Catholic vs Southern Baptist

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Pepeluali

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Hi, I’m new to the forum and this will be my first question out of many to come.

I recently got my friend who is a Southern Baptist to come to my youth group. She really enjoyed it, but now it is my turn to go to her youth group. And I’d just like to know what they believe that is different from us Catholics, what do they believe that we don’t and vice versa. Just so I am prepared to answer any questions they may ask me about my faith and what I believe.

P.S off-topic and I probably should make an entirely different thread for this but can someone explain Sacred Tradition to me? My priest talked about it last week but I didn’t really understand it.
 
Basically, Baptists deny any sacraments. They are sola scriptura (only the Bible is the authority on faith matters). They do not accept the teachings of the Catholic Church on saints. Southern Baptists do not generally like people dancing or drinking.

Sacred Tradition is the list of beliefs that we have from the Apostles. These traditions have been passed down through the years. They are supported, some more than others, by scriptures, but they do not need scripture to be true. Many times, they are used to understand Scriptures.

I hope this helps
 
Pepeluali said:
Hi, I’m new to the forum and this will be my first question out of many to come.

I recently got my friend who is a Southern Baptist to come to my youth group. She really enjoyed it, but now it is my turn to go to her youth group. And I’d just like to know what they believe that is different from us Catholics, what do they believe that we don’t and vice versa. Just so I am prepared to answer any questions they may ask me about my faith and what I believe.

P.S off-topic and I probably should make an entirely different thread for this but can someone explain Sacred Tradition to me? My priest talked about it last week but I didn’t really understand it.
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Most of my family is Southern Baptist - two are ministers. I suggest you go to the Southern Baptist Convention website which contains a lot of info on their beliefs and the reasons for them

www.sbc.net
 
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.
 
Here are the basic differences between Baptists and Catholics. Baptists believe only people who have reached the age of reason can be baptized. There is no scriptural proof for this. Catholics believe anybody can be and should be baptized at any age, especially babies. Peter says “Baptism is for you and your children”. He also says “Let baptism be the new circumcision”. Babies were circumcised at 8 days old. Baptists believe baptism is only valid when the believer is fully immersed in water. No scriptural proof for that either. Catholics believe immersion is not the only way. The apostles went into homes and baptized families. They didn’t drag a bathtub around with them. Jesus said "Baptize everyone in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He didn’t say baptize only the adults in a large body of water. Baptists believe the eucharist is only symbolic and offer it very seldom at their services. And they use crackers and grape juice. Scripture condemns this practice. Catholics believe the eucharist is the real body and blood of Christ. Jesus said “This is my body and blood”. He didn’t say “This is a symbol of my body and blood”. He also said “DO THIS in rememberence of me” a direct order. He didn’t say “If and when you remember me have a symbol of my body and blood”. The eucharist is offered at every Mass, Paul says “You will do this often and proclaim the lords death til he comes. For is this bread not the body of Christ? And is this wine not his blood?” Jesus says “If you do not eat of my flesh and drink of my blood you have no life in you”. He was not speaking symbolicly. When Jesus did speak symbolically he would start off with “There once was…” or “The kingdom of Heaven is like …” Jesus says it’s real. Paul says it’s real. The Bible says it’s real. Baptists must know more than Jesus, Paul, and Bible to claim it is not real. Baptists believe in Bible only and Faith only as the only means means of salvation. The Bible itself disproves both of these doctrines. There are refererences that we will be judged by what we have done and what we have failed to do. That kills the faith-only theory, and Jesus says “You search the scriptures because in them you think you have life”. That debunks the Bible-only belief. So who really follows the Bible? It certainly isn’t the Baptists.
 
scipio337 said:
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.
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I’m a little angry that your mother in law is angry. And if both your wife and sister in law made it through RCIA, all I can say to them is WELCOME TO THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE CHURCH JESUS STARTED!
 
I was born into a Southern Baptist family where my dad was a minister up until I was in my early 20’s. I was confirmed into the Catholic Church in February of this year so I can tell you there are some major differences between the two. Southern Baptists believe that only people who are at the age of reason should be baptized–and by immersion. They completely reject the baptism of infants. My now 1 year old was baptised at 5 months along with my 2 year old on the day of our confirmation.

They also do not take communion every week–my church only did it for special occasions. They also believe that the Bible is the sole source of authority and that anyone has the ability to interpret the scripture.

Another big difference is they do not continually and specifically pray for the dead for much longer than after the person has died. I’ve seen a lot of posts where people say they do not pray for the dead but I have to say that we lifted the recently departed up in prayer and asked for God’s grace to comfort them and their families.

The Southern Baptist church does not venerate Mary as much as the Catholic Church does and when I first came into the Catholic Church I was shocked as to why Baptists didn’t! I was taught growing up that Catholics “worshipped” and “prayed to” Mary. I quickly found out that this was a big misconception the 1st Mass I attended. Since then, there has been no prayer TO Mary or to anyone other than God! There is a major difference between adoration (only due to God alone) and veneration (honoring Mary and the saints). Actually, when my parents were accusing me of praying to Mary and that I was going to Hell, I explained that we ask Mary to pray FOR us just as they ask each other to pray for them.

Southern Baptists do not preach the 7 sacraments – actually I had never heard of them until I went to RCIA.

Southern Baptists also look upon other religions as not being in full communion with God–including Catholics (even though like Baptists we are also Christians!). I know this because it was preached to us during the services many times and that we were to go minister to them and try to bring them into the Baptist church.

Please let me know if you have any other questions (since I used to be Southern Baptist).

Converting to Catholicism was the best decision I have ever made and I have learned more about God through RCIA and Mass than I ever did in Sunday School all of those years. As a result of my conversion, my dad has pretty much stopped talking to me, but that’s his problem and not mine. My trust in the same God and the church has not changed so I know I made the right decision.

Good luck to you
 
Hi Jatkins,

welcome to the forum and thanks for the explanation.

I’m sorry to hear about your father’s attitude, it must be hard for you. I’ll keep you in my prayers.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome. I’m sure my dad will eventually come around to talk to his son. I appreciate your prayers!
 
Sacred Tradition is the life and action of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

It’s taking God’s best, preserving it, and passing it down.

And trust me, Southern Baptists have their own “tradition”, too–they just aren’t aware of it.
 
Cluny said:
Sacred Tradition is the life and action of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

It’s taking God’s best, preserving it, and passing it down.

And trust me, Southern Baptists have their own “tradition”, too–they just aren’t aware of it.
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Hi, I am not too familiar with Southern Baptists. Can you give some examples of what you call their tradition? Thanks.
 
Pepeluali said:
Hi, I’m new to the forum and this will be my first question out of many to come.

I recently got my friend who is a Southern Baptist to come to my youth group. She really enjoyed it, but now it is my turn to go to her youth group. And I’d just like to know what they believe that is different from us Catholics, what do they believe that we don’t and vice versa. Just so I am prepared to answer any questions they may ask me about my faith and what I believe.

P.S off-topic and I probably should make an entirely different thread for this but can someone explain Sacred Tradition to me? My priest talked about it last week but I didn’t really understand it.
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Seeing as everyone got the first part of your question answered… I will answer the second question. Sacred tradition is something that has been passed on over the years. For example, blessing ourselves with holy water would be sacred tradition, the Eucharist, really all of the sacraments, kneeling or standing or sitting can count, pretty much everything we do at Mass and during prayer is sacred tradition.

And I have a question for some of the Catholic converts from Baptist. I live in Georgia, so there are many Baptist people. I was wondering if there is a difference between the church services, other than the Pastor preaching for almost the whole hour, and then some prayer? Also, many of the children usually do not go into the service when the preacher is preaching, why is it only for adults?
Thanks!
 
regression said:
Hi, I am not too familiar with Southern Baptists. Can you give some examples of what you call their tradition? Thanks.
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Just scroll up the page and you’ll see the basic differences between Catholics and Southern Baptists that I posted. The differences is what IS the Southern Baptists tradition.
 
regression said:
Hi, I am not too familiar with Southern Baptists. Can you give some examples of what you call their tradition? Thanks.
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“Sola scriptura” (bible alone) is a man-made tradition. The bible does not support that. This is the biggest and most obvious one.

Next is the “Altar call”, where those who have decided to “accept Jesus” get up and walk to the “Altar” as sign of their acceptance of Him. Interestingly, I found a New York Baptist preacher who has recognized this for the man-made tradition that it is:

redmillsbaptist.org/altarcalls.htm

There are others, but these are the biggies in my book.
 
kristanl said:
Seeing as everyone got the first part of your question answered… I will answer the second question. Sacred tradition is something that has been passed on over the years. For example, blessing ourselves with holy water would be sacred tradition, the Eucharist, really all of the sacraments, kneeling or standing or sitting can count, pretty much everything we do at Mass and during prayer is sacred tradition.

And I have a question for some of the Catholic converts from Baptist. I live in Georgia, so there are many Baptist people. I was wondering if there is a difference between the church services, other than the Pastor preaching for almost the whole hour, and then some prayer? Also, many of the children usually do not go into the service when the preacher is preaching, why is it only for adults?
Thanks!
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I’m a Catholic, husband is Baptist, so I sometimes join him after I’ve gone to Mass. The Baptist service is singing, sermon, altar call, and closing prayer with music. (Collection, too, of course) One of the great things about Baptists is that a very high percentage of them go to Bible Study on Sunday before services. I wish more Catholics saw the value in that. On the other hand, I know many who go to Bible study and skip the service. I enjoy the Baptist service, it’s always uplifting. The singers in my husband’s church are incredible - many recording professionally. But I don’t see their service as God-focused as it could be, probably because I’m so in love with the Mass, which is completely focused on Jesus and not on the performance of the singers and musicians. It is sad that they can’t appreciate the beauty of the Mass.
 
Like others, my father was a southern baptist minister, and from a very young age, I knew or at least suspected that there had to be a better faith than that simplistic, no answers for tough or easy questions church. :confused:

I remember if my dad preached on something that the congregation disagreed with, he may soon be without a “job”, as they could fire their preachers at a whim. But this goes both ways. I also remember my dad while being the pastor of a church, accepting “trial sermon” invitations to other churches, and then if offered a job as pastor with more money, it was God calling him to do it. It seemed to me as an adolescent, it was the money calling. :eek:

Locally, southern baptist churches seem to be focusing on entertainment. But I suppose without the Mass, what do you have other than entertainment? 🤷

I actually do appreciate my southern baptist upbringing. At least it made me hunger for the truth. I converted to Roman Catholic as an adult. :cool:
 
I’m a Southern Baptist convert. I converted in 1970. I raised (not perfectly) my daughter as a Catholic, then she converted to something called non-denomunational. I’ve learned through experience that trying to convert a non-catholic is impossible. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. I accept my non-catholic brothers and pray they will accept me. I’ll go to my grave not knowing why all aren’t Catholic. It’s so obvious and simple that even a child can get it. The devil is very good at what he does. God bless all of you.
 
I am a former Southern Baptist as well. My father is a minister my mom is the church secretary. Let’s just say it didn’t go over so well for them when they found out I was coming into the Catholic church about a year and a half ago. My mom and I still can’t talk about it…

I think the hardest thing for me to accept about the Catholic faith was salvation. SBs belive in “once saved, always saved”. Basically, once you made alter call and accepted Jesus you were going to heaven no matter what. There were many bumps along the road for me, but that was certainly the biggest.

I’m thankful for my Baptist upbringing because I learned a lot about the Bible and had a love for Jesus… and being Catholic completes the picture.
 
Pepeluali said:
Hi, I’m new to the forum and this will be my first question out of many to come.

I recently got my friend who is a Southern Baptist to come to my youth group. She really enjoyed it, but now it is my turn to go to her youth group. And I’d just like to know what they believe that is different from us Catholics, what do they believe that we don’t and vice versa. Just so I am prepared to answer any questions they may ask me about my faith and what I believe.

P.S off-topic and I probably should make an entirely different thread for this but can someone explain Sacred Tradition to me? My priest talked about it last week but I didn’t really understand it.
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Well I do not think we have the space here to tell you all of what Baptist belive about the CC, we have 7 Sacrament they have 2 we believe in the Eucharist they do not, they say we worship Mary and we do not, we say a priest has the power to for give sin they will laugh at you. some will even say we are not Christians, and you must believe in the false teaching of OSAS,the list goes on and on,I hope this will help,BTW Welcome to CA. good to have you and hope you enjoy,may Our Lord bless you,REACE
 
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