The Ohio Independent Baptist, March 1960

Pag 'I ,,,o Marci, 1960 \~'HO t\R 1 'fllF..1 llEG l..1 R IJ ? • Tl11::- t d itoria l l1a.. be 11 pt1t into a tract and can be order d from the editor (see address on p. 3) for cost of :. -c a do-c11. °'2 10 ,1 100 Pron1pt ord rs will ncourage the printing of other tracts on Salvation, Baptism, etc.) • price T,, c11t, 111illion Baptists in America is an amazing num– ber. bt1t it i... a ln1ost as amazing tha t there should be so tll;\11\" ki11ds of Bapti ts! Wh) 1 are there so many slightly or great!~,. differing conventions and associations and who arc the e folk ,yho call themselves Regular Baptists? A l1ort a rticle cannot explain all the differences, but ,, e can say· tha t all Baptists agree that only the local church 1 ordained in Scripture. This leads to their doctrine of the independency of the local church and makes it easy for a church to unite \\Tith or leave a man-made associa– tion a t ,,·ill. Some of the older conventions are losing si~ht of that truth and beginning to call it schism and even illegal to lea,·e an association once it has been entered; but e,,.en they s till profess to b elieve the historic doctrine of local independency. Our General and state associations of Regular Baptists hold so strongly to the doctrine that they insist it is not schism for a church to leave our as– socia tions, not to mention others that we have ourselves left. Our association is not the Body of Christ, and so it cannot be schism to leave it. We may think it unwise for a Gospel Church to cut itself off from fellowship with like– minded churches, and so we h ave loosely knit associations; but ·\.\:e insist that churches are under only one Head, Jesus Christ. and must therefore be free from any human dictator– ship. IS THAT REGULAR BAPTIS1,, DOCTRINE? Yes, or v.re would not have taken that name. We chose it iP prefer en ce to Independent Baptists or Fundamental Baptists (although often called both), because we hold to the regular Baptist doctrines that can be traced back 450 )·ears and from thence through the shadows of the Dark Ages to the New Testament. On p. 31 of A Short History of the Baptists we read, "Simple in organization and demo– cratic in government, the New Testament churches were independent of each other in their internal affairs." In 1770 the Warren Association in New England plainly stated that ' 'no complaint should ever be received by the Association against any particular Church that was not of the Associa– tion. " (His tory of The Baptists by Armitage). Hiscox said in his famous New Directory of Baptist Churches (p. 335 ): An Association is a voluntary society formed and maintained for mutual h elp among the churches associated, and for the r e ligious welfare of the field it occupies. It is of human, not of divine authority; . . . No Church is under obligation to affiliate with it; and any connected Church can withdraw co-operation, at any time, for any reasons which seem to itself sufficient, without prejudice to either its evangelical or its denominational reputation and standing." We are not "funny-mentalists," as our enemies have sn eer ed. We are Fundamentalists for tl1e very reason that v.·e stand for the foundation truths of the Bible and be– lieve in practicing and defending them. If we seem to be contentious, it is only because in these days of ecclesiastical overlordship and of worldliness and unbelief, it is neces– sar y to speak out in defense of the true Christian faith. We may not be the only regular Baptists, but we are REGULAR{ WHAT WE STAND FOR When we even oppose Baptist overlordship, it is evi– dent that we agree with all other Baptists in our stand for soul liberty and separation of church and state. Amer– ica has largely Baptists and Quaker s to thank for the First Amendment to our Constitution that guarantees our r e– ligious freedom. Maryland Catholics only joined in the demand because they feared the great Protestant majority of that day might bring some other church than their own into union with the state. Catholics have no right to claim credit for our separation of church and state, for they only call that a necessary concession while they are in the minor– ity . In their parochial schools they openly teach that the ideal state is one in which the Catholic church is the State Church. Baptists a re sincere in their stand and have died by the millions to secure full r eligious liberty for all. However, Re~lar Baptists believe in all New Testa- 1:1ent doctrine~, for otherwise religious liberty becomes license. That 1s why we parted company with the Ameri– can Bapt~st Convention in 1932. That organization would :1ot p rom~se. to s~nd out only such missionaries as believed 11: the V1rg1n Birth of Christ , nor would they demand a ~~11:ple confession of faith from their elected or hired of– f1c1als or schools. In 1932 half of their seminaries had be– <'01ne practically apostate and three-fourths of their col– leges. So after years of protest, our churches withdrew and formed a fellowship on the firm basis of the historic Baptist faith. We could do nothing else, for II Cor. 6: 14 C:ommanded u s: "Be not equally yoked together with unbe– l e~ ers : for what fellowship hath righteousness with un– righteousness? and what communion hath light with dark– ness?" A BRIEF CONFESSION We ~elieye that the Bible as originally written was ve rbally msp1red of God and has truth without any ad– mixture of error as its matter; that the one true God exists in three P er sons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; that the Son came to earth and was born as true Man by the Virgin Birth and yet ever continues to be true God; that the Holy Spirit is as truly personal as the Fa' her and the Son· that creation was direct and not by evolution; that there' is a personal Devil who was the first to fall from a holy estate and who has led mankind astray; that man voluntarily fell into sin and so is without excuse; that salvation must be by grace alone through faith in the atoning and justifying death of Christ· that Christ arose bodily and is now seated in heaven as our only Priest and Mediator; that the new birth is an instantaneou s work of the Holy Spirit and not the slow product of r eligious education· that the local church is a congregation of immersed believers voluntarily as– socia ted to carry out the commands of Christ, its only Head ; that the truly born again are eternally kept by the F a ther and the Son; that there is an endless h ell for the wicked, even as there is an endless heavenly bliss for the sav ed; and that Christ must first return before the King– dom can be established. For a full copy of our confession of faith, write to Th e Ohio Independent Baptist, 586 Maple Street, Fostoria, Ohio. Another and larger source of information is the _ Gen er al Associa tion of Regular Baptist Churches, Suite 848, 608 S. Dearborn, Chicago 5, Ill. They have many free leaflets on the subject. ARE WE TOO SEPARATISTIC? Many people who agree witl1 us in a general way won– der why we oppose the National and World councils and often r efuse to support inter-denominational meetings and r evivals. Do we suppose that only Baptists will go to heaven? No, Baptists have always taught that all sa, ,ed people will go to heaven. They also teach that the ideal would be a united, Bible-centered Christendom. That is what they mean when they say, 'We believe the Bible to be the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions shall be tried." The trouble is that most denominations take the Bible plus l1uman tradition-such as infant sprinkling. Most of them have also allowed modem doubt and higher criticism to come in and turn the Bible into an evolutionary book of human religious ideas. They no longer consider it the inspired revelation of Divine Truth. Some of our churches may co - operate with some union meetings, while others do not, for the simple reason that they are self-governing; but they all agree that they should ( 1 0 11t i11 tt e(l 0 11 !)age 20 J •