The Baptists stands out as an interesting denomination. What attracts me to this particular denomination are their practice and their religious views. Unlike many Christian denominations, Baptists practice adult baptism; they believe that baptism should be for those who have made a conscience decision of accepting Jesus as Lord. As for their religious views, Baptists have an ever-changing view on various issues. In many ways the Baptists denomination is very traditional in their old ways but also they also evolve with the new times.
There are three theories concerning the historic origin of the Baptist church. The first is a belief that the Baptist principles had their start in the works of John the Baptist. The second is that modern Baptists owe their beginnings to the Swiss and German Anabaptists movements. Thirdly, that the origin of Baptists does not have a connection with the Mennonites but is associated with the Separatist movement in England during the 16th century.
The Baptist denomination started in the 17th century during the Stuart monarchy, in Britain. An assembly of Puritan Separatists that were exiled in Amsterdam began the first distinguishable Baptist group in 1608. This group of radicals lead by John Smyth and Thomas Helwys, arose in England along side the Puritans. They believed that the Church of England had been corrupted by the Roman Catholic tenents. The radicals believed that Anglicanism could not be transformed and that true believers should separate from it. While in Amsterdam, they developed an idea that baptism should be directed to those who could testify that they were a true believer and that their infant baptism had no standing in the New Testament. To this John Smyth led a small clan into denyin...
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... being able to be saved. To be saved, one must believe that Jesus was the Son of God, born of a virgin, died for our sins, and that God raised Him from the dead and He will come again.
I find most interesting that the Baptist denomination tends to be very traditional, but slowly they are becoming less strict in their ways. They are not part of a large organization; each church is free to choose their own type of worship and who is allowed to be part of the staff. Their views on the Bible are straight forward, believing that the Bible is the word of God, by God and it should be treated as such. Baptists use the Bible as a guide of how to live ones life and what their stance should be on controversial issues. In their beginnings, the Baptists were a small denomination, but through evangelism they have grown into one of the largest denominations in the United States.
Christ/God, the love and kindness, or the good, that the Christian religion conveys, or the inner happiness and the peace of mind, or the reward, that the person would inevetably achieve by following the word of Christ.
I have been to several different types of denominations over the course of my life time. I was raised to go to where the Lord felt was right for me. So, as I was trying to decide what I wanted to write my research paper about the New Salem Association of the Old Regular Baptist stood the most. I find the New Salem Association of the Old Regular Baptist to be very interesting. Their beliefs stand out the most to me. The New Salem Association of the Old Regular Baptist has many different beliefs.
Looking at his most recent mug shot, no one would guess that Warren Jeffs was once a prophet and leader to a church with nearly ten thousand members; without Warren’s dark brown hair and the suits he commonly wore, Warren could be passed off as any other hardened criminal. Despite the dramatic change in his appearance, it is speculated that the convicted sexual predator still manages to maintain control over his people. While the FLDS Church followers believe that Warren is the one and only mouthpiece of God today; the Jehovah’s Witnesses, on the other hand, have a governing body of seven men that lead their denomination. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society is “the oldest and most important of the corporations of the Jehovah's Witnesses”, and the President of the Society used to be part of the governing body. However in October 2000, the current president Don Alden Adams, resigned from the governing body to take on a purely administrative role which has no influence on the doctrine. (WatchTower.org) Adams is considered to be a 50-year veteran of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and like Warren, Adams grew up with his current religion. (Ostling) Don and Warren slightly resemble each other with their long faces, prominent noses and thin framed glasses, however without their shared belief in a god, their appearance is the extent of their likeness. Just as the FLDS Church and the Jehovah’s Witnesses both share a belief in a higher power, they differ greatly in their origin, doctrine, and practices. By comparing these denominations, it will become clear why one is more popular than the other.
Parishioners often ask me if there is really any difference between United Methodist and the Baptists down the road. The answer, “quite a lot,” generally surprises them. When they ask me to explain, I often point them in the direction of our polity and the theology it reflects.
Prior to Enlightenment the colonists, like the Europeans, were guided by their fear of God and rulers. They followed their church’s teachings blindly, as many of them could not read the scripture themselves. As the colonists began to educate themselves, they found that their interpretation of the readings did not always match what was preached to them in Sunday’s sermon. Even with the vamped up services and revivals during the Awakening many continued to question organized religion and separate from the Catholic Church. Many smaller denominations resulted from these breaks caused by the Awakening, leading to the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther even wrote entire doctrines based on his differences of opinion which would eventually form the basis for the Lutheran Church. The colonists also questioned the authority of their European rulers. Many believed that God himself had put their rulers in charge, but with all the political disasters and condemnation they were seeing they began to question their...
In Walter B. Shurden’s The Baptist Identity, he looks at four of the core elements, or freedoms, that shape and mold Baptist theology and their identity. The four core concepts he explores in his book are Bible freedom, soul freedom, church freedom, and religious freedom. While looking at these four values, he examines how they mold and shape the Baptist identity and how they came to be. The origin to each of these values in the Baptist tradition is addressed as well as their benefits and draw backs. He explains their purpose and necessity in the Baptist denomination and how it effects the denomination as a whole.
On May 8, 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, the Southern Baptist Convention separated from the Triennial Convention. However, this separation involved only the home and foreign mission societies. Many churches in the South continued to buy Sunday school materials from the American Baptist Publication Society in Philadelphia.
The Protestant Reformation started with Martin Luther he believed that the Catholic church’s bible did not apply to everyone, he did not want anyone to be left out. So he rejected Churches and began gaining followers,these followers believed in the same things as martin. So they all started a new branch of the Christian religion. Eventually even more branches began to spring up so everyone was happy and believed in
Some characteristics may be presbyterians identify themselves from other denominations and religions by teaching, governmental organization and worship; they use what is called the "Book of Order" as another source of religion. Their origins trace back to Calvinism. Many of the different branches are remains of past splits from larger groups. Some of the splits have been due to controversy based on doctrine, while some have been caused by not agreeing with the confession of faith, which historically serves as an important document giving standards of their religion. Presbyterian history is almost the same as Christianity, but the beginning of Presbyterianism is a movement that occurred during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. As the Catholic Church resisted the reformers, the Church split and different movements became different denominations. The Presbyterian church traces its ancestry ba...
At the start of the sixteenth century, the Reformation had put an ungracious end to the dependent unification that had prevailed under the Roman Catholic Church. In response to the growing sense of corruption in the church, the reformation began. Many people began opposing views of how Christian practices were expressed, which led to the formation and spread of Protestantism. While the Pope is head of the Catholic Church, Protestantism is a general term that refers to Christianity that is not subject to papal authority. (1.)
The Baptist faith believes in the precepts of Trinity, Heaven, and Hell. Surprisingly Mary does not have a special place in the Baptist religion. They don’t teach the assumption of Mary because Mary is seen as just Jesus’ mother. As for the belief in Saints, they really don’t designate saints because they believe that we all have been saved and we are all God’s messengers. Unlike Christianity, Baptists don’t have bishops or Cardinals. The Baptist religion has a much more loose structure than the Catholic faith.
The Doctrine of Salvation (Soteriology). God provides us with everything we need; we see this in Genesis where he provided Adam with everything he needed. Jesus became a man by reincarnation; a verse to support this is John 1:14 “
... is faith, which is to “return to what took place at salvation.” Faith and obedience are keys to spiritual victory as we are called to pursue holiness and be sanctified (Col. 2:11-12).
There are not many religious movements capable of claiming the social impact like the Methodist. Methodism was an evangelical regeneration movement within the Church of England in the early eighteenth century that extended to the American colonies in the 1760s. In both Britain and America, the original members came mostly from the poorest and most marginal social classes. By 1830 the Methodist Episcopal Church had become the largest religious denomination in the United States despite Methodism split into various denominational forms over the years, the Methodist Episcopal Church's most direct successor, the United Methodist Church, is currently the second largest of the Protestant churches in the United States. Taken together, the Methodist family of denominations remains a powerful influence on the nation's religious culture. The success and popularity of Methodism stems from two mutually reinforcing factors. First, Methodists learned to foster a range of powerful religious experiences that they put at the center of their worship. Second, they learned to channel the religious enthusiasm that came from these experiences into a tightly structured organization. This combination proved peculiarly well suited to reaching out to the newly rising class of British industrial workers, who had been largely ignored by the established church. It also proved effective in evangelizing America's expanding frontier population as well as attracting many people from the established churches in the colonies of the Atlantic seaboard.
It became a distinct church in 1536, when Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church. The spread of the British Empire took the teachings of the Church of England around the world. These churches eventually became independent, but still keep links to the Church of England. These churches include, the Methodists, the Episcopalians, the Baptists, the Presbyterians, the Congregationalists, and the Quakers. The Methodists was developed in eighteenth century England, by Charles and Jon Wesley. The name derives from the methodical way they studied the Bible. The Episcopalians were established by the early English settlers. The word Episcopalian means the church is ruled by bishops. The Baptists are one of the largest Protestant denominations. Baptists Churches are self governing, but collaborate on some issues through conferences or unions. The Presbyterians are governed by local elected elders, made up of ministers and lay people. The Congregationalists split with the Church of England and established the Plymouth Colony in North America. The Quakers originated in the seventeenth century England, based on the belief that formal church structures and ministers were unnecessary. They were persecuted in England in the seventeenth century and spread to America as pilgrims in the same period.