Online Baptist

During these last two weeks and during November, our church is studying A Trail of Blood, a history of Baptists since the first century. Baptists are one of the very few denominations of Christianity that were NOT products of the Reformation! As we contemplate this, it becomes too easy to become self-righteous as we belong to an "elite" group of believers. Hmmm We did not choose God as much as He chose us!

I was recently reminding someone who posts here regularly of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, especially in the light of his unruly undignified childish behavior in his marriage, but I got to thinking (dangerous thing to do, for me): Verse 4 just jumped out at me! Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, . So the negative would then be true: to not be longsuffering (patient) or not be kind is NOT love . How impatient, judgmental and just plain ornery we can be both to the lost and to new immature believers! Just because they are not part of our in crowd (yet)! We are to be examples !!

So much for the negative; how about the positive: to be purposely pushy on others and to be puffed up in a "proud love" is also not love. It is merely self-righteousness. Have I been guilty of any of this in the past? Yes I have! Thank you Jesus, for 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I'm sure we can all identify with this to some extent, right?

Here we go again...

I am continually amazed that any educated person can hold to this "Baptist Successionism" theory. Throwing aside irrefutable history, how can you link yourself to heretical groups (even those that denied the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, etc.) in order to "trace" the Baptist lineage back to the apostles, and still claim to be Christian? From an intellectually honest standpoint (whether secular or non-secular) this is an impossible position. Even most Baptists know and acknowledge this.

Not that it will do any good mind you, but here is a link to an article that refutes the "Trail of Blood" rag. There are tons of other resources available as well, many from Baptist scholars.

http://www.catholic-convert.com/Portals ... fBlood.pdf

I hope God will clear away the scales!

I do not know what you mean by "Here we go again," but thank you for informing me about these historians. I've made a point of following them up. I've always considered myself a Christian first and foremost and a Baptist by conviction.

But the fact remains that the main point of my posting was to not fall in the trap of self-righteousness. It just seems to me that Mr Carroll's book lined up with several comments made by Catholic Theologians under whom I studied in my youth to become a Catholic in Toronto. What stopped me were three things: 1) I would have to accept the traditions of the church as being on equal footing, if not superior to the Bible; 2) Comments that "Baptist-type" fanatics who believed in a "re-baptism" had been a thorn in the "church" since the sixth century! (I was not saved yet at that time and was only vaguely familiar with Baptists); and third, the perpetual virginity of Mary in spite of Matthew 1:24 and 25: "Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS."

Related to this was the idolatry which disturbed me greatly. Perhaps we both have some sort of scales on our eyes. We'll eventually know the whole truth by and by! By the way, did you yourself not display some smugness with the comment, "...'trace' the Baptist lineage back to the apostles, and still claim to be Christian?" My sole claim to be a son of God is in my salvation, (which was bought for us by Christ's death, burial, and resurrection) not in some clinging to a tradition; I merely thought it was highly interesting.

No, Mr. Carroll's book does not line up with "...several comments made by Catholic Theologians. " They line up with what others have claimed are the "…comments made by Catholic Theologians. " This is a fallacious. Check out the link that I provided. Further, if you are serious in your studies of apologetics, go to the following URL:

http://forums.catholic.com/

Then go to the link entitled; "Non-Catholic Religions" and post any exceptions that you have to what you believe to be the position of the Catholic Church. You will get responses from not only Catholic apologists, but also protestant apologists who belong to that forum. If you seek intellectual honesty, then look into this for yourself and don't follow blindly what others tell you. Otherwise, you are accepting the interpretation of others. Remember what is stated in scripture regarding personal interpretations.