Can you give a brief overview of what different denominations believe and why we’re a part of the Southern Baptist Convention?
The Bible
We believe the Bible was written by humans under the guidance of God, it’s infallible, and applicable to our lives.
Catholics - have 7 more books in the Bible than we do
Orthodox - have 10 more than we do
Many Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Anabaptist churches -
believe that the Bible is NOT infallable.
Jesus
We believe Jesus is coequal with God,
is fully God and fully man,
and died on the cross for our sins, defeated death,
raised up to heaven, and will come back some day.
Anabaptist and Congregational Churches - believe that Jesus was not fully God
Holy Spirit
We believe He's coequal with God,
He interacts with the world around us,
and lives inside of us from the moment of salvation.
We also believe that He gives us spiritual gifts that can be used for Him.
Many denominations ignore the Holy Spirit. Some believe you have to be baptized in the Holy Spirit to interact w/ Him. Some believe you aren’t saved unless you speak in tongues.
Salvation / Baptism
We believe salvation is a choice offered to us by God,
when we say yes to his gift of salvation our eternity is solidified in Heaven. Baptism is done when you are old enough to understand salvation through immersion, and is a step of obedience (not necessary for salvation).
Many Catholics - believe salvation comes from confessing sin to a person
Lutherans, Church of Christ - believe that baptism is part of salvation
Church of Christ - believe salvation can be lost
Lutherans, Presbyterians - believe God has to choose you to be saved
Catholics, Orthodox - practice infant baptism
Church of Christ - often believe baptism has to be in their church for it to be valid
Other Things
- Some believe Communion literally turns into the body and blood of Jesus when you take it
- Some believe you need to pay penance for your sins to keep you out of pergatory
- Some hold very loose definitions of sin
- Some forbid the use of instruments in worship
- Some don’t allow women to do anything
Why are we a part of the Southern Baptist Convention?
- The “big line item” beliefs we have line up with the SBC.
- We can do FAR MORE missionally around the world
WITH the SBC, than we can alone.
- We are a part of a family of 47,000 churches
who generally have our back.
- Because of the autonomy,
We are free to hear God and obey for our mission field.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
What are the missing Books of Bible, and why were they taken out of Bible?
There are no “missing” books of the Bible. The Bible is made up of 66 books: 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament.
Click here to listen to the Logical Faith sermon on the Validity of the Bible.
Old Testament Books
Catholics and Orthodox churches have added books like the Apocrypha between Malachi and Matthew, but those books weren’t accepted by first century Jews or Christians at the time of Jesus.
New Testament Books
There are people that would argue that there are other Gospels that need to be considered too (Judas, Thomas, Matthias). Almost every gospel that you hear of today that wasn’t included in the Bible was a Gnostic gospel: which was an attempt to present an Eastern worldview with Christian language. Right when these books appeared, Christian leaders and the church rejected the Gnostic gospels, because:
- They lacked apostolic or prophetic authorship.
- They did not claim to be the Word of God.
- They contain unbiblical concepts.
- They have serious historical inaccuracies.
