by Haruo » Sat May 04, 2013 9:32 am
Sandy (and everybody else for that matter), it might be a good idea (in another thread, probably, to be erected for the purpose) to list what you/we each think of as Baptist distinctives, and what we think of as Baptist universals (if any). I had never thought of OSAS as a Baptist distinctive (even though obviously lots of Baptists believe it and lots of Baptist churches treat it as fundamental), but then I learned my , and none of the initials is an O or an E:
B - ible-believing
A - utonomy of the local congregation
P - riesthood of the believer
T - wo ordinances
I - ndividual soul liberty
S - aved, baptized church membership
T - wo offices
S - eparation of church and state
Note that if the convention is more central to your thinking than the congregation, you can simply change A to "Associational principle" and still remain Baptist. Likewise, if you want to have foot-washing, or elders, it's easy to change the T's to "Three..." and still be BAPTISTS. And if you want the baptismal mode to have constitutional authority, change the first S to "Submerged, regenerate church membership"...
Haruo = Leland Bryant Ross
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