History of Baptists Essay

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)

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

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.

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.

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).

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.”

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).

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

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

I believe that scripture is the infallible Word of God, divinely inspired by God through human hands, for the teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training of Christians and forming the basis of the Christian life and guiding them on the path to Christ. I believe that scripture is infallible rather than inerrant, because human writers through which God spoke can still make mistakes. However, Matthew 24:35 reminds us that God’s word is true in all ages and places. 2 Timothy 3:16 gives reasons why it is import for believes to use the scripture such as teaching and correcting. Scripture guides us along the path we should as evidences by Psalms 119:105 comparing Scripture to a lamp to show us the way. I have also personal experienced the wisdom that the scriptures can offer to those who need guidance. I also believe that scripture should be the main point of guidance, which is something that my church has taught me such I was young. Matthew 7:24 instructs us to build our house on the rock (scripture) which is the most solid place to rest our life.

That God decreed to leave some in the common misery and not to bestow on them living faith and the grace of conversion. Calvin also believes that God predestined everything for everything that it does, such that God predestined me to be writing this report right now for my religion class, so that this isn't my own free will but it was God's set plan for me. Zanchius, a Reform Theologian, writes that there is most certainly a double predestination and gives passages to prove through God's Word that there is no other way. II Cor. 4:3 "If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing." I Peter 2:8 "They stumble because they disobey the message-which is also what they were destined for." II Peter 2:12b "…They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish." Jude 1:4a "For certain men who were marked out for condemnation long ago have secretly slipped among you." He concludes his arguments by saying that God could not erase a name that has been placed in the book of life or add a name because it was from eternity. He quotes Luther with, "This is the very thing that razes the doctrine of free-will from its foundation, to wit, that God's eternal love of some men and hatred of others is immutable and cannot be reversed."

The third section dissects the formation of the New Testament with more historical context and views of other writings defined as Gnostic writing. Bruce explains the spoken words of the apostles carried as much authority as their written words and gives an in depth explanation how the Gospels and Pauline writings were viewed by the Church Fathers. The rest of the section demonstrates the Church Fathers and their views of what was to be considered scripture and the councils that affirmed the inspired scripture.