Majority of US Baptist Denominations UNITING WITH ROME?

I am Chinese and born in the year of the dragon. My dying grandmother who was a Christian gave me a gold dragon necklace around the time I started posting on message boards on the internet in the early 90s, mostly football message boards. I chose the name in honour of her and didn't feel the need to change it for Christian message boards.

Additionally
1) Bruce Lee's nickname was Little Dragon. I use his famous yellow jumpsuit in Enter the Dragon as my avatar on some boards.
2) I'm also a fan of fantasy books featuring dragons like the Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffery.


The dragon in revelation is not the only dragon in human history.

 

I think some folks would agree with you here, but not because of the name Dragon but because I tend to challenge the beliefs of more fundamentalist baptists.

I've been through several iterations of trying to correct misunderstandings of Catholic doctrine that are held by folks on this board, many of them former Catholics themselves.

I'm not so interested in that anymore because of the lack of listening that actually happens and simply hope to remind folks with clear scripture about the importance of unity that gets drowned out by the separation folks.

 

The Ecumenical Movement

Started circa 325 CE at a place called Nicea. It continues even through today--the masterpiece--of Satan. The next step is getting the mark of the beast--666. Can we deal with the Truth? Many will take the mark--thinking they are serving God.

Selah,

Bro. James

 

1. You said you got saved while at Rome and didn't leave until a few weeks later, and yet you don't want to extend the same to others.

2. Was your salvation suspended and then given back to you after those few weeks?

 

Jillian, with all respect, check out a bit of your history, here. Luther was "saved', i.e. came to understand the import and significance of the passage "the just shall live by faith" from Rom. 1:17 in 1515; he would go on to nail The 95 Theses two years after this, to the door of the church at Wittenburg at midnight Oct.31/Nov.1, 1517; he, along with his own mentor, Andreas Karlstadt, with whom he had an up and down, and varying relationship, would engage in the debate with Johann Maier Eck in 1519. (Karlstadt had much more of a tendancy to lean toward what we would see as 'baptistic' views, than ever did Luther, FTR.) In all of this, Luther still considered himself a member of the church of Rome, and had specifically refused to align himself with the "Anabaptists" and others of similar sentiments. He did not 'leave' the Roman Catholic Church, so to speak, until some six years later, when he was 'excommunicated' by Rome, as an heretic.

That is not exactly a case of "Don't let the door hit you on the way out!".

While Luther was correct in his assessment, IMO, that 'the pope is antichrist', in the sense in which he was using the phrase, I suggest that what Luther apparently did not say here, namely, that "the Pope is THE Antichrist", is equally instructive.

There is a great deal of difference between the 'lower-case' "a" and the 'upper-case' "A", here, again, IMO. And Luther owed more of his being "led to come out" to the horsemen employed by Elector Frederick, the Wise, who physically had him kidnapped and abducted by night, for his own safety, after the Diet of Worms, than he ever would have on his own initiative.

It still hadn't all "sunk in" with Luther, despite his outstanding genius in many areas.

There is also a great deal of difference, as well, in 'talking with Rome' and 'uniting with Rome', as well. I agree with 'Rome' when 'Rome' is correct; I disagree with 'Rome' when 'Rome' is incorrect; I can substitute Nashville for Rome, just as easily in the sentence. Is it "sold out" to agree with 'Rome' that human life is sacred? I think not, frankly. But that doesn't mean that I would welcome a priest into the pulpit of our church for the purposes of preaching a message. And therein lies the difference, IMO.

I do notice that you are starting to catch up on 'lost time' with the posts, anyway. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Ed

 

Good stuff, Ed. I continue to be impressed wih the courage that Luther displayed to take on Rome, because of the Gospel he rediscovered---but Luther is not without his flaws. :thumbs:

 

Rediscovering the Gospel

The ones with the Real Gospel since day one thought they would get some relief when Luther posted his 95 faults of the Holy See. They were disappointed. He failed to fault infant baptism and baptismal regeneration, also real presence--thorough corruptions of the Real Gospel. Luther persecuted those poor saints too. The reformers did not merge well with the separated brethren(anabaptists, etal). Mostly about baptism. It is still a problem. Jude 3.
Who gets the anathema?

Selah,

Bro. James

 

I've attended Mass on a number of occassions. I am saved.

So I guess you have to get down to what someone a Christian or not. For me it is explained in Romans 10:9-10. I'm not sure how that isn't possible in the RCC.

Seems that much of the criticisms of the RCC are based on assumptions of theology but not much research.

 

They are not so bad...

Outside of preaching another gospel and practicing pagan idolatry, they are pretty much on the straight and narrow, all the hush money not withstanding. Having been one(parishioner), I can say that from past experience.

Selah,

Bro. James

 

Thyis is just another in a series of discussions the BWA has had with various religious groups.

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 12/04/07) — The second round in the second series of conversations between the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) and the Vatican takes place December 2 to 8 in Rome, Italy. The first round in this series was held at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, in the city of Birmingham in the United States, from December 10-15, 2006. American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a prominent member of the BWA.

The theme of the second round of meetings is “Baptism and Lord’s Supper/Eucharist as Visible Word of God in the Koinonia of the Church.” The BWA has previously held theological conversations with the Anglican, Lutheran, Mennonite, Reformed, and Orthodox churches.


They even included the Reformed faith in their discussions. Imagine that!

 

The BWA is an ecumenical alliance of 191 Baptist denominations in more than 140 countries. It promotes the false teaching that unity is more important than doctrinal truth. In decades past, it has been strongly influenced by communists, and it supports new age one-world organizations such as the United Nations (UN). As far back as the 1930s, the Baptist World Alliance was a hotbed of modernism. When Dr. J. Frank Norris led the Temple Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan, to withdraw from the BWA in 1935, he cited its "modernistic dominated leadership" as a reason (The F. Frank Norris I Have Known for 34 Years, p. 311). Prior to that, fundamentalist leader A.C. Dixon had tried to have a resolution passed in the Baptist World Alliance affirming "five fundamental verities of the faith," including the verbal inspiration of Scripture and the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. An apostate majority of the BWA representatives voted down this simple resolution.

http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/sbcreaffirms.htm

Messengers to the annual Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Indianapolis, voted on July 15 to break the denomination’s historic ties with the Baptist World Alliance. Southern Baptists were involved in the formation of the BWA in 1905.

Three reasons were given for the decision to leave the BWA: its increasingly anti-American stances, tolerance of liberal theology, and disregard for its own procedures in accepting the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as a member in 2003 (Baptist Press, July 15).

This was a good move in the part of the Southern Baptists, but it should have been made 75 years ago if not earlier.

http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/sbc-departs-bwa.html

 

Just accepting the CBF is good enough reason to part company with them.

 

I understand that the dragon has a lot of astrological, spiritual and religious significance in chinese culture. Other than my message board name, it really has no other significance in my life. I appreciate your warnings as a concerned sister in Christ but I will not change my name because of it.

My point was that it has nothing to do with the dragon in revelation.

I was raised in a Christian home and have been a Christian since the age of 8. There are many pastors on my mom's side of the family and all are Christians. Half of my dad's side are Christians. We are very aware of the spiritual battle that goes on among the chinese with regard to religious powers and symbols.

Regarding Bruce Lee, martial arts and chopping blocks, it is physics, anatomy and psychology that explains its "power".

 

Didn't Calvin cite Augustine as one of the primary sources of his theology?