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Featured Confessions of Faith

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by Rebel1, Dec 24, 2017.

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  1. Rebel1

    Rebel1 Active Member

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    What are your favorite confessions of faith?

    Here are some of mine. I should mention that I don't hold to the doctrine of hell in these.

    General Association of General Baptists: General Association of General Baptists - Wikipedia

    BF&M 1963: http://baptiststudiesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/baptist-faith-message-1963.pdf

    Thomas Helwys 1611 Confession: http://baptiststudiesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/helwys-confession.PDF

    John Smyth's Short Confession: A Short Confession of Faith, John Smyth | The Reformed Reader
     
    #1 Rebel1, Dec 24, 2017
  2. thatbrian

    thatbrian Well-Known Member
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    Although I don't agree with them, most Baptists hate confessions, so you aren't likely to get much of a reply here.
     
    #2 thatbrian, Dec 24, 2017
  3. Jerome

    Jerome Well-Known Member
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    Ah yes. The so-called "Baptist Faith & Message Fellowship" of the 1970s and 1980s named themselves after that confession.
    Their supposed devotion to it ebbed, however, once their goal of retaking the SBC succeeded, as they closed up shop and their camp produced a document of their own (BFM2000).

    Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives
     
    #3 Jerome, Dec 24, 2017
  4. TCassidy

    TCassidy Late-Administator Emeritus
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    First London Baptist Confession of 1644.
     
    #4 TCassidy, Dec 24, 2017
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  5. JohnDeereFan

    JohnDeereFan Well-Known Member
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    Actually, we Baptists have dozens, if not hundreds, of creeds, confessions, and catechisms.
     
    #5 JohnDeereFan, Dec 24, 2017
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  6. Sir Beezer

    Sir Beezer New Member

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    1689 Baptist Confession of Faith (aka Second London Baptist Confession).

    For a good reference book on Baptist Confessions I recommend William Lumpkin's book here.
     
    #6 Sir Beezer, Dec 24, 2017
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  7. thatbrian

    thatbrian Well-Known Member
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    Yes, and "most" Baptists ignore them at best, and hate them, at worst. Only a very small percentage of Baptists (and the baptistic) are confessional. That's my point.
     
    #7 thatbrian, Dec 24, 2017
  8. JohnDeereFan

    JohnDeereFan Well-Known Member
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    So, you've never heard of believers' baptism and you believe most Baptists hate the historic creeds, confessions, and catechisms?

    Are you sure you're a Baptist?
     
    #8 JohnDeereFan, Dec 24, 2017
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  9. JonC

    JonC Moderator
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    I guess my favorite is "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." :Biggrin
     
    #9 JonC, Dec 24, 2017
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  10. Jerome

    Jerome Well-Known Member
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    "thatbrian" explains here:

    Reformed View of Baptism
     
    #10 Jerome, Dec 24, 2017
  11. rsr

    rsr <b> 7,000 posts club</b>
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    A lot of the members here are indeed unenthusiastic about or opposed to confessions. On the other hand, a fair number are well-versed in confessions (and not only Baptist ones) and willing to discuss them.

    An Orthodox Confession (General Baptist) is an interesting one because it explicitly adopts the Nicene, Athanasian and Apostles creeds in an attempt to 1) place the Generals within Orthodox Protestantism and 2) decelerate the trend of the Generals' increasingly unorthodox Christology. (In the latter it failed and so many of the Generals were swept into Unitarianism that the movement barely survived.)
     
    #11 rsr, Dec 24, 2017
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  12. Reformed

    Reformed Well-Known Member
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    I happily fit into the "very small percentage" category. The 1689 Second London Baptist Confession, while a man-made document, is a faithful summary of the major biblical doctrines and associated practices. Benjamin Keach wrote an excellent catechism to help teach the Confession.
     
    #12 Reformed, Dec 24, 2017
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  13. thatbrian

    thatbrian Well-Known Member
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    Most Baptists are Pelagian, and yes, they hate creeds and catechisms because they have an allergy to anything they deem "Catholic".

    I've heard of "believer's baptism". I never said I didn't I said that it hasn't appeared from between the covers of my Bible.
     
    #13 thatbrian, Dec 24, 2017
  14. thatbrian

    thatbrian Well-Known Member
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    I do too, which is why I know how small a percentage confessional Baptists are. Even among Calvinistic Baptists (and baptistic groups), those who are confessional are a minority, in my experience.

    Confessions and catechisms are wonderful tools.
     
    #14 thatbrian, Dec 24, 2017
  15. rsr

    rsr <b> 7,000 posts club</b>
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    Wrong on two counts. As much as I complain about muddled Baptist soteriology, I have not found many (actually, any) Pelagians in our congregations. Maybe that's just me, but I doubt it.

    The reaction against confessions has nothing (or at least little) to do with Catholicism. The early English/American Baptists produced several confessions. Baptists who rejected confessions/statements of faith were rejecting hierarchy of all forms, whether Catholic, magisterial or Anglican, sometimes with good reason and sometimes in worship of the cult of individualism.

    Then I suggest that you're posting in the wrong forum. There is nothing as central to Baptist identity than credobaptism and all that that flows from it.
     
    #15 rsr, Dec 24, 2017
  16. thatbrian

    thatbrian Well-Known Member
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    Baptists span a broader range than your congregation. Also, people don't label themselves Pelagian. Just listen to them and they will reveal that's their position. You don't need to spend more than 5 minutes on BB to that.

    I understand that Baptists have and use confessions. What I said was that only a small minority use them today. You obviously don't have a broad range of experience in different Baptist churches as I do.

    If I've missed the text that says, "believer's baptism", please help point me in the right direction.
     
    #16 thatbrian, Dec 24, 2017
  17. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    Acts 8:37 is not in your Bible?
    Mark 16:16?
    Acts 19:4-5?
    Acts 2:41?
    Acts 10:47?
    Acts 18:8?

    What Bible you got?

    Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
     
    #17 InTheLight, Dec 24, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2017
  18. rsr

    rsr <b> 7,000 posts club</b>
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    Any assertion that I think "my congregation" is either normative or regulative is laughable (feel free to look up my many posts on Baptist identity and variations of belief) but you seem to have set yourself up as the ultimate authority on Baptists, so I defer to your infinite wisdom.

    I've spent more than five minutes on the BB and cannot think of a real Pelagian posting in the Baptist-only forums. There may have been a few (maybe even one now), but the board is not rife with Pelagianism. Unless, of course, you define Pelagianism as "anyone who disagrees with me."

    Since the topic of this thread is confessions, please feel to point out a Baptist confession that does not hold to credobaptism.
     
    #18 rsr, Dec 24, 2017
  19. thatbrian

    thatbrian Well-Known Member
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    Nope. Not in the earliest and most reliable manuscripts.
     
    #19 thatbrian, Dec 24, 2017
  20. Reformed

    Reformed Well-Known Member
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    Question for you. Do you agree with this statement (including scripture proofs) from the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith?

    Chapter 29: Of Baptism

    2._____ Those who do actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience to, our Lord Jesus Christ, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance.
    ( Mark 16:16; Acts 8:36, 37; Acts 2:41; Acts 8:12; Acts 18:8 )
     
    #20 Reformed, Dec 24, 2017
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