Do you agree with this Meme?

[Salty]

This came from a FB page of "Baptist Articles of Faith"

What a Baptist Is Not
Many people misunderstand what “Baptist” really means. To clear the confusion, here are some important truths about what a Baptist is not:
1. A Baptist is not a Religion
Being a Baptist is not about belonging to a man-made religion. It is about holding to the New Testament faith, doctrine, and practice established by the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptists simply follow the pattern of the churches Christ founded.
2. A Baptist is not a Denomination
Baptists were not formed by a denominational council or organization. True Baptist churches are independent, autonomous, and patterned after the first church Jesus established in His earthly ministry.
3. Baptists were not Founded by John Smyth
Some mistakenly teach that John Smyth started the Baptists in the 1600s. But history and the trail of biblical doctrine shows that groups holding Baptist beliefs existed long before Smyth, even throughout the Dark Ages.
Churches with Baptist doctrine have always existed outside the Roman system, even if they were called by different names (Waldenses, Anabaptists, etc.).
4. Baptists are not Protestants
Baptists did not come out of the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation. They did not protest Catholicism because they were never part of it in the first place.
Baptist churches trace their lineage not to Rome, but to Christ Himself, who formed His first church during His earthly ministry.

 

[JonC]

I disagree with the last one (on a technicality). "Proteststant" does not mean "coming out of the Roman Catholic Church". It refers to congregations involved in the Protestant movement.

Anabaptists, for example, we're not a part of the RCC but they are Protestants (they were a significant part of the Protestant movement).

Also, Baptist churches do not trace a lineage through history (we do not look to such a succession). Instead we view each congregation as having Christ as its head.

So a group of people finding a Bible on the side of the road, reading it, God using it to save them, they becoming a Baptist congregation...they would be no less a Baptist church. The lineage thing is Roman Catholic thinking.

 

[Some Rando]

Pretty much.

 

[Salty]

Also, Baptist churches do not trace a lineage through history (we do not look to such a succession). Instead we view each congregation as having Christ as its head.

Except for Landmark Baptists: They believe in an unbroken line of churches since the time of Christ. In addition, they believe a Baptist church is not valid if was not started under the authority of another valid Baptist church.

 

[JonC]

Except for Landmark Baptists: They believe in an unbroken line of churches since the time of Christ. In addition, they believe a Baptist church is not valid if was not started under the authority of another valid Baptist church.

Yea...there's them.

 

[Reynolds]

This came from a FB page of "Baptist Articles of Faith"
View attachment 13073
What a Baptist Is Not
Many people misunderstand what “Baptist” really means. To clear the confusion, here are some important truths about what a Baptist is not:
1. A Baptist is not a Religion
Being a Baptist is not about belonging to a man-made religion. It is about holding to the New Testament faith, doctrine, and practice established by the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptists simply follow the pattern of the churches Christ founded.
2. A Baptist is not a Denomination
Baptists were not formed by a denominational council or organization. True Baptist churches are independent, autonomous, and patterned after the first church Jesus established in His earthly ministry.
3. Baptists were not Founded by John Smyth
Some mistakenly teach that John Smyth started the Baptists in the 1600s. But history and the trail of biblical doctrine shows that groups holding Baptist beliefs existed long before Smyth, even throughout the Dark Ages.
Churches with Baptist doctrine have always existed outside the Roman system, even if they were called by different names (Waldenses, Anabaptists, etc.).
4. Baptists are not Protestants
Baptists did not come out of the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation. They did not protest Catholicism because they were never part of it in the first place.
Baptist churches trace their lineage not to Rome, but to Christ Himself, who formed His first church during His earthly ministry.

I see Baptists as Protestants.

 

[JPPT1974]

I see Baptists as Protestants.

Always thought Baptists were Protestants as well my friend!

 

[JonC]

I see Baptists as Protestants.

If Baptists are not Protestant then there is a real problem (either Baptists remained silent, did not exist, or opposed the movement).

And, most Baptist theology is a blend (it contains a lot of the theology of the Reforners, a little from the RCC, and some from the Anabaptists).

Theologically we are mutts. But typically mutts get the best qualities from their purebred parents.

 

[Dr. Bob]

People have always held to the same distinctives as Baptists do so could be called baptistic or somewhat like Baptist, but they were NOT truly Baptist. We trace English-speaking Baptists in organized churches to 1600.

Baptists did NOT come from the first Reformation (1517-1540). They came from the second Reformation (1590-1615), when believers "reformed the reformation" by not only opposing papacy and all the Romish evils (done by Calvin, Luther, Knox et al), but opposing the ERRORS of the protestant groups (Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal/Anglican, et al). Biggest of course was baptism by immersion of only Believers, so the Gospel could be by grace, not works/rites.

Baptists also stood for independent churches NOT supported by king/government/taxes. No hierarchy in "denomination or synod".

 

[Martin Marprelate]

The first Baptist confession of faith appeared in London in 1644, and was revised two years later. Religious tolerance was all but unknown in those days, and these early Baptists come under suspicion of being connected to the Anabaptists who had caused mayhem in the German city of Munster. The preface to the 1646 confession reads, 'A confession of faith of seven congregations or churches of Christ in London, which are commonly, but unjustly, called Anabaptists; published for the vindication of the truth and information of the ignorant; likewise for the taking off of those aspersions which are frequently, both in pulpit and print, unjustly cast upon them.'

Both confessions (1644 & 1646) made use of existing paedobaptist confessions to establish their orthodoxy; the two most greatly used were the True Confession produced in 1596 by an English Separatist church at that time exiled in the Netherlands (probably the work of one Henry Ainsworth), and The Marrow of Sacred Divinity written by another, better known, Separatist, William Ames. The purpose of the confessions was to show that these seven churches held to orthodox Protestant doctrine, despite their Independency and baptistic stance.

The number of Particular Baptist churches increased hugely all over England during the time of OLiver Cromwell, but the return of Charles II in 1662 meant a return of persecution, not only to the Baptists, but to the Presbyterians and Congregationals as well. In the 1670s, one of the leading church planters for the Baptists, named Thomas Collier, went off the rails and challenged various aspects of Particular Baptist theology. In 1677, many of the PB churches decided that there was a need for a new, more detailed confession and decided that, in order to achieve a degree of unity with the Presbyterians and Congregationalists in the face of bitter persecution, they would revise the Presbyterian Westminster Confession, which they did. The confession was written in 1677, but not widely published until 1689, after the 'Glorious Revolution' removed James II as king and William and Mary reigned as joint monarchs. The new confession was approved in September 1689, "more than 100 churches were represented by messengers to formally confess the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith published in 1677. These messengers gathered together at ‘Broken Wharfe’ in London."

 

[Marooncat79]

^Great synopsis

Especially how they wanted to understood in the light that they were not Anabaptists.