History of Baptists Essay

In the world of science, before anything is accepted it must be proven that it is valid. In the world that we live in order for someone to believe something you have to have proof. For example, in order for a theory to be accepted in science it has to be tested. When Newton came up with the theory that mass attracts every other mass in the universe and etc, he had to go through different steps to make his theory be considered a theory. For example, he had to create a hypothesis, test it, and provide notes and visuals for it to be considered. Just like scientists have to go through protocols for getting their theories accepted, the books in the bible have to as well to be considered a scripture. This process would be known as canonicity. Canonicity is the standard that books had to meet to be recognized as a book of the bible. In the New Testament, just because a book was written it was not just accepted in the bible. It had to go through guidelines as well. According to Bible.org, deciding which books were inspired seems like a human process (bible.org). The Christians would meet up and determine together as a whole whether or not the books were inspired. So this process of determining the validity of a book of the bible is like when a jury comes together to reach a verdict in a case. Everyone works together to determine whether the person is guilty or innocent. When it comes to do the validity of books of

After a century had passed in the colonies of America, religious piety had diminished. Some churchgoers felt like the sermon being preached were old and over-used. Some ministers, felt like the parishioners had lost zeal of their original belief in Calvinism. Many conflicts and opinions arose challenging the old religion. Some said that individuals might be able to save themselves from predetermined damnation by good works. Others, specifically the Arminians, said individual free will and not divine predestination determined a person’s eternal fate. Due to these challenging concepts, dubbed heresies, the clergy decided it wasn’t completely necessary for members of the church to be converted. However, this plan, known as the Half-Way Covenant,

According to Christianity, special revelation is located in the Bible, and Jesus Christ himself. Other world religions have their own sacred books as well. For each of these religions, the nature of scripture is very different. Apart from the considerations of historical accuracy and textual transmission, there is an even more fundamental set of distinctions in how scriptures are viewed in their own setting that make for a strong incompatibility between the Bible and other world scriptures. The ignoring of this reality is called the “Protestant Fallacy”. This fallacy is committed when protestant Christians try to apply their understanding of the role of the Bible to other religions and their holy writings. Observing the proper distinctions

In the study of Christian theology, scripture plays an essential role in the revelation of the Doctrine of God. Scriptures are “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) words, written by the Holy Spirit through divine inspiration of prophets. They are necessary for the proper understanding of the doctrine of God, the self-revelation of God, the proof of God’s existence, and for the discernment of false doctrines.

This issue was doctrinal. In chapters 4 and 5, Smith takes boundless lengths to show that historically Baptists have detained that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and it alone stands as the principal authority in all substances of doctrine. This did not refute the use of confessions. Baptist associations did use confessions to express their views and differentiate themselves from other denominations. Though Baptists also contributed to the notion of soul liberty, this was not seen as a chance to advance from confessional ethics. (Pp. 11-12)

If the burden of authorship were laid on man, it would like the foresight of God for the future. Because God divinely authored the Bible, he can also use it to speak to us today despite the difference in culture from the date of its authorship to now. That does not mean that we can just find any meaning we want and assume that God planted it there, it is still our responsibility to ensure that we are using proper study habits to decipher the word. One of the biggest issues I see today is that we have a habit of taking scripture out of context reading only the portion of the verse that supports our thoughts or not taking into consideration the context of who the scripture was directed towards or the culture of that time. During the reading in this week’s session, there were two things that stood out to me. McGrath notes in the Christian Theology Reader that under Hodge’s view “Biblical Authority is specifically linked with the correct Biblical interpretation” (McGrath, 2011, p. 111) and that the Bible is “absolutely infallible when interpreted in the same sense intended, and hence are clothed with absolute divine authority” (McGrath, 2011, p.

The Word of God states in 1 Timothy 4:16: “Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.” One’s denomination must mirror the Word of God and give glory to Jesus Christ, choosing a denomination that does not fulfil this is unbiblical. The Southern Baptist denomination body highly exalts Jesus Christ in its members’ everyday life, crediting the only way to heaven is to believe in Jesus Christ. “The Southern Baptist denomination holds the Scriptures to be the ultimate source of

According to the United Methodist Church Scripture is considered the primary source and standard for Christian doctrine.

In the wake of religious disunity and doctrinal questioning caused by Luther's criticism of the Church, many reformers struck out, hoping to continue the reformation called for by Luther and his writings. One of the most influential of these reformers, John Calvin, left behind a lasting impact on Europe and Protestantism. Calvin, like Luther scoured the Bible for “God's truth”. Instead of arriving at the same conclusion Luther, Calvin happened upon a unique dogma. His findings were contrary to those of Luther, primarily in the achievement of salvation.

Martin Luther's and Calvin's ideas were viewed as similar because they both agreed that religious authority relied on the Bible, rather than the ideologies of the Pope. They believed that all should serve God in his individual form. Luther and Calvin also both believed in the idea of Predestination. Luther created this idea by analyzing St Paul's letter to the Romans and concluded his major doctrine is justification by faith alone. Through this quote, it is said, “Luther defined what became a central tenet of the reform movement; faith in Christ and his promise of salvation is all that a Christian needs to be saved from a sin” (Luther 287).

These sacrilegious men are refuted by the Apostle’s words that the Church “is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.” If the Church has been founded on these writings from the very beginning, it is a false notion that the power of judging the Scripture belongs to the Church. Instead, the Church must perform a duty of piety by treating Scripture with immediate veneration (worship).

Scripture, the saving revelation of God in Jesus Christ, addresses us with full divine authority in its total extent and in all its parts, and therefore the CRC speaks of the Bible as the inspired and infallible Word of God.

Generally, most biblical scholars agree that scripture’s authority is found in the sovereign God Himself; but their doctrinal positions differ from that point. Wisely enough, Wright avoids the “locked suitcase” melee on biblical inerrancy or biblical infallibility. Instead, he focused on God’s purpose for scripture and why it is demonstrably authoritative. Scriptures are not merely human books or collections of human opinion; they are books which contain God 's revelation of

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Origen was one of the original to believe that predestination and will of man plays an important role in the doctrine of election. The Scripture he uses is 2 Timothy 2:20-21 to where men can be saved. John Chrysostom endorsed the thought on how salvation is performed. Semi-Pelagians also opposed unconditional because of human freedom and preaching would be pointless. The Catholics believe the part of free choice and being in the grace of God. James Arminius disagreed with Calvinist on a few issues like atonement and will of man. He formulated major proclamations of the process of salvation. James’ articles were dismissed at Synod of Dort for being against the Scriptures and where the articles from Calvin were accepted for the churches to teach. John Wesley was strongly against unconditional and Calvinism that he gave reasons why the theory