ANSWERS: 6
  • The fundamental beliefs of Baptist are modeled after Jesus and his disciples were with the first church. Baptist dont fancy things up to make it acceptable to the masses. The beliefs are straight from Gods word. The fire and brimestone. The express the importance of reading the Bible and also ones witness. Most importantly we believe that Gods grace is our salvation. God is a loving God that sent his only son to save the souls of the world. We do not believe that works get you to heaven. Works are something you do in gratitude to the love of Christ Jesus. They dont get you to heaven though. The Bible tells us that there are a lot of good people going to hell. The path to heaven is straight and narrow. The path to destruction is very broad. John 14:5 " I am the way, the truth and the life. No comes through the Father except through me." Meaning that it doesnt matter how much you go to church, how much money you give, or good deeds you do. One must have a personal relationship with Christ. Also having faith in God and believing his word the Bible. Now are different types of Baptist such as hypercalvanism vs. armeniasm. Calvanist believe that God has already chosen those who are saved, and armeniast believe that all may be saved if they know Christ. There are other examples, but i do not know enough to comment about them. Keep digging and I am sure that you will find what you are looking for.
  • There are a very broad range of people and groups that claim the title "Baptist." Generally churches that use that name come from a tradition of evangelical and fundamental Bible teaching. One of the things that is pretty universal - and what most obviously distinguishes them from many other denominations - is the belief in and practice of baptism by immersion in water. Most Baptists still hold that this ceremonial washing is literally commanded in the Bible and that the correct form is complete immersion of the believer in a body of water as opposed to "sprinkling" or other practices. Baptism is not just ceremonial cleaning, but also a reference to (ceremonial reenactment of) the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (Rom 6:4,5). Only self-proclaimed believers are baptized and only those who have identified with Jesus in this way are counted as "members" of the church, though anyone may attend. Other generally - but not universally - held beliefs include: There is only one God, all-powerful and all-knowing, who created everything. The Bible and only the Bible is God's word and the only authority (not the Pope, not tradition, etc). The virgin birth. Jesus was literally, as Isaiah and Matthew said, "God with us." (Matt 1:23) Heaven and Hell are real and eternal. People all deserve Hell because all sin. (Rom. 3:23, 6:23a) Jesus paid the penalty for sin. (Rom 5:8, 1 Pet 3:18) Salvation is a gift of God, imputed by faith (Rom 6:23b, Eph. 2:8,9) There is no other way to heaven. (Jn 14:6) You must decide to accept the gift of salvation. (Rev. 3:20) Even the saved are sinners. (1 Jn 1:8) Christians are to love and pray for other sinners and work to lead them to reconciliation with God. The commitment to evangelism or missionary work comes in part from the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) Men do not need priests because believers are a "royal priesthood." (2 Pet 2:9) Most Baptists believe in the security of salvation - if the gift of eternal life could be taken away, you never really had it. (Jn 10:28,29; 1 Jn 5:13)
  • Most of the beliefs already mentioned are not truly unique to Baptists, at least not now; most of them are what is now generally referred to as "Reformed theology". But I say Baptists were holding to Sola Scriptura, salvation by grace through faith, and priesthood of the believer "before it was cool". Here is my take on what would be the Baptist distinctives. Of course, the name--and persecution--derived from our infuriating (to the state church) practice of not accepting the "baptism" of "churches" from which converts sometimes came, insisting instead on a "re-baptism" which the Baptists declared to be the only real baptism. I use the quotes above from a Baptist perspective, to indicate that the folks who followed these practices, though not always called Baptists, rejected the standing of the Catholic and other state churches in the Catholic/Orthodox/Protestant vein, as genuine representatives of God on earth, having departed from the Apostles' doctrine. Baptism was the visible, watershed point of the bigger issue: that the state church was no church at all, but instead opposed God and was opposed by Him, and could not grant forgiveness of sins as they claimed. That, ultimately, was the charge that was simply intlolerable and led to the concerted efforts to exterminate those who perpetuated it, centuries before the word "Baptist" came to describe them. A valid baptism requires three properties: 1)a prior conscious belief in Christ as God and Savior, 2)authorization by a "real" church, 3)immersion. More below This and other distinctives grow out of an understanding of the nature of the churches (Greek "ekklesia"-assembly) as bodies of believers organized and authorized by God on earth to represent His name. They trace the origin of Christian baptism to John the Baptist, and believe that a successive chain of baptisms--actually, parallel chains--has continued through the churches from John, and that the chain will not be broken. If it is broken in one place in the world, it can not be simply restarted by someone who has not himself been authoritatively baptised. There are differences among Baptists about how this "perpetuity" should be managed in practice. Baptists insist on evidence of salvation for membership. This normally begins with a verbal confession (or profession, to avoid confusion with the Catholic sense of the word) of faith in Christ, followed by baptism. One unable or unwilling to do both of these (the profession need not be eloquent or polished; spontaneous and sincere will do) will not give comfort to the other members as to the genuineness of his faith. It is expected of members that they continue in a life consistent with that of believers, growing in knowledge of the Scriptures, in the putting off of sin and putting on of righteousness, and in service and witness.One who leaves off that pursuit and returns to patterns of sin (members are not expected to be perfect, but trying for it), will not be allowed to remain in the membership, but will be removed in an action usually called discipline, and will no longer be thought of as a believer. Baptists mostly do not usually believe that one can lose genuine salvation, nor do they believe that it is affected by discipline. Churches do not see themselves as dispensers of grace, but as one preacher put it as "inspectors of fruit". By these means they intend to maintain a regenerate membership. Baptists churches and pastors see each other as peers. They oppose hierarchical denominations, and see each church as directly answerable to God. Pastors see members of their church as peers, for whom they are given a spiritual responsibility, but not authority to command. The churches generally practice a congregational government, and may form mutually cooperative associtions with other Baptist churches for purposes of advancing their fellowship and ministry. Baptists recognize only two offices: pastor/elder/bishop (these terms seen as descriptions of facets of the same office), and deacon. Baptists oppose state support of churches, or any form of coercion of individual wills, either for monetary support, or for membership. They favor persuasion of the conscience. In my view, it was an odd alliance of Baptists and agnostics/atheists/free-thinkers which secured our religious liberties in America. A conscientious atheist and a Baptist are hardly distinguishable to a state church. Baptists have generally opposed the idea of a professional clergy, and pastors may or may not be paid or attend seminary. They are not, as some have taken it, opposed to education per se. They simply reject education as a substitute for the calling and gifting of God. This is not presented as a comprehensive list, but I think I've hit the biggies. I don't speak for all Baptists; nobody can. Individually, each of these doctrines/practices has been held by other groups. As a system, they add up pretty much to Baptist, even in churches who don't go by the name. Nor do even many present day Baptists-by-name hold to or practice all of these. I am speaking more of the historical movement, and of a smaller subset of those presently called Baptist. For articles detailing the Biblical support for these doctrines and practices, here is one source: http://www.pbministries.org/History/baptist_history.htm
  • Fundamentally, we hold to faith alone saving a person, not works, as per Eph. 2:8-10. For those with confusion about James 2:19-20 btw, observe that the faith spoken of in v. 20 is belief in one God, or intellectual orthodoxy. Even devils have this faith, as do Catholics, Muslims, and Jews, and it falls short, for as Gal. 2:16 says, by the law of works will no flesh be justified in His sight. We also are strong believers in baptism through immersion, but also don't believe it saves a person, for that would be by works, and not faith alone. We believe Jesus is the One by whom all creation is made, that He physically came down to earth as sent by the heavenly Father, to pay for the sins of "whosoever believeth in Him." We believe Mary simply a chosen vessel, a gateway into this world for her Creator to come into this world, that He neither needed her nor that she is sinless. On a related note, we believe that no one but God, not Mary, Mohammed, or any Baptist has or ever will be sinless. As Romans 3:19 says, the whole world is guilty before God. We believe we are all evil sinners in need of God's mercy, and as a result can't condemn others to make ourselves look better, since we're all guilty of eternal separation from God. We believe it's not about being good people, but finding mercy and being "born again" through repentance, faith in Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins on the cross, and asking Him into our hearts as we submit them and our will to Him. We believe the 2 great commandments are as Jesus said, to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and to love others as ourselves (Mt. 22:36-40). We don't say that you're saved by being part of any church or denomination, by saying some special prayer, being baptized, etc... but rather through a heart transaction where one repents of their sins, trusts in Jesus and His payment to gain them forgiveness of sins and eternal life, and forever surrenders their heart to Him afterwards. We don't believe works save, but that works and love for others should appear given time, the evidence of a changed life and a changed heart. We can't see the heart transaction, but can see the fruits it should produce. We uphold the Bible as our sole rule of faith, and while other resources may prove valuable or beneficial, they are to be ultimately compared with the Bible. There's nothing wrong with doctrines, traditions, or writings, but ultimately they should agree with the Bible. If not, then there's a problem. While we believe in loving the sinner, we in no way will budge about what the Bible says is wrong. We can in love admit we all fall short of the glory of God and His standard of perfection, but still uphold the Bible as utter truth in its condemnation of what sin is. There are a lot of things Baptists can agree to disagree on, but what matters is preaching the way to salvation which lies solely through Jesus Christ and not works, glorifying Jesus, and upholding the Bible. As long as we're right about salvation there's a lot we can be off on. What matters is that we are genuinely looking to the Bible for our answers.
  • There is a difference in being a baptist and a independant fundamental Baptist. Alot of churches call themselves "baptist" but are completly different in doctrine than the IFB. The IFB gave themselves that name to seperate themselves from the name "baptist" and some of the errors some churches teach. Some baptist churches used to be biblical in what they taught but have put aside what the bible says and have turned to the lusts of the flesh.The IFB stay true to what the bible says and hold the bible up as the only Authority. I am a IFB and at our church we teach what the bible says. We don't take anything out just like God told us not to do. We believe it cover to cover. We believe In the triniy, God the father, Jesus the son, and the Holy Spirit.(and they are one) We believe that Christ came in the form of flesh and died at Cavary for our sins. We believe He was Buried and three days later rose again and is now seated at the right hand of God.We believe in a literal hell and that "it is not Gods will that any man perish". We belive that in order to go to heaven you must be saved. Only by putting your trust in Chist alone will save you. We do not believe that you need to work for your salvation. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8) We believe that baptism is full emersion and it is a commandment of God. We believe it is a picture of Christs death on the cross. We believe that baptism does not save you. We that the children of God must be seperated from the world. "be Ye Holy for I am Holy" We believe that christ will come again and rature His children from this world.We believe that in heaven we will worship God.
  • Jesus died on the cross for your sins. Any sin is as bad as the next. Although public opinion says that a murder is much worse than telling a lie, they are both in fact, rebellion against God, and therefore sin. In Catholicism, you have menial and mortal sins, but Baptists do not believe this. Once you have accepted christ as your savior, it is impossible to lose him.

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