for the truth contained in the scriptures must be revealed by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:7, 1 Cor. 2:13-14). We believe that although knowledge of the scriptures is essential, it is no end in itself, but the scriptures are the "letter that kills" for those who do not know God and are not known of God (2 Cor. 3:6, John 5:39, 40). However, the words that Jesus spoke, as well as all scriptures, are Spirit and life for those who have a living relationship with Him who is the Word of life and the Life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45, 1 John 1:1, Rev. 19:13), and to keep from erring, one must know the scriptures as well as the power of God (Mat. 22:29, 1 Cor. 2:4-5). We have found that as our love for Jesus has grown and deepened, so too has our love for the scriptures (John 14:21, 23).