What is a General Baptist?

I like the two terms as good ways to separate those of calvinistic doctrine to those of free will doctrine.
I found in the thread I started that it was a very broad category that most people could adhere to on both sides without getting offended about the details.

 

Bill, care to shed light on the name of your church? I see you use the term "United". Is this from two churches joining together?

David

P.S. - Thanks for the reminder of the .com website, I knew the .org showed church pics and that's why I went with it.

 

I thought of another question to ask Bill:

Do all General Baptist churches line up with the General Association or are there independents?

David

 

You really can't be part of both and be consistent.
Either God is sovereign in salvation or man is.
You might differ on some details.
BUt you will fall on one side or the other of the imaginary line in the sand.

 

Unless it has a different meaning in the States, "General Baptist" is the opposite of "Particular Baptist". General Baptists are Baptists who belive that Jesus died to make salvation possible for everyone, generally. Particularly Baptists are those who believe that He died to save His people.

 

Bro. David, If by "line up" you mean agree with the GAGB Statement of Faith then yes we line up. If you mean are the churches controlled by GAGB, i.e. the Catholic Church, then we are independent.

Actually the churches belong to a local association, for instance my church is a member of the Northern Illinois and Iowa Association of General Baptists, and the local association belongs to the GAGB. The GAGB is run by the council of associations. The GAGB does have officers, i.e. an Executive Director, Director of National Missions, Director of International Missions, etc. who report to the council of associations. A few churches who have broken with their local association do belong directly to the council of associations.

The denomination does have min. educational requirements for Ordination as a Minister, but a local association may have additional requirements. The local association also sets educational requirements for Ordination as a Deacon. To assist with these educational requirements The GAGB uses LAMP (Leaders Advancing in Ministry Program) . Someone who is otherwise qualified to be a Minister but does not have the min. educational requirements can complete the LAMP program to meet these requirements. Any church leader may complete LAMP however the third level is geared toward those who want to pursue a full time Pastoral Ministry. Upon completion of the third level of LAMP you are also granted 12 credits toward a religious studies degree from Oakland City University if you wish to continue your education.

The churches do not receive direct financial support form the GAGB unless they are a missions church. There is a minimal membership dues for the chruch to belong to a local association, and for the local association to belong to the GAGB. The bulk of the GAGB operation funds are voluntary donations given to what is known as Unified Giving. The Unified Giving monies are the funds used to operate the GAGB, there may also be direct donations to the International, National, Women's missions, etc. as well as money directly donated to specific missions works. All of this is left up to the individual churches to decide upon the amounts that they are able to give.

Maybe someone can tell me if this is a similar way or not to how the SBC works.

RUGB was originally First General Baptist Church, over the years there were a series of mergers and splits from the church and upon it's last merger the church was renamed Rockford United. Much of the chruch history is scattered so Hopefully soon I can began putting it together so that the membership will have a greater sense of our beginnings.


Bill

 

I have reckoned God is true and every man a liar. I gave up my struggle because I found it to be fighting against the truth of God. Man in his own nature hates the absolute soveregnty of God. It is the result of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Man wants to be the master of his own destiny. When God tells him he is a worm, less than nothing, and God does according to all His good pleasure, man gets enraged. Man does not like to think of himself as a creation, but as the Creator. When man askes, "Why have you made me thus? " God says, "Who are you O man to reply against God."

It's not what he wants to hear, but it the answer of an Almighty Sovereign God.

 

I am a reformed Southern Baptist, and I recognize that it is a miniority view among most Southern Baptists--for now, at least.

Since General Baptists hold to a general atonement, and so do most SBCers, the only difference I can find between the two is that SBCers tend to hold to enternal security, while Generals do not.

It appears to me that the General Baptists are more consistent in this area than the general atonement SBCers.

Are there other differences between the two beyond what I've observed?

 

1. The first time I read Grace Unknown I hated it with a passion. In fact, I didn't even finished the book the first time.

2. But once I started looking a Scripture with God and His sovereignty at the center of it, I gave in. Since then, I have read Grace Unknown several times.

I'm an RB.

 

While it is true that these are the two perspectives, and you are very much correct that these are what God believes and what man believes but let me ask you this:
Which one is the TRUE perspective?

If you look at snow with rose colored glasses and you say the snow is pink and your friend says that the snow is white because he has no glasses, who do you think is right?

Are you both right?
The snow LOOKS pink to you but it is really white. It is the glasses that are colored.

To man it seems that we have a freewill. BUt to God, it is His hand that moves us to do His will.
Which one is right?

Is God right?
Or is Man right?

 

Dale, this is one of things about Calvinism that I have trouble understanding. When you say "God moves us to do His will", why do we still sin after salvation? We are certainly not doing God's will when we sin unless you believe that God moves us to sin.

 

A small pet peeve here ... the theological position is spelled Arminian, not Armenian. Armenian is a nationality. Arminian, derived from the name Jacob Arminius, is the theological stance.

Now, of course, we do have here in Washington St. Mary's Armenian Orthodox Church. Wonder if their stance is Arminian?!:tongue3:

 

Amy, that is what I have been referring to as the mystery of sanctification, but in the end those whom God justified, these he also glorified (Rom 8:30). It's guaranteed.

 

Amy, we sin on our own. All we would ever do is sin if left to our own wills.
It is when God has His hand in our lives that we are righteous.

In short, God causes us to do right, we cause ourselves to sin.
God at anytime can decide which He will allow us to do.
He will either allow us our will and we sin or He will override our will and we will follow Him.

Even after salvation He let's us stumble. I think that is to humble us.

 

Hi TC, You are of a few Calvinists on the BB that are gentle in your responses, so I feel like I can ask you questions about election.

There are verses that speak of election to be sure, but there are so many more that imply free will.

Here's just one.

Mat 23:37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.

 

Hi Dale,
This kind of relates to something that's been discussed on the BB, a question that I asked a while back, can a Christian commit any sin? 99% of the board said yes, but you seem to be saying that God steps in and overrides our will sometimes, so that we would not be able to commit any sin. (an example would be, can a Christian be a serial killer?) Do you believe that God steps in and stops us from certain sins?

 

I believe that the offer of salvation is genuine but until the bonds of sin are removed, we will continue to be unwilling.

 

Hi Amy, I almost forgot my manners altogether.

Another view on Matt.23:37 is that Jesus was addressing to Pharisees of verse 29ff, so the Pharisees were the ones preventing the "children" from coming to Jesus.