What is a Baptist????

I think those are great points to define a Baptist, despite our differences. I am very thankful for the Baptist faith, and consider it an honor to serve the Lord through a local Baptist church.

 

My personal observations: #1- Baptists do not like anyone else to tell them what to believe. (Soul Competency)

#2-I can believe VERY differently than other baptists, but still fellowship with folks that believe totally opposite what I believe about the "small things".

#3- Baptist's like a good fight.....we will serve in the Armed Forces. Unlike our Mennonite and Amish brethren.

#4- Baptists, by and large , are faithful to whatever the Holy Spirit lays on their heart.

#5-Baptists love Jesus....more than the Bible. Although the good book runs a close second.

 

Baptist distinctives are led by our views about Baptism.
--
We believe in the proper subject for baptism--a regenerated believer.
We believe in the proper mode--immersion
We believe in the proper purpose--to give pubiic testimony of one's conversion, to identify with the Christ, and to portray the gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of jesus.

We believe in the proper administrator (or at least some of us do)--a local church of like faith and order.

Taken together, these four things will identify a Baptist. We may also add the ones listed by Dr.Bob, including Security of the Believer, the authority and reliability of Scripture alone, Priesthood of Believers and soul competency.

We believe what Baptists believe today is the same as that held by New Testament believers.

My own view is that those religious groups which do not hold to the basics regarding baptism are not true NT churches. They believe and teach error and are thus disqualified. This, notwithstanding that many of these denominations have dedicated Christians as members.

 

A Baptist is:

1. Someone who doesn't mind being baptized in a creek.

2. Someone who isn't embarrassed to yell "AMEN" "PREACH IT BROTHER" during the sermon.

3. Someone who always takes their bible to church (the bigger the better)

4. Someone who LOVES fried chicken and covered dish dinners.



I love being a Baptist!

I also love laughing at myself! :laugh:

 

"We Baptist are those people who will not drink with our friends." [Carlyle Marney]

Oh, and I do agree with the list in the OP.

 

I think one of the most cherished distinctives that is overlooked is local church autonomy. Each church, lead by the Lord, can set its own policies, manage its finances, call its pastors, and elect its officers. I would not want the SBC, a presbytery, bishop, cardinal, or any other higher level of authority other than the Lord dictating anything about a local church. Those higher level officials are no wiser or smarter than the pastors local congregations call or the deacons (or elders) they elect. Higher level authority has no business in the affairs of a local church whether it be how to handle finances or ownership of the church building.

Dr. Bob is exactly right, and quite frankly, I am surprised at how many times I have heard pastors and others refer to Baptists as a denomination. We are absolutely not a denomination. A denomination implies a hierarchy. We are bound together by Scripture, and have the freedom within that to disagree. Any connection we have to another local church or group of churches of like faith and order is an association, and can be severed with one vote of the congregation.

A check and balance of the congregation on pastors and other officers is a very good system. Growing up in a Presbyterian Church, it seems those in the presbytery positions of authority sometimes use the title or position for bringing attention to themselves or enhancing their social status. Even within local congregations, I have seen elder rule become elder worship. It is my opinion that each local church has the right to decide between elder rule and congregational rule, but we have to be very careful about who we elect.

 

Congregational autonomy is one of the linchpins of Baptist polity. Congregations voluntarily agree to cooperate with each other and pool resources to carry out the Great Commission. That's why we have associations, state conventions and the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC is made up of cooperating churches, not cooperating state conventions or associations.

I wish I could remember who said many years ago that Baptists are held together by a rope of sand.

Baptist churches, then have a number of criteria on which they base fellowship and cooperation with each other. When those criteria are ignored or breached, each church must decide if the basis for fellowship and cooperation has been damaged or destroyed.

That's why independent, autonomous Baptist churches may act as they wish and believe as they wish--but not without consequences. Those consequences usually involve exclusion from the cooperating body. Those churches are free to continue in their aberrations, but may not insist that other churches approve in the name of autonomy.

 

Dr. Bob, you're probably right about IFB churches but if you took an alien from Mars and showed him the Southern Baptist Convention, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Disciples of Christ and the Episcopal Church, he wouldn't be able to spot the SBC as not being a denomination.

 

A church which holds to the Baptists distinctives and claims "Baptist" in their monicker.

In addition, I do not call myself a Protestant because doing so would be giving my personal credence to the Church of Rome, that they are an authoritative NT Church against whom I am protesting.

Having been a member of the RCC, I have separated myself from them.

If one has never been a member of a romish church then you are (IMO) neither a Protestant or Separatist but a biblical Christian.

That does not mean that there are not true children of God in other "non-baptistic" churches, just true children of God who are mistaken

That does not mean that every member of NT church is a true child of God.

Yes, the children of God can be found even in the Church of Rome (of which I belonged for 2 years after my salvation).

However, I left due to a self-study education (guided by the Spirit) of the Bible.

Two years later my wife (a former Mormon) and I were baptised together at a Baptist Church in Boston.


HankD

 

James Sullivan, long time president of the Sunday School Board (now Lifeway).

And that, Tom, is why we Southern Baptists are a denomination. We're not totally top down in our governance, but neither are most of the others. However, we're a lot more top down than we were 30 years ago. If we truly believed in the total independence of local churches, there would never be a reason to exclude any of them. This is a belief held by some of our more liberal bretheren, most of whom inhabit the CBF, but not much in the SBC.