Baptist Distintives reclaimed, not redefined.

Back about 1994, when I was beginning my Seminary journey, I took 2 classes at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, at their extension at OBU in Shawnee, OK, before continuing on to Dallas Theological Seminary. It was close to home, and I was testing to see if my 40+ year old brain cells could deal with grad school. Those 2 classes that one semester must qualify me as an Alumni of SWBTS, since I keep receiving their magazine Southwestern News.

In the latest edition, Winter 2007 | Volume 65, No. 2, is a very interesting article entitled:
"Baptist must reclaim baptism, church discipline and membership, scholar [sic] say"

Excerpt from the article:
Stating twin pillars of truth regarding Baptists and baptism, Allen said immersion is the only biblical, and thus proper, mode of baptism and without immersion there is no biblical baptism.

“It is the height of irony that while some paedobaptist churches are pushing for a recognition and renewal of baptism by immersion, some Baptists are questioning whether baptism by immersion really should be required of all believers,” Allen said.

The article can be read online at: http://www.swbts.edu/swnews/news/baptist.cfm

It seems that many Baptists, even many Baptist pastors, are not sufficiently schooled in the Baptist Distinctives to maintain purity in the body.

 

I would like to start 2 threads, this one dealing with educating people about the Baptist Distinctives, the relevance of doing so, the means of so doing, etc.

The other one will discuss what the Baptist Distinctives are.