"Christian" Baptists vs "Other" Baptists

You really should read the rules of this board sometime. Rule #4 seems especially applicable here.

 

Click on the words "the rules" in my last post. Also, at the bottom of every page there is a link named "Posting Rules".

 

Bye!

Gonna miss you on BaptistBoard!

 

It would seem to me that there should be room within the body of Baptist Christians to encompass a variety of political, theological and scientific views without being divisive over non-essentials of the faith.

Calling other Christians "Anti-Christ" seems to be close to a very grave sin. Self righteousness is tatamount to the sin of pride.

Even Jesus himself was accused of doing the work of the devil.

I am amazed to constantly see some on this board accuse other board members of being non-Christian or Anti-Christ. No one knows the heart except God.

[ July 03, 2003, 11:08 AM: Message edited by: ColoradoFB ]

 

Actually, I think I do. Unfortunately, I believe that most fundamental Baptists have misunderstood separation.

I try to practice separation the way Jesus did – associating with sinners, spending time together and telling them the good news of the Kingdom. On the other hand, the Pharisees separated themselves from other Jews and tried to isolate and shame sinners in order to make society “pure”. They laid out a set of rules (often based on legitimate scriptural teaching, but with many human additions that undermined their value) for proper religious behavior and chastised those who did not obey their interpretation of them.

The Pharisees had real issues with Jesus and his association with sinners. They accused Him of being a false teacher (where have we heard that lately?), they accused Him of having a demon, they excommunicated those who testified that Jesus was doing the works of God, and they finally conspired with the Sadducees to make false charges against Jesus, turn Him over to the Romans and demand His death.

 

Amen, Baptist Believer! So often I want to quote the words of Matthew 23 to many of the people on this board!

 

Hi BrianT. Why do you think that Mark's post/list is "trolling?" (i.e. rule #4). He has provided a legitimate general list of some opposing Biblical views that are topics of debate among Baptists (and other Christians too). Isn't it a good idea to reflect upon and debate those differences? Thanks! latterrain77

 

Mark,

On another thread, Dr. Bob said you were asked to edit "anti-Christ" out of your posts regarding other Baptists. Apparently you have no regard for the rules of the board or the requests of moderators, since you have not edited, and you continue your attacks on fellow Christians here.

It is my opinion that you are treading on dangerous theological ground here.

God bless,
CFB

 

Really? Do they really not have any “essentials of the faith” or are their “essentials” just different than what you believe them to be?

If your “essentials” have anything to do with the list posted at the beginning of thread, you’ve added a lot of fundamentalist baggage to the Christian faith.

That might just be humility.

But there’s still time to repent.

 

Mark, You are right in what you are saying. Keep on keeping on. Remember it has always been the "religous" Bunch that have killed and persecuted God's people. The world just helps them along.

 

Brother Mark,
Thank you for taking the time to write out that list. We had to seperate from a church for similar reasons.
I do wonder though about myself being involved here. There are those professing to be Christians who practice AND teach many of the anti-Christian views you mentioned. Can you help me understand why it might be good to witness to those types?

 

The title of his thread is intended to provoke, especially after yesterday when he also agreed with another poster who called other posters here "anti-christ" for disagreeing about Wal-mart's anti-discrimination policy. A moderator even commented, requesting people to edit their posts for using such terms about fellow Baptists. I do not think his participation in that thread yesterday and his creation of this thread today is coincidence, I think this thread was primarily intended to get people upset - i.e. trolling.

 

Which is exactly what I'm doing when I come to "The Baptist Board." Therefore I am not, as you implied in your other post, failing to be separate by coming into this forum and discussing the Scriptures with infidels who claim to be Baptists. </font>[/QUOTE]I don’t count spiritual grandstanding and name-calling to be anything similar to what Jesus did when he associated with the sinners who were shunned by the Pharisees. Jesus did get pretty intense with the religious leaders, but that was for their man-made additions to the Law and their self-righteous religiousity that treated non-religious sinners with contempt.

Yes, and what does that have to do with the true Biblical doctrine of separation? Because the Pharisees set up their own rules am I not to follow God's rules? </font>[/QUOTE]You have mixed a bunch of fundamentalist baggage with some legitimate Christian teaching (as well as totally misrepresenting the views of those who disagree with you) in the list at the beginning of this thread. If that’s not setting up a bunch of man-made doctrine as “essentials”, I don’t know what is…

So what? Am I not to call false teacher false teachers simply because the Pharisees falsely accused Christ of being a false teacher? </font>[/QUOTE]You need to be careful about labeling people as “false teachers” (or the current favorite – “Anti-Christ”) because God treats false accusations against His servants very seriously.

I’ve noticed you seem to have a love for theological arguments (you probably see it as “zeal”) and you often assume the worst of your opponents – it comes out in the accusations you make against them.

Separation for the Christian is following the call for a holy life – a life characterized by wholehearted obedience to God, love for fellow human beings and rejection of selfish desires and passions. It is a difference in attitude and quality of life characterized by integrity, humility, joy and patience with those who disagree with you.

Within the church, separation sometimes requires that the church take redemptive disciplinary action against those who are willfully sinning against God and have refused many opportunities to repent. This extreme action against a fellow believer is to be used as a last resort.

If you disagree with my assessment, then you should explain your understanding of separation for us.

 

I propose a variation on Godwin's Law: the probability of a poster calling somone who disagrees with their POV a 'non-Christian', 'heathen','libera', 'pagan', 'unbeliever' or 'anti-Christ'in a Christian usenet discussion is directly proportional to the number of posts and the level of controversy of the OP (and tends towards 1 in the case of certain posters)

Yours in Christ

Matt

 

Very true.

But there's still time to repent.