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aomin, Baptist, Christianity, Church, circus, entertainment, Gospel, James White, Life, reasons, reformed, Shopping, Social commentary
Dr. James White has some pretty honest reasons why, if you are shopping for a local Christian fellowship, you may want to dismiss a Reformed Baptist Church. You tell ‘em Doc.
- You don’t get to leave after every sermon feeling good about yourself. You may even desire repentance.
- You don’t get to hear the sermons in the same way you may be used to. It’s frequently verse by verse, maybe not even relevant to your current situation.
- You don’t get to be entertained. We don’t want to entertain you.
- You don’t get to go to church every weeknight for programs. We don’t have ‘em.
- You don’t get to be ‘lost in the crowd’. We tend to have accountability to one another.
- You don’t get to hear social commentary. Sermons are mostly biblical and serious.
- We’re not considered ‘seeker-friendly’. We don’t believe in seekers. Apart from regeneration, they don’t exist.
- You’re asked to apply the sermons to your life.
- You’re asked to attend services regularly, to support your elders in prayer and give sacrificially to the advance of the Gospel.
- You will experience conviction of sin with regularity.
Listen tothe whole message here.
Related articles
- A Holy Headache (challies.com)
- Indian River Baptist Church Sunday School, September 18, 2011: The Doctrine of God – The Sovereignty of God, Part 1 (thelightheartedcalvinist.com)
- Greg Nichols: Lectures On The 1689 London Baptist Confession (thelightheartedcalvinist.com)
Forty years ago my pastor lost his job as pastor of a Southern Baptist congregation because he became a Calvinist and started dancing on toes with the truth of God’s sovereignty. At that time Calvinism was almost unheard of in the SBC, so I’m sure it was quite a shock. The deacons told him he was evil and that he had to get his wife and baby out of the parsonage. They packed their car and hit the road with no money and absolutely no place to go.
Most in my congregation are much like our pastor. We are former Southern Baptists who found grace and realized we were no longer welcome in the SBC. None of us paid the price our pastor did, but many of us took arrows for standing up for the truth. We are a group of scarred baptists thankful and humbled to be walking on the Old Paths, the same ones trod by our baptist ancestors. I can state that Dr. White is spot on, as usual. We have a roof and the truth and that’s more than enough for us.
Praise the Lord he yanked me out of the idolatry of freewillism while my children were still young. I will never get over asking “why me, Lord?”
Ben, same thing actually happened to me, except that I was already a Calvinist when I went to this church. I told them up front my convictions were based on 2nd London Confession, Westminster, etc. Guess they’d never read those. After a year, someone said “I think he’s a Calvinist” and they kicked me, my wife and three kids out (ended up living with my father in law for six months). All the deacons had to stand at the business meeting and declare “I’m not a Calvinist.” One said “I don’t know what it is, but I’m not one.” One other lady said, “He lied to us, he said he was conservative.” Oh the depths of theological ignorance in our churches!
I have a church in my area named the “First Freewill Baptist church” I wonder if they have read this?
A few miles from me there’s a “Grace Freewill Baptist.”
JT, don’t be such a Buzz-kill dude… I need 3 steps to feeling better about my sin.
(Sarcasm)
I will listen to White’s message – and likely share it far and wide
Each of those 10 things have been increasingly apparent to my wife and me, and a few friends who have joined us when we moved from a typical big-box SBC church to a wonderful Reformed and reforming SBC church. We marvel at the richness of God’s Word and the brotherhood of this flock – neither of which had we seen before, other than in types and shadows.
One dear sister observed during a fellowship meal, after service, that she felt strange being thankful to God that she came to church and was shown – in the mirror of God’s Word – how ugly she was; and how gloriously Christ is. That’s how church should be!
No entertainment? Yikes!!?
Agreed.
Joel – This will be posted on DC Monday.
Show me some love….
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That’s funny… I thought I would see things like anti-paedobaptism, independent church government, hymn-singing, musical instruments in worship…
So glad I found this on Facebook! I’m going to be sharing Dr. White’s (and your!) insights on my blog…
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Well said. Well said.
I sent this my elders (who are pastor-teachers) and told them it ought to be part of our new members reading material. Voddie Baucham posted it on his web page
http://www.eldersresolution.org Here is one more reason you may not want to join a reformed church.
Reformed doctrine makes me sick to the core. Please Lord Jesus come quickly! Wolves in sheep’s clothing are circling fast!
What is it about reformed theology (or doctrine) that makes you sick, Heather?
I was once a Baptist… interesting group they are. Each faction claiming they are the right ones. Quite sad really.
I want some more information. Thank you.