I’ve read through this entire thread. It’s discouraging to read for many reasons.
I was born and raised Baptist, in the Conference Baptist denomination, which started out as the Swedish Baptists.
OP, there are many hundreds of different denominations of Baptists, and they run the gamut from extremely liberal to radically conservative in their theology, politics, and church practices.
Itwin described the autonomy of Baptists. This is the hallmark of the denomination–I remember hearing it described once in a seminar about “our origins.” The speaker said that we are very proud of the fact that when we disagree with each other, rather than fighting it out and creating conflict, we just leave and start a new church.
Now I don’t agree with that, and I think it does more harm than good to Christianity to keep splitting away from each other. The late Chuck Colson, a Baptist, said the same in his fantastic book,
Being the Body. This book, written by a Baptist, is one of the reasons I decided to become Catholic–Mr. Colson made a very convincing case of the value of unity among Christians.
But back to your question. What this autonomy means is that every Baptist church that you meet up with will do things differently. In some Baptist churches, you will see ladies in longer dresses, no makeup, and HEADCOVERINGS. Yes, that’s right–veiling is not just for Catholics.
In other Baptist churches, you will see the Wiccans invited to conduct their ceremonies in the church. I actually saw this happen in North Carolina. In this same Baptist church, the pastor was one of the leaders in NARAL, and called me late one night to harangue me for my pro-life columns in the local newspaper.
When it comes to Easter, every Baptist church will do it differently. Some make very little fuss, as they don’t believe that one day is different than any other day, and that every day, Christians should acknowledge the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Why criticize this practice?
Certainly it’s not Catholic, but there is some truth in it. Shouldn’t we all live our everyday lives throughout the year in joyful awareness of Jesus’ glorious resurrection from the dead?
But many Baptist churches, including the one I grew up in, will go all out in a joyous and spectacular Easter celebration! Very very special music will be present by a larger choir than usual, and often an orchestra will be recruited (or perhaps hired nowadays–times have changed). Children’s choirs and teenaged choirs will often sing or do readings. Sometimes the church will present a full play or musical or cantata on Easter or during the weeks leading up to Easter. These take months to prepare, so it is not fair to say that Baptists don’t celebrate any kind of Lent or pre-Easter preparation. If you have ever been involved in producing a church cantata or play, believe me, it’s a sacrifice of time and sanity!
The music alone is worth attending Baptist Easter worship services for. It is wonderful.
Many Baptist churches do extra-special things for the children on Easter Sunday, perhaps having them come forward and receive a gift from the church. We often received books.
What I’ve seen happening in recent years is Evangelical Protestant churches, including Baptist churches, working together to present a true extravaganza on Easter Sunday. In our city, they have rented out our atmospheric “wonder theater” (it is quite gorgeous and historic), and there, they will present a truly magnificent Easter worship service with amazing music (accompanied by an orchestra and possibly by the theater’s “Theater Organ”–we have several people in our city who can play it), and there will be all kinds of special happenings in this service. Of course, there will be a special speaker–I’m not sure who will be doing the honors in our city, but since we live close to Willowcreek, they may hire one of those pastor/speakers, maybe even the head honcho of that megachurch.
I’ve noticed this happening in other cities–the Evangelical Protestant churches working together to do Easter. It’s a good plan, especially since the large megachurches are going ALL OUT on Easter with professional music and speakers. A lot of people in our city, including many Catholics, will attend the megachurch in our city just because of the spectacle of the whole thing.
Lest Catholics criticize Christians for seeking out a spectacle on Easter, I beg them to remember that we ourselves go all out on Easter. It is natural for us to want to dance and sing on a day that our Lord Jesus Christ conquered death and gave humans the hope of eternal life.
I hope that this answers your question, OP. The person you were talking to probably attends one of the Baptist churches where people don’t make this kind of fuss over any holiday, but believe me, in their hearts, they are rejoicing in the resurrection of Jesus. And after all, isn’t that important, too–that we individually celebrate Easter in our hearts, not just in public?
it probably carries a bit more relevance on a forum like this than on some government form or something.
My guess is they are a “church plant”, more likely a split group from another KJV church that wasn’t extreme enough for them. They grow by sucking members from other “competing” churches in the community. I knew of one guy (true story), owner of a used car lot, who promised a discount for anyone joined his “church”.