Baptists

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Raised Baptist I remember receiving Chick tracts in Sunday School. When children are taught that the eucharist is a “death cookie” and Catholics are actually worshipping a magic wafer representing Egyptian gods what do you expect them to grow into? There is a very dark and paranoid side of some fundamentalist denominations. A heavy emphasis on Revelations and Daniel, secret cabals controlling world governments and Satan operates through the Freemasons, the Pope, the UN, NATO, EU, the World Bank, etc. etc. ad nauseum. It’s such a big ball of BS I wouldn’t even know where to begin knocking a hole in it.
 
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Cairisti:
Well, as someone who was raised in a “moderate” Southern Baptist family, I can honestly say that not all Baptists are thick-headed. 😃
Depends on how strong fundamentalist they are - at least that’s been my experience. The more moderate ( less fundamentalist) the Baptist, the more open I think they are.
The more fundamentalist a Baptist (think Southern Baptist Convention), the harder you may have it.

I’m not Catholic yet, but on the journey there. 😃 Loved Stephen Ray’s book. It’s a good book for Baptists. 🙂
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If you think Southern Baptist Convention is “more” fundamentalist, I can top that…I grew up in a Baptist church that was so fundamentalist they thought Southern Baptist Convention was way too liberal…I was pretty thick-headed for a while but I’m living proof that no matter how thick-headed a person is, the Holy Spirit can still get through to you. 🙂
 
I grew up in a Conference Baptist Church. I can honestly say that I never received any anti-Catholic teaching from that denomination. (Very Swedish background, headquarters in Minneapolis.)

In fact, when we invited the pastor of the church I grew up in to our Easter Vigil Confirmation, he sent us the kindest, most encouraging note, congratulating us and wishing us God’s blessing.
 
My wife and I were friends with a group of Southern Baptists for a couple of years. They were really nice, friendly, generous, helpful people as long as we were “in” with them. We met with them for weekly Bible study at their invitation and even attended their Church a few times. They wanted us to convert to Baptist, of course, but their tactic was to warm fuzzy us to death. They never directly attacked the Catholic Church.

Heaven help us ,however, if we ever tried to get past the “I’m okay, you’re okay (as long as you’re saved)” stuff to discuss anything substantial. We’d get their "you really need to spend less time on theology and more time on ‘knee-ology’ " line. Their bias against anything that smacked “doctrine” or “religion” was astounding and utterly beyond our understanding.

When it became evident to them that we were going to remain Catholic, the friendship cooled. We haven’t spoken to them in a couple of years, even though we all still live in the same small town.

In the end, the thing that both rankled and puzzled me the most was the anti-theological prejudice, rather than the anti-Catholicism.

Justin
 
I attended mostly Baptist churches for 27 years. (I was a ‘buffet line’ protestant and I am very ashamed of it now too:mad: ) They did all have one thing in common. Every Baptist I know, and I know quite a few still, have one thing in common. Can you guess which of the following it is?

A) Belief in the Trinity. (1 God, 3 equal persons, one nature, essence and substance):love:

B) Belief in Subordinationism? (1 God, 3 unequal persons. A form of tritheism and polytheism):confused:

C) Belief that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon and all Catholics need to be ‘saved’ and are not Christians? (Preached regularly from the pulpit):tsktsk:

If you guessed ‘C’ you’d be right. It is open season on Catholics to ‘save’ them. The ones I know and knew are not concerned with bringing God into a Catholics life unless that Catholic first leaves the Catholic Church and become Baptist.

The Baptists I have experience with are all about proselytizing and not evangelizing. There is a big difference.

When my wife stopped attending her Independent Baptist church and began going to mass with me, all of her Baptist ‘friends’ stopped associating with her! This has helped her see the truth in the RCC and the lies in he old church. My priest even told her that she was always welcome in mass but should never feel any pressure to join the Catholic Church. Her Faith, he said, must come freely and is invalid if forced upon her. Our priest talks with her but has never tried to proselytize her and never tells her she is a bad Christian for being a protestant. This is true ‘love’ as stated by St. Paul.

God loves all his children and we must love the Baptists even if some/most of them do not return that love. As Catholics we must have ‘LOVE’ in all we do so lets live what we preach.:love:

PS. I was surprised to find out last year that Baptists cannot even agree on the Trinity!😦 My wife was shocked when she learned this too. Another reason she is ‘looking’ at the Catholic Church.
 
:banghead: Has been my general experiance.

Not that some of them aren’t lovely people, but their idea of following the BIble means following thei preacher’s veiw of the Bible. If their local preacher said their Bible means we should slaughter cats when it says “Love one another” because loving one another means getting rid of pesky cats … better watch your cat.

-D
 
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LisaH:
I really surprised me was that so many of them think that the King James Bible is GOD’S FINAL WORD FOR MANKIND. If you don’t use the KJV you are using a “perverted” or “corrupted” version of the Bible. I’d never heard that before.

So not only are they sola scriptura, they are KJV only.
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Well, you could always hit them with the fact that the KJV is a translation of translations! It was written by a committee of several Protestant scholars. (I’m familar with one of the scholars. 😉 )

At least the Catholic bible is the original. 😃
 
What an interesting thread! I was raised in the Methodist Chruch, but had lots of Baptist relatives. So, I know something about the subject.

I am always amazed at how many different Baptist churches there really are…Conservative, liberal, in between, independent, you name it. There is a very small town near us that has at least four very small Baptist churches in a two block area. Typical.

Some baptists are out and out fundamentalists, while others are more on the Evangelical side…
These Baptists (the Evangelical ones) are far more tolerant of Catholics, and will admit that some of us might actually be real Christians. Some have a very eccumenical view, while others (the very fundamental ones) are very separatist in their views…often not associating with anyone but their own…These guys do not participate in anything with other churches.

**The differences in the many Baptist churhes would take a book to explain…So many. **

I do remember how Baptist churches are prone to “split”…That’s one of the ways so many new Baptist churches come into being…It’s almost an accepted way…ok it IS accepted…to live one’s faith…if you don’t like what is being preached or what is happening in your church, start one of your own, and take as many people with you as you can…
 
I also grew up in the Methodist Church, but just about all of my relatives are Baptist. You name a Baptist church and I have a relative that is a member. My sister and I (and our families) are the only ones in our entire family (16 aunts and uncles on one side and 6 on the other) that are Catholic. After I converted, my stepmother told me that the “family” is worried about my sister and I, that we will burn in hell for being Catholic. :banghead:
 
I lived in South Mississippi. I know many Southern Baptists and >Southern Fundamentalist Baptists. I find that b/c the South is >really big on being friendly, that even though there might be big >disagreements on theology that usually the discussion isn’t >brought up. SOME people might make their ‘statements’ by >refusing to go to infant baptisms or 1st communions, or even not >stepping foot in any other church than theirs (even if its another >Baptist church), but that is basically as far as it goes. People >don’t want to be really confrontational. Well…except when they >are trying to ‘save’ you, but they have to be nice to try to do that.
I lived in Texas and found all Southern Baptist to be friendly, pleasant people. Sure, it got a little hot when, during a Bible study, we discussed St. James’ Epistle, but it was only friendly debate.
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I’ve found that Southern Baptist tend to be family oriented, fun loving people. One of the biggest problems I encountered when having them over for dinner was their dislike of alcohol (hard to have a cold one by yourself).

Cheers
 
I was raised in the Methodist Church. I was saved and joined the Baptist church when I was 17. I was very active in the Baptist Church and taught Sunday school. This was a small missionary Baptist Church in west Georgia with only around 100 or so in attendance each Sunday. I am now 34, married, have a beutiful daughter and a son on the way (next month). After being influenced by a friend who went to seminary and listening to RC Sproul and just being unfulfilled by the Baptist we are now members of a wonderful local Presbyterian (PCA) church.

I have been watching and reading Catholic stuff for about 4 years now. I can honestly say that I am far more informed about the Catholic faith. I am in no way anti-Catholic. In fact I feel really attracted to the Catholic church.

Here are some of my thoughts about the Catholic and Protestant divide. I just don’t see how becoming Catholic makes a person more holy and closer to Christ than a zealous Baptist who loves Jesus with all the heart and soul. At this point I can’t understand who is closer to the authentic truth. Most of the debates I’ve heard seem to be a draw. It just depends on how smart and well informed or how well the person can debate. If I look around and try to see who is closer to the truth just by observing Christians, there doesn’t seem to be any overtly distinguishable differences. The Catholics claim to have the fullnesss of truth; but I have to ask; Where is the proof in the lives of ordinary Catholics? They claim to have access to all this grace by the Eucharist, praying to Mary and the saints and being so close to the historic teaching of the early Church but I have to ask, where is the proof of holiness in their lives? I have to ask why not be a Baptist or a Methodist or a Presbyterian? They can love Jesus just as much as the Catholic.

In Christ,

Russ
 
Sorry about that font. I typed it in MS Word. I wasn’t trying to yell.

Russ
 
Russ - but only in the Catholic Church can you receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Can you be close to Jesus as a ___ (insert your favorite denomination here)? Of course. But as a Catholic, Jesus is close to me in a way other denominations are missing.

My experience with Baptists is limited to a sister who converted about 10 years ago. She’s convinced she’ll be in heaven without her family because we haven’t accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior by her definition.

Kris
 
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kwitz:
Russ - but only in the Catholic Church can you receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Can you be close to Jesus as a ___ (insert your favorite denomination here)? Of course. But as a Catholic, Jesus is close to me in a way other denominations are missing.

My experience with Baptists is limited to a sister who converted about 10 years ago. She’s convinced she’ll be in heaven without her family because we haven’t accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior by her definition.

Kris
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Hi kwitz,
I’ve started trying to find more information and history of the debates between protestants and catholics concerning the eucharist. I know for certain that if I ever move to the Catholic church this will probably be one of the biggest reasons why.

In Christ,
Russ
 
Russ, you will be in my prayers as you take this journey. You will find there are many truths in Catholicism ( and this is great site to be finding those truths) but the Eucharist is a biggie.

Kris
 
My baptist brother-in-law tells me that one of their fundamental disagreements with the Catholic church has to do with the practice of baptizing. The baptists practice the submersion of the entire body and believe this is the one and only correct interpretation of scripture. This is why some of you might wish to refer to them as “thick headed.” They also disagree with the Catholic churches practice of baptizing infants, as do many other protestant denominations.
 
I am the only one in my family who is a practicing Catholic. There are times when it feels a little lonely, but there is no way I could ever go back. I’ve tried, and it just didn’t work…
I do continue to pray that my husband will revert. The funny thing is that I am the convert, and very firm in my Catholic faith, and he is the cradle Catholic, who is now a practicing Protestant. But, I know his heart is still Catholic, so I just keep praying for him.
 
Russ,

I think you bring up a great point. I believe it was G.K. Chesterton who said that Catholicisms biggest obstacle is Catholics (or something like that). I know I sometimes have to question some of my own actions as to whether or not I am showing my faith. 😦
However, Jesus ate with the tax collecters and sinners. He built his Church on a man that he knew would betray him. In fact, all of his followers abandoned him save 3. That does not excuse our failings. We are all called to be Saints. But this should put things in proper prospective.
Look back on history. There is no denying that the Catholic Church has been around for 2000 years. Any serious historian will tell you that. And look at some of the eras that the Church was the most corrupt. There were awful popes and bishops all through our history. And all through our history none of these popes ever taught that what they were doing was right. In fact, they never taught against Catholic Doctrine. If we were not truly the Church founded by Christ Himself, do you really think we would still be here. No one has tried harder to destroy this Church than Catholics themselves. Even we can’t do it.
Just some thoughts to ponder. God Bless All. May we all find peace in His Mercy. 👍
 
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stevem1:
My baptist brother-in-law tells me that one of their fundamental disagreements with the Catholic church has to do with the practice of baptizing. The baptists practice the submersion of the entire body and believe this is the one and only correct interpretation of scripture. This is why some of you might wish to refer to them as “thick headed.” They also disagree with the Catholic churches practice of baptizing infants, as do many other protestant denominations.
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Our Catholic Parish Submerges! 👍
 
I’m an ‘immersed’ Catholic. I was baptized in the Baptist Church.

I was a Fundamentalist Independant Baptist and they make the Southern baptists look like all night ravers. 😉

I tried hard to follow the rules but it was always a bit of a struggle. I’m glad I’m through with all that…

dream wanderer
 
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