Baptist: What we believe, proclaim
and practice!
How Baptists regard the Bible:
" . . . absolute, supreme, unchangeable authority of the
Inspired Scriptures . . . "
Baptists owe their existence to no other source than the Inspired
Word of God, believing the Bible is an all-sufficient rule of
faith and practice. Baptists have no other authority to which
we profess submission, adhering to the New Testament as the
sole standard of Christianity.
Baptist have always been at their fullest strength and influence
when they have maintained the sufficiency and supremacy of Holy
Writing in all things. God's Word, like himself, is eternal
and unchangeable. What it teaches is right, what it instructs
we must do, what it prohibits we must not do.
Baptists believe in God, in his authority, his wisdom, his infallible
Word; believing that no mortal has the right to add to, or take
from, "the things which are written" therein.
The Bible is inspired in the sense that it was written by men
who were inbreathed by the Holy Spirit. The Bible contains truths,
prophecies, and a message to man which could not have been the
mere products of human minds. There are truths set forth in
the Bible which men could never have known if they had not been
divinely revealed. Nature reveals some things about God, but
the full truth concerning his nature and purposes could be known
only through the inspired record he has given in His Word. And
there are truths which cannot be understood unless they are
spiritually discerned.
The fulfillments of prophecy bear witness to the inspiration
of the Scriptures. The Old Testament contains prophecies which
were not fulfilled until many centuries later. How could men
look into the future and tell with certainty and accuracy things
that were to come to pass? There is but one answer; they were
divinely inspired.
The Baptist's foundational New Hampshire Confession of Faith
states, "We believe that the Holy Bible was written by
men divinely inspired, and is the perfect treasure of heavenly
instruction; that it has God for its author, salvation for its
end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter;
that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us; and
therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world, the
true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by
which all human conduct, creeds, and opinion should be tried."
It follows that if we hold steadfast to the Bible as the basis
of our existence and our faith, the same guide must be permitted
to control our practice.
How Baptists consider the Church:
Baptists believe that a church of Jesus Christ is a body of
baptized believers, organized according to the New Testament
pattern, living in obedience to Christ, associated together
in one place to preach the gospel and represent the interests
of Christ's kingdom in the world. Christ is the great head of
the church and no man nor set of men can rightfully change what
he has established and fixed.
Baptists are not simply set for a defense of the truth to carry
out the injunctions of the Holy Spirit. With Baptists it is
not a question of taste, or convenience, or popularity, but
to see that the spiritual house is built and governed according
to the divine directions.
Christ used the word "church" to designate the company
of his disciples. They were called-out people; but not every
company of people is a church. The church is a company of believers.
Not every company of believers constitutes a church. It must
be a company of baptized believers pledged to live in obedience
to Christ.
Baptists believe that a true church is an active body and a
working organism, a living thing; the body of Christ acting
as the agency through which Christ does his work in the world.
The church is also a Spiritual Temple.
In the Old Testament we have the material Temple built of wood
and stone. The New Testament church is the spiritual temple,
built of living stones; redeemed men, women and children.
True New Testament churches were local, independent bodies,
subject to no central power; governed by the New Testament code,
and amenable only to Christ the living head.
The term "church' is never applied in the Scriptures to
any aggregate of churches, either territorially or ecclesiastically.
It is entirely incorrect to speak of "The Baptist Church,"
for such is nonexistent. It is correct to speak of Baptist churches,
for the Brotherhood of Baptists is composed of a great number
of local churches voluntarily associated in covenant relations;
in the same way that Memorial Baptist is associated with the
American Baptist Churches - USA.
Each church governs itself and no one church can determine the
beliefs or the practices of another. Errors in formation and
government of churches lead to errors in doctrine and practice.
Taking the Scriptures as the perfect revelation of the will
of God, each church feels itself perfectly capable of determining
that will as it pertains to the local body. This eliminates
the necessity of other and "higher" bodies to judge
and to legislate.
While Baptists are democratic and insist on the autonomy of
the local church, we are in no sense self-satisfied isolationists.
Baptist have long since learned how to fellowship with like
believers, with such association and affiliation being voluntary.
And on such basis we may elect to assemble in associations on
a district, state-wide, national, or even international level.
How Baptists consider Baptism:
Baptists believe that penitent believers are scriptural subjects
for baptism. We think the design of baptism, the act, symbolic
representation, all require the subject to be a child of God,
dead to sin and alive unto God through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ - - - "an outward sign of an inward grace."
The Great Commission given by Christ is, "Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them" The verb "teach"
is correctly translated "make disciples," and the
command of the Savior is to baptize "them," not the
nations, but the disciples made by their preaching.
We believe it is a positive command, enjoined upon the believing,
saved soul, and is essential to true, loving obedience. Baptists
have often been accused of making too much of baptism, simply
because they practice what they believe; believing with Paul,
that there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism."
Baptists believe in baptism by immersion. Authorities in all
denominations recognize that immersion was the primitive and
biblical mode. Baptists simply feel they have no authority to
alter what Christ Himself had commanded and to which He himself
submitted.
Baptism is an act of submission; being obedient to God, submitting
to His commands is as high a function as any moral being can
perform.
We believe that baptism is an act of profession, following Christ's
example we make it known that we are identified with Him in
His death, burial and resurrection.
Further, Baptism is an act of symbolism. It testifies to our
belief in the burial and resurrection of our Lord, and to the
further belief that in the moment of conversion we died to the
past, our sins having been removed as if by burial, and we have
begun to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.
This church affirms with Scripture that baptism is very important.
Memorial is a Baptist church, baptizing believers by immersion.
The act of being lowered into the water and raised up again
expresses the very nature of the Gospel itself.
It is the intention and the desire of Memorial Baptist Church,
as stated in it's Constitution and Covenant, to accept all who
come to us seeking membership into our fellowship on the basis
that the seeker has received Jesus Christ as his or her personal
Savior and has committed their life to him as Lord. This willful
personal act is openly affirmed by baptism. If a person has
been baptized once, then it need not be repeated unless that
one feels his or her previous baptism was lacking or is not
valid.
If one is baptized in Christ the he or she is equally baptized
into his body - - - the church.
How Baptists consider Communion, The Lords Supper:
Along with baptism, communion is one of two ordinances observed
by Baptists as appointed by Jesus to be observed until the end
of time. Both set forth in beautiful symbol great fundamental
doctrines of the gospel. Each was appointed, authorized, established
and fixed by himself; belonging only to his churches.
Examining the popular notions of the present day and the ideas
propagated by many modern churches leaves the impression that
the main objective of communion is to show Christian love and
liberality. Baptist believe the object of the Lord's Supper
is not our communing together here, but communing with Christ;
not in remembrance of each other, but Jesus said "in remembrance
of me."
The Lord's Supper was instituted by our Lord in the upper room
just before his death on the cross. Baptists believe it is to
be sacredly kept "in remembrance" of him, "to
show the Lord's death until he comes again." It has been
asserted that Baptists are "peculiar" in their views
about this matter. Well, God's people are "a peculiar people";
and therefore we are not perplexed about the charge brought
against us.
The bread and the juice used in communion are symbolic of the
broken body and shed blood of the Savior. Partaking of these
elements is a constant reminder of Christ's death for us and
a renewal of our commitment to him as Lord. It is also a reminder
of what is yet to be, His return for us. Baptists do not believe
the elements to be sacraments for they have no spiritual or
mystical power in and of themselves.
Baptists believe that everything in favor of believer's baptism
is equally in favor of believer's communion. Memorial Baptist
Church practices open communion. This means all Christians are
welcome to celebrate the Lord's Supper together; not in order
to carry favor with the world but rather to recognize and to
honor that an individual's credible profession of faith is a
scriptural entitlement to partake of the Lord's Supper.
Memorial Baptist Church observes the communion experience on
the first Sunday of each month. Communion is also a part of
the Maundy Thursday evening service during Holy Week and the
Thanksgiving Eve service.
How Baptists consider a Free Church Within a Free State:
"The sphere of activity, authority, and responsibility
are each fixed by the divine will. It was never intended for
either church or state to lord it over the other. Their functions
are definite and distinct. The church was ordained to serve
man's spiritual and eternal needs. The state was ordained to
serve man's secular and temporal needs."
God originated both. "I will build My Church," said
Jesus Christ. "The powers that be are ordained by God,"
said the Apostle Paul.
To say that "separation between church and state"
is a distinctive Baptist belief is to raise many questions.
It is more correct to say that it was "originally a distinctive
Baptist belief." Few are aware that the indebtedness for
these views is not mere accident, but a necessary consequence
of Baptist's distinctives as a denomination.
The name Baptists was not given to us until the late 16th Century,
but all held in unwavering opposition to totalitarianism. Among
those who bore the name were a group exiled from England to
Holland. Returning to England they were contending for the positive
principle of the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ; that His
control over the conscience is supreme, and that human interference
is wrong.
Fifteen years after the Pilgrims sailed, a young Welsh minister,
Roger Williams settled in Providence, Rhode Island, to develop
a new form of government among men, one which would recognize
God as supreme. His secured charter gave the first government
since before Constantine wherein church and state were separate.
In 1647 that body of laws was enacted and the government settled
upon the principle of perfect religious liberty.
Such was not the case in all the other colonies. Excepting Rhode
Island and Pennsylvania, these had more or less an established
church and therefore religious prejudice if not persecution.
Through all the years of confusion and conflict, Baptists maintained
their clear testimony for freedom of conscience, for freedom
of worship, and for separation of church and state.
Patrick Henry became interested in the cause Baptists were upholding
in Virginia. Thomas Jefferson had carefully studied the principles
of the Baptists and took up their cause. In movements "favorable
to liberty of conscience and entire separation of church and
state the Baptists took the lead."
Virginia Baptists presented an address to George Washington
in 1789 expressing "a fear that our religious rights were
not well secured in our new Constitution of government. In answer
he assured them of his readiness to use his influence to make
these rights indisputable. The following month the first amendment
to the Constitution was passed declaring that Congress should
"make no law respecting any establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
The conception that the Church is SEPARATE from the State, championed
by Baptists everywhere, has been held by those governments that
have written religious liberty into their fundamental laws.
Baptists stand for the principle of voluntariness in religion,
grounded upon the competency of the soul. Baptists are essentially
opposed to every form of religious coercion, or persecution.
Baptists believe that "the body of Christ" is not
to be identified with any denomination or church that seeks
to exercise ecclesiastical authority, but includes all whoever
and whatever they are, as these are led by the Holy Spirit.
Baptists believe in Free Churches within a Free State.
How Baptists consider the Priesthood of Believers:
"To deprive any soul of the privilege of direct access
to God is tyranny."
The priesthood of all believers is an expression on the competency
of the human soul. Little is more Baptistic than this; that
no governmental decrees, no dogma of the church, no declared
church hierarchy, no act of any priest can come between one
who is convinced of the truth and his Lord. No other human may
claim to be the mediator between the soul and God because no
possible reason can be given to any special competency on his
part which is not common to all believers.
Baptist believe that life-transforming Christianity is a personal
matter between the individual and God - - - that the two are
brought together without mediation or ceremonial rites or priestcraft.
All men are sinners in God's eyes; but because of his incomparable
grace, all may know His forgiveness. All who believe on His
name may exercise the privilege of prayer without the intervention
or requirement of any earthly mediator.
Each person must react toward the claims of God one by one in
their repentance, in their believing and in their praying. Direct
access to God is the law of the Christian life, "No man
comes to the Father but by Me," said Christ.
The Baptist message is that Christ is our one foundation and
the one high priest for sinful man. He entered into the holy
place for all and that the humblest soul in all the world may
enter with all boldness and cast himself upon Christ.
In the history of the Christian Church there are three fundamental
principles of the Reformation; the supremacy of the Scriptures
over tradition, the supremacy of faith over works, and the supremacy
of the Christian people over an exclusive priesthood. Every
man has the right to read and interpret the Word of God for
himself, being guided by the Holy Spirit. Personal faith in
God - - - individually exercised, results in God freely bestowing
forgiveness on the grounds of the atoning death of Christ.
Nowhere does the New Testament provide for a special priestly
order, for all believers are priests alike: "You also,
are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.
. ." [1 Peter 2:5]
God reveals His truth directly to the individual soul declaring
the need of every individual to come to know God for himself.
Baptists not only believe this is possible and desirable, but
mandatory.
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