Christmas thoughts

[DHK]

This will be my last time posting here. The attacks have become nasty and dis-respectful. Not becoming Christians at all. If I were a non-believer visiting this board and read the sleasy attacks on Catholics and the Catholic Church I don't think I would want much to do with your brand of Christianity.

Your testimony is hard to believe. Your profile says that you joined in January of 2008. Here is what your testimony says:

I first left the Baptist church and became an Anglican. I continued to study the catechism of the Catholic Church and read more testimonies of other Baptist who have become Catholic. I continued to search the scriptures and pray for guidance. I read and re-read various threads on this board in which you debated Carson Weber on the teachings of the Catholic Church. His answers had the ring of truth to them where yours, not so much. With all due respect, DHK, you had a lot to do with my decision to become a Catholic. I eventually found the fullness of truth in the Roman Catholic Church.

If you note, I joined the BB in July of 2000. The Catholics came shortly after that. It has been years since Carson Webber has been on this board. It is my guess that you joined as a Catholic and said that you were an Anglican knowing full well that you would never get in if you tried to join as a Catholic. You would have been rejected. Thus your entire application was based on deceit. How am I doing this far?
If that is true, you shouldn't be here in the first place, since the board doesn't accept Catholic applications. Sneaking in by deceit would warrant a shameful ban immediately.

I was educated in a SBC college, a faithful Baptist for years. I enjoy reading Charles Stanley even though I may not agree with him any longer.

No, Baptist are not followers of brother John Calvin in the way a Presbyterian might be. But I think you know there are strong Calvinist leanings in the Baptist camp.

Yes there are many that are Calvinist, and if you go and read the theology forum which is replete with threads dealing with Calvinism you will find that there are as many non-Calvinists as there are Calvinists. Otherwise there would be no debates on the subject would there?
Why was the subject of Calvinism brought into this thread any way?
Calvin got his ideas from Augustine. Many of points of Calvinism Catholics believe. Calvin was a former Catholic. He didn't give it all up. He is called a Reformer for a reason.

Baptists teach salvation by grace through faith alone.
Catholics teach that salvation is by works through the Catholic Church.

Those two belief systems cannot be reconciled. You can't believe both at the same time. You must choose one or the other. There is no sitting on the fence. Which side of the fence are you on? If you believe in the latter then you are believing that the RCC will get you to heaven and not Christ. That is a pitiful situation to be in.

 

[lori4dogs]

I joined this board as an Anglican, I'm leaving it as a Catholic. I don't appreciate being called a liar.

I followed this board for years without joining. I know why you have banned Catholics, they were getting the best of you!

I figured no apology for the nast would be forthcoming.

 

[DHK]

I joined this board as an Anglican, I'm leaving it as a Catholic. I don't appreciate being called a liar.

I followed this board for years without joining. I know why you have banned Catholics, they were getting the best of you!

I figured no apology for the nast would be forthcoming.

I apologize if I was wrong in my assessment for I admit it was partly guess-work. It just seems awful quick for a former Baptist to go from Anglican to Catholic in less than two years. I am not calling you a liar. I was only making an observation.

 

[DHK]

Let me add, for those of you who are familiar with Carson Webber.
He was a seminarian taught directly under Scott Hahn, the foremost Catholic apologist. These two have set up websites teaching Catholics on "how to answer a fundamentalist Baptist." They are what one might call professional Catholic apologists.

Like I said in a previous post, I am a missionary.
Lori's accusation:

I know why you have banned Catholics, they were getting the best of you!

is a little over the board.
If the Catholics adhered to the Bible only it is doubtful they could have won any debate, but they hated and do hate the doctrine of sola scriptura.
There are many on this board that can debate these issues far better than I can. I don't claim to be an apologist.

They were banned for using this board as a sounding board for their advertising and recruiting others to their faith. Propagating another's religion is not permitted, and any other person that does the same is banned. Thus Oneness Pentecostals have been banned. And so have others that have come on here with an agenda to spread false doctrine and recruit others to it.

 

[Marcia]

Most Baptists would know about Calvinism? I grew up Baptist and we never ever discussed Arminianism, Calvinism, etc. It was a non-issue. It wasn't even discussed. I never really studied either until I left the Baptist church.

Have you ever heard of the Reformed Bapitst Church? They are super-Callies!

I also find that Callies exist in Baptist churches alongside non-Callies.

 

[FriendofSpurgeon]

If you had any kind of Baptist background at all you would have realized that Calvinism is a system of theology embraced by a number of denominations--Presbyterian, Lutheran, etc... Another point which makes me wonder just how much of a Baptist you were is the fact we are not a denomination. We are local autonomous churches with a cooperative effort with other local churches, and cooperative organizations at the state and national levels. We have no heirarchy. The SBC does not call our pastors, nor do they own our building or land. We are not a denomination.
If you do not like the post, then go to another thread. Don't you have some infants to sprinkle?

Wow..............

 

[FriendofSpurgeon]

But now you are a Presbyterian, and thus you know all about Calvinism. We don't know how long you were in a Baptist Church or what kind of Baptist Church it was. There are as many kinds of Baptist churches as there are denominations. Some people are unfortunate to get into one of those that never teach the meat of the word, and that it too bad. Some churches are too concerned with the outward appearance rather than the inward condition.

Take a poll on this board. It is Baptist. Are most of the Baptists on this board acquainted with Calvinism. When I first mentioned Calvinism, I mentioned it in the context that they had at least heard of it and had a vague idea of it, in contrast to "never hearing about it."

For a person wanting statistical information Baptists are considered a denomination. That is what you would find in an Encyclopedia, but then even an encyclopedia would break down the major groups of Baptists.
However, if a person is a member of a Baptist church, having read the statement of faith, and agreed to the constitution of the local church of which he became a member, how could he not know that he is not a member of a denomination?? It is one of the most basic distinctives of the Baptist faith (not denomination, but faith).

Yes I agree. There are some attacks that are a bit too nasty and unnecessary. Although still unwarranted, what happens is this: a poster comes and posts that he/she was a former Baptist (indicating a knowledge of the Baptist faith), but in the posts made show an insultingly lack of knowledge of the Baptist faith. So why claim to have been a Baptist in the first place?

For the record, I was a Baptist for 25+ years, in a strong IFB church. And thankfully, I was fortunate to be in one that taught the meat of the word. I was just making a simple observation that we didn't get into the C vs A debate at all in our church. BTW, I know all about Baptist distinctives.

 

[Zenas]

For the record, I was a Baptist for 25+ years, in a strong IFB church. And thankfully, I was fortunate to be in one that taught the meat of the word. I was just making a simple observation that we didn't get into the C vs A debate at all in our church. BTW, I know all about Baptist distinctives.

Yes, I know what you mean. Except for one instance two years ago, Calvinism has never been debated or discussed in my church. Two years ago we were beginning a pastor search and I asked the committee to seek the consensus of the congregation concerning a Calvinist pastor. I did this because of the increasing number of Calvinist minded Baptist pastors. The committee sought the consensus of the congregation on this and many other issues. The vote was unanimous against hiring a Calvinist pastor. Calvinism had never before been an issue in my church and it hasn't been discussed since.

Until the ascendency of Calvinism at SBTS, I didn't know it was something Baptists embraced. I had always associated it with Presbyterians.

 

[Thinkingstuff]

Yes, I know what you mean. Except for one instance two years ago, Calvinism has never been debated or discussed in my church. Two years ago we were beginning a pastor search and I asked the committee to seek the consensus of the congregation concerning a Calvinist pastor. I did this because of the increasing number of Calvinist minded Baptist pastors. The committee sought the consensus of the congregation on this and many other issues. The vote was unanimous against hiring a Calvinist pastor. Calvinism had never before been an issue in my church and it hasn't been discussed since.

Until the ascendency of Calvinism at SBTS, I didn't know it was something Baptists embraced. I had always associated it with Presbyterians.

Most baptist I know hold to Calvinism though its not a baptist distinctive. In my church we have both. And they don't argue with each other! Go figure. We also have the standard Pretrib rapture people with amillenialist. And they don't argue either. However, I must say I don't know any KJO people at my Church. And most members use the NIV. The older folks still use KJV. I think the calvinist people in my Church use to really like Coral Ridge ministries before the pastor died. And I'm pretty sure that was a Presbyterian Church.

 

[RAdam]

That's because most Baptists left Calvinism, although the past is clearly Calvinistic.

 

[DHK]

That's because most Baptists left Calvinism, although the past is clearly Calvinistic.

That is quite true. William Carey in the face of what we would call "hyper-calvinism," went to India in spite of the opposition of his church. He was the founder of the modern missionary movement as we know it. He was told that if God wanted the people of India saved that He would do it in His time and in His way, and He didn't need Carey's help to do it. That is the opposition that Carey faced when God called him to India. It was a very Calvinistic environment, and yet a Baptist church.

 

[FriendofSpurgeon]

Most baptist I know hold to Calvinism though its not a baptist distinctive. In my church we have both. And they don't argue with each other! Go figure. We also have the standard Pretrib rapture people with amillenialist. And they don't argue either. However, I must say I don't know any KJO people at my Church. And most members use the NIV. The older folks still use KJV. I think the calvinist people in my Church use to really like Coral Ridge ministries before the pastor died. And I'm pretty sure that was a Presbyterian Church.

True. Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church is located in Ft. Lauderdale, FL -- see www.crpc.org. Its founding pastor was Dr. D. James Kennedy, who recently went to be the Lord. Its current pastor is Tullian Tchividjian, the grandson of Billy & Ruth Graham.

 

[Born_in_Crewe]

As you can see from my user info I live in the UK. You get a lot of secularists saying ''Jesus is not reason for the season'' as it was originally a Pagan celebration. They miss the point here because not only are they not Christians, they certainly aren't Pagan in the true sense either. But then that is the sort of hypocrisy that you come to expect here.

 

[Jkdbuck76]

Yeah.

I saw one that said "Christmas has Pagan DNA."