And I would go even further in your comment about evangelism and missions by saying that keeping the local church in order involves being faithful to fulfill the Great Commission. The two are generally inextricable.

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As far as evangelism and missions, those are important and needful, but we still need to mindful of keeping our own houses in order. I think we are capable of doing both at the same time…if not then the absence of one will cause the other to fail as well.

God Bless!

~Doug

Of course, the answer is to reverse the many denominations and reunify into the one visible Church established by Christ. Of course the sin of pride gets in the way and unity is not achieved. All is not lost. Based on the declining memberships of various denominations, it seems that Christ may be reversing the Great Denomination His way.

God bless… +Timothy

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Are you saying that other denominations do not hold these items exactly the same as baptists in general, and Southern Baptists in particular? If so, do you mean that the differences are merely rhetorical or are they more substantive?

For example, I was baptized in the Church of the Brethren my family attended in my youth. They hold to Believer’s Baptism although they don’t particularly use those same words: a rhetorical difference. They also practice Trine Baptism which would be an odd concept to baptists: a substantive, albeit tangential, difference.

I can think of several other congregational denominations although their method of association between autonomous churches differs.

I spent some years with a Lutheran church and know that they (at least the conservative wing) teach the Priesthood of Believers.

All I was saying is that there is nothing distinctive to baptists that isn’t shared with at least one other denomination. That’s not to say that our particular combination of “distinctives” are identical to that of some other denomination (although I wonder what difference there may be between Southern Baptists and Independent Baptists other than their criticism that Southern Baptists aren’t congregational enough). But if the issue comes down to theological precision, denominational statements tend to be general enough to compensate for some lateral differences in understanding between fellow members. That’s generally where apostates gain their initial foothold and eventually challenge not merely distinctives, but tenets central to the Christian faith. And that’s where I moved on the rest of my earlier discourse.

What I didn’t write but rather thought was that an understanding of conservative arguments against apostates made in other denominations, while founded on slightly differing ecclesiological presuppositions, may be instructive where cross-denominational distinctives overlap. I didn’t say it because I’m not prepared to give observed examples yet. But I offer it here only as a matter of theoretical consideration.

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Baptist Distinctives not found in other denominations;
1. Autonomy of local church
2,. Priesthood of believer
3. Believer’s Baptism only as a testimony one has received Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection as his own.

The other side of the coin is that defending the denomination against apostates is where theologically sound leadership and teaching appears to go off course. Sometimes reactive teaching can become unbalanced, but even when it doesn’t it’s easy to criticize people who come down against false teaching with such sentiments as, “We should be focused more on evangelism than all this infighting.” I wonder if Christ should have been more interested in preaching in the wilderness than condemning the pharisees. Even as the shepherd goes out to find his lost sheep, he still must be about the business of defending the flock against wolves, bears and lions.

The thing about any denominational leader defending truth is that it tends to be done with denominational authority as much as biblical authority. There are benefits and drawbacks to this. Inasmuch as the denomination is seen by church members as a point of unity, it is beneficial for them to make reference to the denomination. The drawback is that most denominational leaders themselves only have the experience of one denomination and don’t effectively communicate ministerially outside of those denominational lines.

Jim Pembertons last blog post..Trading Wealth for Trusting God

I’m surprised someone has not recognized it sooner. I virtually memorized the thing when I pastored in Tennessee. I had Bible studies in my home with Mormon elders. Does that give you a hint?

With that, I am…
Peter

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Who made the comment that you quoted above?

John Meche,

Your comment is simply not true. Do you not see that Baptist Distinctives are nothing more than what the Bible teaches? That the Gospel is a Baptist Distinctive? We preach and teach that salvation is by the grace of God thru faith…that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, was raised on the third day, and ascended back to the Father…that the way to recieve God’s gift of salvation is thru repentance and faith. Those are Baptist Distintives, as well as immersion is the true form of baptism, and Believers only should be baptised, and it should be a symbollic act of obedience-that it has no saving power whatsoever. That’s a Baptist Distinctive. Would you not say that that is also a Bible Distinctive?

I just do not understand you and others who somehow feel that Baptist Distinctives are not Bible teachings…what we, as Baptists, have held to for years and years and years as the correct way to view these Bible doctrines.

David