Catholic vs Southern Baptist

[Dettingen]

“they sure have a bunch of rules to follow”

I guess legalism is a relative thing—to me, it looks like Catholics have an awful lot of rules to follow! Check out the Ask An Apologist forum on this site: can I go to a gay wedding? Why did the priest call out someone for making the sign of the cross over the torso instead of the face? Can we celebrate Halloween? Can my bishop order me to vote? Can the priest force me to receive the Eucharist by intinction? What about reception in hand rather than on tongue? Kneeling or standing? What do I do when my small son spits out the Host? Should we thump our bosom when repenting of sin during the Mass, or was that rule eliminated by Vatican II? And so on. Maybe it just looks like a bunch of rules when you’re on the outside.

“the church will decide if they can even join.”

An important distinction: joining a congregation is akin to joining any voluntary organization. It’s not necessary to be a member of any specific congregation to be saved. Salvation is a one-to-One thing, and church membership is for support, worship, and carrying out one’s faith.

For what it is worth, I’ve never seen anyone rejected.

“they will be shunned by the entire congregation”

And this is different from excommunication how?

Shunning is only a formal practice among the Plain People such as the Amish and Mennonites. Informal ‘shunning’ or unfriendliness can happen in any group of people.

My mother divorced her first husband, my father, and remarried a nice man. My stepfather is (imo) a good-hearted man to tries heroically to live his faith. He served our congregation faithfully, giving his prayers, presence, and gifts informally. But when he wanted to serve our congregation in a more formal way, he was rejected on account of my mother’s divorce. He was badly hurt by this rejection and left the congregation of his own accord. But there was no formal shunning as you describe it–he would have been welcome to stay and contribute as he had previously.

IMO, churches ought to be hospitals for sinners, not museums for perfect people.

As for removal of elders–because church membership is completely separate from salvation, removing an elder doesn’t affect his status with God. Church membership and salvation are entirely different things! (Though often I have heard the two terms conflated in some circles.)

Who gives a congregation the authority to remove and elder (dismiss a Sunday School teacher, hire a pastor, etc.) No one. As each congregation is unitary, the people decide. The larger the congregation, the more likely there’s committees involved.

Perhaps an analogy will help:

To me, the Roman Catholic Church lookes like it has an emperor on top, with client kings who follow the emperor’s (Pope’s) directions. So power flows from the top down, God, Pope, bishops, and so on.

In contrast, Baptists resemble the political structure of the United States. Authority rests with the people, who prayerfully strive to carry out God’s directions. The people then delegate some decisions to representatives (Congress, committees). Individual congregations can, like independent nations, join mutual interest groups such as the Southern Baptist Convention or NATO.

About mocking–I’m really sorry about that. My co-religionists have done a great deal of harm over the years and I truly regret it. I think that the criticism/complaints/mocking arise out of ignorance and fear, and I hope you will be able to forgive it.

Have I cleared up some of your confusions?

Pax,

Dettingen

 

[cbmitch]

In the baptist churches I attended, we did not believe that you can do whatever you want once you’re saved. That isn’t what it means. Everyone sins. No matter if they are saved or not. When you get saved, you accept Jesus as your lord and saviour, and you accept him into your heart. This is supposed to change your life. You become a better person. What OSAS means to me is that once I’m saved, if I commit a sin, which I will, I can always say, “God, I know I’ve sinned. I’m sorry for that sin.” And I’ll be forgiven. It basically means that you don’t need to say any special prayers or do any specific works to keep your salvation. God won’t just suddenly say, “know what? you aren’t saved anymore.” It’s not necessarily, “once forgiven, always forgiven.” It’s SAVED. You still need to ask God for forgiveness when you know you’ve sinned. You still have to be sorry for sinning. You still have to know you’ve committed a wrong act. And if you keep doing the same thing over and over, then when you ask God to forgive you, and you apologize for your sins, then you aren’t genuinely sorry, or you’d make an effort to stop. And if you aren’t genuine, then how can you say you’re saved?

Now, Baptism. No, we don’t believe in Baptizing babies. We believe that to be saved, and then baptized, you have to accept Jesus into your heart and believe that he is our Lord and Saviour. Babies can’t accept Jesus because they don’t understand. Some baptists believe baptism is necessary to be saved. Some don’t. I don’t. I believe if you are saved in your heart, that’s all that is required Meaning if you’re an elderly person, and you convert and get saved, but say are bedridden, you won’t go to hell just because you can’t be baptized. I believe Baptism is an important part of the process, but that you won’t go to hell for not doing it. It’s really different to each person/congregation. That said, I don’t believe baptism is only symbolic. My church always taught that when you are submerged in the water, you go under as your old self, and when you come out of the water, you are a new person and you have been washed of your sin. You aren’t SYMBOLICALLY a new person, you really are a new person, and that water really did wash you clean of your sin.

Communion: we don’t use alcohol mostly because saved CHILDREN take communion. Most baptists also dont believe in consuming alcohol. I can tell you that we believe that once you consume it, it becomes Jesus’s flesh and blood in your body. I think of communion like the pledge of allegiance, as far as frequency is concerned. To me, when you say the pledge every single day in school or something, it starts to lose its meaning because most people just do it mindlessly as a routine. Same with communion. When you do it every once in a while, and make it a big deal, you can really see how significant it is.

I had a catholic friend come to a church service with me, and when the preacher told us what verse to turn to, my friend didn’t even know how to look something up in the bible. He had never used one before. That baffled me, because how do you even know what you believe if you’ve never even opened God’s word? I know that probably isn’t typical of most Catholics, but I just wanted to clarify that we use our bibles during the service as well as during bible study.

A lot of baptists dont believe in rock music and such, so mostly we stick to the old hymns. However, that’s changing: when we sing, we are singing to God. We are praising him and glorifying him in song. No matter the type of music. Either way it’s a form or worship.

My preacher went to college. For religious studies. He knows more about the bible than I do. He felt a calling to live his life solely for God. For those reasons he is an authority. But he is governed by God alone, not by officials. And just because he knows more than me, doesn’t mean I don’t have the ability to read scripture for myself and interpret it personally. I can ask him questions, ask for guidance; but I still have the authority to read and interpret for myself, because I also have Jesus in my heart, and he leads me as I read his word.

We believe if you sin, you confess it to God. You apologize to God. And only God can forgive you. I understand Catholics don’t “pray to saints” or “worship saints.” We just don’t feel the need for them. We have a direct line to God. We go directly to God, and he listens. He is omnipresent and all knowing, so a saint has no more access to him than we do.

As for asking Deacons/Preachers to step down…this has nothing to do with their salvation. A Deacon, for instance, could have had an affair with a woman other than his wife. And the church finds out. Now, he may have asked for forgiveness and he may be right with God. The church may just no longer want him in a position in the church serving as an example to others. I disagree with this practice. I disagree because baptists believe all sins are equal, and all people sin. So to me, asking someone to step down for sinning is hypocritical. In that case no one should have any position in the church. Also, we don’t practice excommunication or anything similar to it.

Altar Call/Invitation: if you’ve listened to the sermon, and you feel moved, or if you’ve been going through something, and you need some support, or you’re ready to accept Christ, you can go to the front when we’re praying quietly to ourselves with our eyes closed so that its semi private, and pray at the altar. Typically someone, maybe the preacher, might join you in prayer and ask if you need for them to pray for you about anything, or talk about anything, or even pray WITH you right there. Then you can sit back down, or you might decide to then publically declare your faith or maybe share a personal testimony.

 

[pipper]

The reason we Catholics dont tote our bibles to Mass is the the readings are already printed in the Missalets or Missals.

For bible study do ring our bible,but there are often bibles inthe classroom already.

What do you mean altar? I have never seen an altarin a Baptist church?

 

[OmegaSupreme]

What do you mean altar? I have never seen an altarin a Baptist church?

The “altar” in a baptist church is usually either a table down in front of the pulpit or just the general area in front of the pulpit. A Baptist “altar” has no similarity in function whatsoever with a Catholic altar.

 

[pipper]

pity that. In a Catholic church the altar is the heart and focal point of worship,not a pulpit. We dont worship the Bible we worship God and God alone.

And no we dont worship Mary or the saints.

 

[Filioque]

Communion: we don’t use alcohol mostly because saved CHILDREN take communion. Most baptists also dont believe in consuming alcohol. I can tell you that we believe that once you consume it, it becomes Jesus’s flesh and blood in your body. I think of communion like the pledge of allegiance, as far as frequency is concerned. To me, when you say the pledge every single day in school or something, it starts to lose its meaning because most people just do it mindlessly as a routine. Same with communion. When you do it every once in a while, and make it a big deal, you can really see how significant it is.

Well it does remind me of a joke that a Baptist Minister I used to know told. Q “How can you tell a Baptist from a Methodist in a Liquor Store?” A “The Methodist says hello, and does not try to duck and hide.”

Since Jesus Himself used wine, (Not grape juice as many Baptists claim) as a Jew, wine and not grape juice is required for ritual use. Grape juice was really not drunk until pasturization was invented. When Jesus turned the water into wine as Mary’s request, even though His time had not come, it was not a non-alcoholic drink, but the Good wine.

Since Baptists seem to believe that the bread and wine are changed by their faith, and not by Jesus command and authority, then I can see why one would not want to have frequent communion. However it begs the question, should we not give honor to God, and pray every day so that it will mean more to us when we do get around to praying? Not poking fun at your stated beliefs, just wondering where the spiritual logic is.

 

[DerekD]

Statement of beliefs:

sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp#i

My mother in law is a little angry that both my wife and her soon to be married younger daughter both started their RCIA classes last night.

I would say “grieved” is a better way to put it.

 

[DerekD]

The reason we Catholics dont tote our bibles to Mass is the the readings are already printed in the Missalets or Missals.

For bible study do ring our bible,but there are often bibles inthe classroom already.

What do you mean altar? I have never seen an altarin a Baptist church?

There is no incentive to bring your Bible, much less study it; any conclusions you would drawl will not be considered because your church decided it has the authority to interpret despite what the word of God has already said, which is the HS leads and guides each individual, not through a religious body.

I know a few Catholics and most rarely read their Bibles; they are more concerned about the do’s and don’t of the church. If I do this or is it okay to do this, should I do this etc.

 

[Adonia]

Just remember, they will come at you with this and with that. It’s all about Biblical interpretation - theirs and ours. Be strong in your faith

 

[cbmitch]

Since Baptists seem to believe that the bread and wine are changed by their faith, and not by Jesus command and authority, then I can see why one would not want to have frequent communion. However it begs the question, should we not give honor to God, and pray every day so that it will mean more to us when we do get around to praying? Not poking fun at your stated beliefs, just wondering where the spiritual logic is.

Well, I’m not entirely sure what you mean when you say that Baptists seem to believe that the bread and wine are changed by their faith and not by Jesus…Jesus said to partake of his flesh and blood and we do. Perhaps Catholics and Baptists DO see it differently, so for right now I’m going to leave that one alone, and I’ll come back to it after I think about it a little.

Your question about praying to God and honoring him is a good one. Communion for us is a solemn occassion that we devote an entire church service to when we do it. We have a sermon about what Jesus said, what is required to take communion, what it means…we pray over it. For us, taking communion is a very serious thing, and just like Catholocism, we believe if you take communion and aren’t in a state of “grace” you can get sick and even die, because of course you ARE drinking his blood and eating his flesh and doing so without following the proper guidelines is very wrong. Perhaps that has a little to do with why we do it rarely. It’s just very very serious to us. I understand it’s serious for Catholics too, and maybe the difference is, with us devoting a whole service to communion, if we did it every sunday then we’d never hear a sermon about anything else, lol.

As for praying and honoring God. We believe in having a personal relationship with Christ. Prayer for many isn’t just a specific thing they do, but often a constant dialogue inside of them with God. We believe you can talk to God all day if you’d like, and many people pray many times a day. We honor God through music, prayer, missions…I see what you’re saying about communion sparingly and then honoring God sparingly, but I think it’s more about not only length of ceremony, but also solemnity of ceremony. Praising God is happy and you do it all the time. But communion is solemn and not to be taken lightly, and that’s what we don’t want to happen, so by doing it sparingly, we can go to great pains to keep it as serious, solemn, and well explained as we have it.

I hope that kind of answered your question about the difference there. It’s difficult for me to explain the difference because for me it’s just an obvious one if you go sit in a communion service in a baptist church. If you sit through it, you know why we dont do it often, lol. That’s really the best I can tell you.

Oh, and yes, the altar is just a table or area in front of the pulpit.

We don’t worship the bible either, we just use it a LOT because we don’t have a lot of beliefs already set out for us (as each baptist church stands alone in it’s particular set of beliefs). We believe that our only authority on religious faith is the bible because God gave it to us for that purpose. We believe God dwells within us all and as such gives us the authority and inspiration to seek the truth out in the bible for ourselves. So we don’t worship it.

I know you don’t worship Mary or the Saints.

 

[judechild]

To me, the Roman Catholic Church lookes like it has an emperor on top, with client kings who follow the emperor’s (Pope’s) directions. So power flows from the top down, God, Pope, bishops, and so on.

You may be interested to know that the Chinese word for “Pope” means “emporer of religion”. However, that is because of the more eccesiastical formality that was native to the Middle Ages. Thankfully, the Pope’s role is primarily paternal, and the last five or so Popes have been putting this “emperor” view to death.

 

[banarick]

There is no incentive to bring your Bible, much less study it; any conclusions you would drawl will not be considered because your church decided it has the authority to interpret despite what the word of God has already said, which is the HS leads and guides each individual, not through a religious body.

I know a few Catholics and most rarely read their Bibles; they are more concerned about the do’s and don’t of the church. If I do this or is it okay to do this, should I do this etc.

 Can you truly believe the Catholics on this website dont read their bibles?

No incentive to study the Bible? CCC 133 quote from Dei Verbum:

“The Church 'forcefully ad specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful…to learn ‘the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ’ (Fhilemon 3:8), by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. 'Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (St Jerome)

The Mass itself is very Biblical and goes through the whole of the Bible over a few years of daily Masses. We are receiving the teachings of Christ from our Apostolic Teachers. After all, Christ sent his teachers, representatives, ambassadors, Apostles, “to go and teach whatsoever He has taught them”

We receive indulgences for reading the Bible. Even if you do not agree with indulgences you cannot deny that they are not an incentive to Catholics.

 

[Bill_Pick]

The “altar” in a baptist church is usually either a table down in front of the pulpit or just the general area in front of the pulpit. A Baptist “altar” has no similarity in function whatsoever with a Catholic altar.

A table down in front is that where you worship the Bible

 

[Janet1983]

Telling the truth, Baptists have no zero sacraments. They call baptism and the “Lord’s Supper” ordinances, These 2 ordinances are symbolic only and have no spiritual effect.

The entire faith of baptists consists of only one thing and that is “gettin saved” once one is “saved” he can do anything they want and still go to heaven.

OSAS came from Calvinism where it is called “the perseverance of the saints”. Southern Baptists are semi Calvinistic. But primative Baptists (also called hard shell Baptists) are completely Calvinistic, they never evangelise since they beleive that God has predestined some for heaven and most of us for hell. There is nothing we can do to change it and evangelising would be a waste of time.

Some Baptist traditions I can think of are altar calls. Sermon centered services. Unvested clergy, unparticipative extempore prayer, and the “Lord’s Supper” only four times a year as an addition to and after the usual preaching service. They take “supper” literally and usually observe it after the evening service. Most Baptists go to church 3xs a week twice on sunday and then on wednesday evening they go to “prayer meeting”.

Another Baptist tradition is never singing the Amens at the end of hymns even when amens are in the “song book” they are never sung.

Another Baptist tradition from old time Baptists is they love the piano and dislike the organ. They will have a grand piano on the gospel side and an electric organ console on the epistle side. But the organ when played is played very softly.

And now days they have rock or country bands. And the choir which sits across the front of the church sings “specials” often to only a tape.

A Baptist church is mostly arranged in only one way. The Lord’s Supper table very small is on the floor at the front. Some Baptist congregations do away with if completey only moving it in for the rare “Lords Supper” they never have a cross on it and never candles, occasionaly flowers and an open bible.

Behind the table is and elevated pulpit for the preacher to stand behind and not in.

Behind the pulpit is the choir, and at the very back usually behind curtians and sometimes with a painting of a river flowing into it is the pool for submerrsion type baptisms.

Wow that’s a pretty good wrap-up for a change… Way better than the bashing I saw further down the line…
We have most of the things you mentioned here in our church too…
The Lord’s Supper and Baptisms are ordinances. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated every second month (6x a year).
We do however evangelize and have a mission in the city to help out the needy… On Sunday we have a morning and an afternoon service and on Wednesday we have prayer meetings… We usually get a rather long list with names on those meetings to take home and pray for them. We have both an organ and a piano in the sanctuary and they are both being used making is a very beautiful sound. The altar is on the floor in front of the stairs and in front of the elevated pulpit… The choir is right behind that and behind the choir is the baptismal pool. Above the baptismal pool hangs a life-size wooden cross with lamps mounted behind it. The choir usually sings to support the congregation… sometimes we do the special music too and yes, we use a recording for accompaniment… Special music is done every week and we do not have a professional orchestra. In many cases individual members of the congregation will volunteer to do the special music. Usually a praise song is chosen for this… Now that the Christmas cantata is coming up the choir is preoccupied with that and we don’t do any specials.
There is childcare for the really little ones during the service. Pre-schoolers usually leave the sanctuary as do grade-schoolers… they are being instructed separately and according to their own special need. A pre-schooler would not understand the sermon as well and so they are getting an individual instruction designed for them on the topic of the sermon. I know that there are Catholic churches in Germany that do the same thing (dismiss the younger kids after the Our Father and instruct them upstairs… happens in the parish I was baptized in as a baby).
Oh and there is something else: All age groups go to Sunday school before the morning service and there is another study group before the evening service.

 

[Filioque]

Communion for us is a solemn occassion that we devote an entire church service to when we do it. We have a sermon about what Jesus said, what is required to take communion, what it means…we pray over it. For us, taking communion is a very serious thing, and just like Catholocism, we believe if you take communion and aren’t in a state of “grace” you can get sick and even die, because of course you ARE drinking his blood and eating his flesh and doing so without following the proper guidelines is very wrong. Perhaps that has a little to do with why we do it rarely. It’s just very very serious to us. I understand it’s serious for Catholics too, and maybe the difference is, with us devoting a whole service to communion, if we did it every sunday then we’d never hear a sermon about anything else, lol…

Catholics also feel the reception of Communion is a solemn occasion, and we too are admonished, as well as aknowledge how important it is. We are able to devote a “whole” service that combines the primary focus, (the Worship of God) Readings from Sacred Scripture, on Sundays and major feasts a Sermon, and the reception of Communion, in which we make Anamensis as Jesus commanded. Really does not pose a problem for Catholics or Orthodox Christians.

As for praying and honoring God. We believe in having a personal relationship with Christ. Prayer for many isn’t just a specific thing they do, but often a constant dialogue inside of them with God. We believe you can talk to God all day if you’d like, and many people pray many times a day. We honor God through music, prayer, missions…I see what you’re saying about communion sparingly and then honoring God sparingly, but I think it’s more about not only length of ceremony, but also solemnity of ceremony. Praising God is happy and you do it all the time. But communion is solemn and not to be taken lightly, and that’s what we don’t want to happen, so by doing it sparingly, we can go to great pains to keep it as serious, solemn, and well explained as we have it…

Sounds for the most part like the Catholic teachings and practices with a few points removed. We do believe in having a personal realationship with Christ, but also a corporate relationship. If we focus only on the personal and omit the corporate, we are no longer living as the Body of Christ, but are disjointed each of us wandering on our own path. Communion is both solemn and joyful. We feed our bodies every day, why not feed our souls eacb day too?

I hope that kind of answered your question about the difference there. It’s difficult for me to explain the difference because for me it’s just an obvious one if you go sit in a communion service in a baptist church. If you sit through it, you know why we dont do it often, lol. That’s really the best I can tell you.

I’ve sat through communion services in various Protestant sects, including Sothern and Primitive Baptist rituals of communion when I was in the process of converting from Judaism to Chrisitianity. I found while the congregation may have benefited from them, for me they seemed as if someone set the table for dinner, but nobody showed up. When I went to the Catholic Church, where like many Protestants many Jews have a great aversion to, I found that there Jesus made sense as the Messiah and Savior of not just Israel but of the world. After Mass, I wanted to know Jesus better.

 

[cbmitch]

It sounds then like Catholocism is perfect for you. I think the whole point of whatever religion you take part in is that it should make you want to know Christ better. It should make you want to get closer to him. If, as a Christian, you feel that communion should be a ritual performed every day or once a week, or once a month, or every two months, then I think that’s what’s right for you. I don’t personally believe that the bible spells out specifically how often it should be done. I personally see nothing wrong with the way Catholics do it, nor do I see a problem with the way Baptists do it. Filioque, it looks like you’ve been to all kinds of services and for you Catholocism hits home. I went to a church today, and there was a line in their church bulletin that said, “If you already have a church home, then we respect your relationship with Christ. If you don’t then we invite you into our congregation.” I think that sums up how I feel personally. For me Catholocism feels like it lacks soul and has a bit too much routine. For you a protestant communion may have felt the same way. It’s interesting how different people can come away with such completely different experiences. We could probably attend the exact same Mass and leave with vastly different opinions. To me thats a big part of experiencing Christ.

 

[pipper]

Wow that’s a pretty good wrap-up for a change… Way better than the bashing I saw further down the line…
We have most of the things you mentioned here in our church too…
The Lord’s Supper and Baptisms are ordinances. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated every second month (6x a year).
We do however evangelize and have a mission in the city to help out the needy… On Sunday we have a morning and an afternoon service and on Wednesday we have prayer meetings… We usually get a rather long list with names on those meetings to take home and pray for them. We have both an organ and a piano in the sanctuary and they are both being used making is a very beautiful sound. The altar is on the floor in front of the stairs and in front of the elevated pulpit… The choir is right behind that and behind the choir is the baptismal pool. Above the baptismal pool hangs a life-size wooden cross with lamps mounted behind it. The choir usually sings to support the congregation… sometimes we do the special music too and yes, we use a recording for accompaniment… Special music is done every week and we do not have a professional orchestra. In many cases individual members of the congregation will volunteer to do the special music. Usually a praise song is chosen for this… Now that the Christmas cantata is coming up the choir is preoccupied with that and we don’t do any specials.
There is childcare for the really little ones during the service. Pre-schoolers usually leave the sanctuary as do grade-schoolers… they are being instructed separately and according to their own special need. A pre-schooler would not understand the sermon as well and so they are getting an individual instruction designed for them on the topic of the sermon. I know that there are Catholic churches in Germany that do the same thing (dismiss the younger kids after the Our Father and instruct them upstairs… happens in the parish I was baptized in as a baby).
Oh and there is something else: All age groups go to Sunday school before the morning service and there is another study group before the evening service.

Thanks Janet I dont like to bash any more than you! You are a nice Baptist and I thank you for it.

Wish all Baptists were as nice as you, but Derek is not he likes to bash as well .

He should learn the truth about the Catholic church and then he would be more understanding of differences.

You were baptised Catholic and I Baptist and we uunderstand the differences with out bashing each other, We ARE all Christians after all,

 

[rev_kevin]

A table down in front is that where you worship the Bible

Bill my firend. I can’t speak for all Baptist Churches but at my Church we do not worship the Bible. We teach and preach from the Bible. The Bible is what I discribe as the word of God and on a humors side it stands for B-basic
I-instructions
B-before
L-leaving
E-earth
As far a the table goes, we do not call it a altar, its where we have the Lords Supper. In the begining a altar was used for sacrifice of animals to God which is not done anymore after Jesus died on the cross. May I ask you what a altar is in your faith.

 

[KEVIN_WILCOX]

Thanks Janet I dont like to bash any more than you! You are a nice Baptist and I thank you for it.

Wish all Baptists were as nice as you, but Derek is not he likes to bash as well .

He should learn the truth about the Catholic church and then he would be more understanding of differences.

You were baptised Catholic and I Baptist and we uunderstand the differences with out bashing each other, We ARE all Christians after all,

I am a Catholic, baptised in the Anglican Church, went to Baptist Sunday school, and lived next door for years to the Navigators. Wandered around looking at many different religions - but there’s something that keeps leading me back into the Catholic Church.

When I was a little boy something someone did that has made a big impression on me: Mum was struggling to take a pram over a bridge, many steps, large pram. Everyone passed by, except for one man, a Sikh, never saw him before, never saw him since. Without being asked he helped mum carry the pram over the steps.

Then there are those who divide Catholics from the rest. I was reading a University thesis on social justice yesterday which talked about “Catholics and Christians”. Troubled me.

 

[DerekD]

Thanks Janet I dont like to bash any more than you! You are a nice Baptist and I thank you for it.

Wish all Baptists were as nice as you, but Derek is not he likes to bash as well .

He should learn the truth about the Catholic church and then he would be more understanding of differences.

You were baptised Catholic and I Baptist and we uunderstand the differences with out bashing each other, We ARE all Christians after all,

You stand guilty of the same as you accuse me by your post. I tell you the truth from the word of God and you don’t like the truth. Not everyone saying they are a Christian is a Christian; most are not according to the Bible.

Two things make it easy to distinquish a professor from a possessor 1) what is the basis of salvation, the good news and 2) what is one’s true view on the veracity of Scripture as put in practice.