Southern Baptist Denomination Q&A

[TigerintheShadows]

Pretty much. There are discrepancies, I'm sure, as to what translations to use and what specific and nitpicky doctrines are to be agreed upon, but as to what we accept as canon, I think it's more of a Protestant/Catholic thing.

[The Hippie]

What is your churches opinion on dancing?

[TigerintheShadows]

Honestly, the church itself doesn't make any rules about dancing or not. I mean, you won't find anybody dancing in the aisles or something, but we show energy once in awhile. The 5th/6th, 7th/8th, and high school choirs also do choreography with the music we do, so I doubt that we'd do that were there rules on dancing, although I could be wrong.

We do make jokes about it though; once my youth pastor did a sermon when the senior pastor was on vacation and asked us how many of us did X, and then when we raised our hands he remarked that this was "the only time you'd ever see anyone raising their hands in a Southern Baptist church".

[Sherlock]

Sorry in advance for my ignorance, but is there a difference between Baptist and Southern Baptist? Is it purely regional or do you differ on theological issues?

[TigerintheShadows]

All Baptists don't necessarily believe the same thing; there are Southern Baptists, Northern Baptists, American Baptists, Free Will Baptists, et cetera. I don't know where all the discrepencies lie, but I do know that there are many different Baptist denominations.

[John Chrysostom]

Do you believe that Christ will reign for a literal 1,000 years on earth after His Second Coming?

[TigerintheShadows]

Hoo-wee. The end times? There's a topic.

Generally Southern Baptists believe in the literal millenial reign and most other dispensational premillenialism, but it's a big enough denomination that, again, people have different beliefs concerning it.

[SoccerLOTR]

Do you believe baptism is necessary for salvation? If someone is not baptized after accepting Christ, will they still go to hell?

[TigerintheShadows]

My pastor often mentions that when he talks about the people who go to church and think that it makes them Christians. It's not about if you walked an aisle, prayed a prayer, and/or were baptized. Those aren't inherently bad things, but they don't save you. To us, the act of being immersed in water with some speech doesn't mean that you're a Christian or not a Christian; baptism is, as I have always been taught, an act of obedience. To us, the "baptized part" is irrelevant if the "accepting Christ" part hasn't happened.

[John Chrysostom]

So could one be "baptized" without water since it's a matter of obedience and not the immersion in water?

[TigerintheShadows]

If there is a reason (no water available, for example), then yes, one could be, but the whole point of baptism is, to us, a form of public identification and expression of faith, so in this case, the spirit of the law is more important than the letter, if that makes sense.

[John Chrysostom]

Do you believe that you can completely logically justify your faith?

The statement you posted from the The Southern Baptist Convention says that they "deny the right of any secular or religious authority to impose a confession of faith upon a church or body of churches." Would they also deny the right of the Convention to impose doctrinal standards on a specific Southern Baptist church?

The statement also talks about "accountability to each other under the Word of God." How would this work in a real world application? And what would happen if there was disagreement about the interpretation of Scripture?

Could a Catholic or a Mormon take communion at your church?