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MiserereMeiDei
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It does what? What is that? May I ask what country?
Why do Protestants and evangelicals choose their specific church or denomination to the exclusion of others?
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Cor_ad_Cor
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I don’t know all the ins and outs of it, but it’s the case here, and the SBC ministers that have graduated from the Louisville seminary haven’t mentioned too much about it. Some do kinda turn their noses, but again, that seems to be their personal take.
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Wannano
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That was worded rather nebulous on my part! The Funeral Services Regulatory Board, a government appointed Board that contains members from the public at large as well as Funeral Service Industry members elected by their peers, as was I , in Canada, that regulates funeral practice and procedures, working within the realm and expectation of all different churches and/or religious communities.Wannano:
It does what? What is that? May I ask what country?
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MiserereMeiDei
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Funerals. Oh. Okay. Thanks. I was really puzzled at the thought of a religious regulatory board in a western country and thought, well maybe Britain or Germany. I could see them trying that. lol. 
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Peeps
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That’s interesting to know. When we lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, there were a lot of Southern Baptist churches, and we attended one for a year (quit because it seemed very liberal theologically).
What was so weird is the variation in the SB churches! I realize (grew up Baptist) that part of being Baptist is being able to split away and start a new church whenever there is disagreement.
But in Raleigh, one of the SB churches allowed WICCA to meet in their building at 1:00 p.m. every Sunday! Yikes!
And other SB churches did snake-handling and poison-drinking! Yikes again!
Both of these churches got a story in the newspaper at least once a year (free publicity!), and the snake-handling/poison-drinking church got at least one TV story a year.
That just seems so strange, that churches in the same denomination can be so incredibly different.
I’m not doubting any of this at all. I guess I view Lutheranism from a confessional standpoint, and much of what you relay here is not confessional Lutheranism.
I myself had a pastor who thought he could write liturgy better than the synod could.
And that’s why I said on some issues.
I think you’re right when you framed your observation as anecdotal. And I think you minimize the differences regarding the sacraments. It is more than merely perceiving it as sacrament or ordinance. Far deeper.
In the end, I stand by what I said. I see the differences between Baptist and Lutheran as substantial. And while not minimizing the differences between Lutheranism and Catholicism, I would use the old isolated town observation: given only a Catholic and a Baptist church, I would be Catholic because of the sacraments. Others may vary.
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Hodos
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I chose my Church and denomination based on doctrine. I feel that the doctrine that my Church confesses most faithfully proclaims Christ crucified for us, and is most in line with the scriptures. I do not feel that other faith traditions are excluded from the true body of Christ, but I do feel that there are important doctrinal errors that either obscure the gospel, or lead to other errors.
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lanman87
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I would love to see some documentation on this. Southern Baptist have never been snake handlers and preach against the practice. That is the Full Gospel/Church of God Holiness churches and there probably less than a dozen “Snake Handling” churches left in the rural mountains of Appalachia.
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BartholomewB
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No kidding! What kind of snakes, rattlesnakes? And what kind of poison do they drink?
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BartholomewB
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I remember seeing snake handling, years ago, on (I think) Jack Palance’s Believe It Or Not program. But I never knew, or maybe I’d forgotten, that it was connected with church worship in any way.
And drinking strychnine I had never heard of until this moment. Is it really possible?
And drinking strychnine I had never heard of until this moment. Is it really possible?
They do this, and I am not prepared to say that they just label the bottles as containing strychnine when they do not. As I said, these people are nothing if not sincere. There are few Christian confessions as hard-core as those you will find in rural Appalachia. Not endorsing, just stating the fact.
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Peeps
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I’m sorry, but it’s been over 30 years since we lived in Raleigh. For all I know, both churches have closed down. And it’s entirely possible that back then, the newspaper called the church when it wasn’t. The News and Disturber wasn’t always friendly towards organized Christianity. But I do know that the church that welcomed Wicca was a Southern Baptist Church, a very liberal one.
Just to give you an idea of what that Southern Baptist Church was involved with, we had a terrifying experience late one night (after 10:30 p.m.) when their “pastor” called us to berate us for our pro-life activism in the city. As he screamed at my husband, the room became freezing, bitter cold–I was shaking and my teeth were chattering while my husband was trying to talk to him. I realized that demons had entered the house through this phone call, and I rushed to our babies’ rooms. In front of the door to each bedroom was a column of warm air. It was so amazing–outside of the column of air, it was freezing cold, but if I passed my arm to the door, I could feel that warm air–I knew that it was angels protecting our daughters from the demons who had entered our house through this “pastor’s” wicked phone call and pro-abortion activities in the city. May God save his soul and protect the babies that were killed through his actions and words.
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lanman87
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Do you remember the name of the church? I would be interested to see if it is still a SBC.
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learningchristian
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Parents raised me in an Episcopalian church at first, and then later moved to a Baptist church. Nowadays, I just prefer a “non-denominational” church because I prefer to go to church that just identifies itself the way people seemed to identify themselves in the New Testament. As the church of Christ, as Christians, and whatever other identifications in scripture.
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lanman87
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For anyone reading this thread and wondering the same thing… I found the church in questions website and the were excluded (kicked out) from the local Baptist association, Baptist state convention and the Southern Baptist Convention in 1992.
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Wannano
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That info should help alleviate the fears and misconceptions that non-Catholic churches do not have central structures that maintain order and legitimacy.
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drac16
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I go to my church because they’ve taught me a lot of good things. It’s a baptist church, although I personally identify as a non-denominational christian. Their views about the Trinity, OSAS, Sola Fide, baptism and Sola Scriptura are almost identical to mine. Moreover, I see evidence of their teachings in the Scriptures. If it weren’t Biblical, I would leave that church.
It’s not a matter of me wanting to hold on to a certain sin and hopping from church to church until I can find one that affirms me in my sin. It’s an argument I often hear coming from catholics (that I want to hold on to as much sin as I can). That’s not the reason I am non-denominational, though.
It’s not a matter of me wanting to hold on to a certain sin and hopping from church to church until I can find one that affirms me in my sin. It’s an argument I often hear coming from catholics (that I want to hold on to as much sin as I can). That’s not the reason I am non-denominational, though.
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Many years ago, I had a similar “run-in” with a Baptist minister, though it was not about abortion, nor did his church have any association with Wicca. (Not hardly.) Neither did I feel bitter cold, though the sheer evil was evident. You run into some really crazy weird stuff sometimes.
Let’s just say that for a lot of those people, we like them a whole lot more than they like us. Ecumenism has its limits. They are not interested in seeing how much we have in common, nor in “meeting us halfway”. They’re right, we’re wrong, their way or the highway.
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