Can anyone explain...

[FaithfulPilgrim]

If tongues are to be used in church I agree there must be someone to interpret.
Its very annoying to hear someone speak in an unknown tongue and not able to understand what is being said. Especially if it goes on for a long time.

I am no longer a cessationist and now hold the view that spiritual gifts still do exist. I think God can use me to heal someone, but only on an occassion. I don't think a person can speak in tongues or perform a healing miracle all the time, only when God wills it. I agree that someone speaking in tongues should have an interpreter, but how do we know that the interpreter is guessing or making it up?

 

[now faith]

I think the whole promotion of "prosperity gospel" has given the WOF a bad wrap, but at this point it seems to be a part of their very doctrine as a denomination...I hope I am wrong.

Here is what I consider prosperity Gospel :

3 John: 1. 2. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 3. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. 4. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 5. Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers; 6. Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:

In all things it is God's will that we prosper.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and these things will be added unto you.

Our main focus should not be on gain of material wealth,it should be on Christ as he wills we seek to know his perfect will for our lives.
So if your blessed with more than enough, your heart is right in stewardship and giving then give God the glory.

I detest anyone who promises God's favor if we give to them.
As if our works in their life will command the most High to bless us.

That is what today is called prosperity Gospel,but to me it is not Gospel at all it borders witchcraft.

We love Him because he first loved us,we give because our motives are pure there is where you will find the Blessing.

 

[Goodbook]

Is it just a geographical distinction then.

 

[FaithfulPilgrim]

Is it just a geographical distinction then.

Not really. There are political differences between the two. Even though they are pretty much the same on doctrine, they differ politically.

 

[Goodbook]

Liberal vs conservative then?
Thats strange. I dont think we have that in my country, baptist churches are pretty apolitical.

 

[Albion]

Liberal vs conservative then?

Yes. But it's not just with political matters. The difference is also evident when it comes to liberal vs. conservative theology.

 

[Goodbook]

Hmm i didnt know there was a liberal and conservative theology as well.
Would you say liberal theologists espouse more social gospel type actions i.e caring for the poor whereas conservatives theologists would...be more focused on their own families?

 

[Albion]

Hmm i didnt know there was a liberal and conservative theology as well.
Would you say liberal theologists espouse more social gospel type actions i.e caring for the poor whereas conservatives theologists would...be more focused on their own families?

Perhaps, but it usually means that conservatives are traditionalists in doctrine and practice while the liberals tend in the direction of Bishop Spong's "progressive" thinking, reassessing and reconsidering traditional beliefs and practices. Women's ordination, the Bible as containing truth but not as literally true, 'contemporary' services, inter-faith worship, much more political activism, approval of pansexuality, abortion, and etc. would be characteristic of religiously liberal churches and Christians.

With reference to your particular inquiry here, the Southern Baptist Convention is often considered to be the leading conservative Protestant body in the USA, and that's contrasted with the American Baptist Churches (formerly known as the Northern Baptist Convention), although that's arguably a pretty broad generalization, especially because of the historic emphasis of Baptists upon individual conscience and separation of church and state.

 

[Goodbook]

Who is bishop spong? I dont think hes a baptist as baptists dont usually call their clergy bishops.

 

[Goodbook]

I dont think baptists are as liberal as other churches, even if they are divided north and south.
Those sorts of things would not really be allowed or tolerated amongst baptists in general as the bible is authoritative whether you are north or south.

 

[mikedsjr]

Bishop spong is a very liberal, clearly a false prophet and certainly not baptist in the least. The following 12 points are from his wiki page from his book.

1 Theism, as a way of defining God, is dead. So most theological God-talk is today meaningless. A new way to speak of God must be found.

2Since God can no longer be conceived in theistic terms, it becomes nonsensical to seek to understand Jesus as the incarnation of the theistic deity. So the Christology of the ages is bankrupt.

3 The Biblical story of the perfect and finished creation from which human beings fell into sin is pre-Darwinian mythology and post-Darwinian nonsense.

4 The virgin birth, understood as literal biology, makes Christ's divinity, as traditionally understood, impossible.

5 The miracle stories of the New Testament can no longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as supernatural events performed by an incarnate deity.

6 The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God and must be dismissed.

7 Resurrection is an action of God. Jesus was raised into the meaning of God. It therefore cannot be a physical resuscitation occurring inside human history.

8 The story of the Ascension assumed a three-tiered universe and is therefore not capable of being translated into the concepts of a post-Copernican space age.

9 There is no external, objective, revealed standard written in scripture or on tablets of stone that will govern our ethical behavior for all time.

10 Prayer cannot be a request made to a theistic deity to act in human history in a particular way.

11 The hope for life after death must be separated forever from the behavior control mentality of reward and punishment. The Church must abandon, therefore, its reliance on guilt as a motivator of behavior.

12 All human beings bear God's image and must be respected for what each person is. Therefore, no external description of one's being, whether based on race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, can properly be used as the basis for either rejection or discrimination.

 

[Goodbook]

Actually i recall there were a few books by someone. Of that name in the library under the theology section, I didnt know he was an actual bishop though. I just thought he was a theolgian who had his own ideas and wanted to change the whole church, to his own thinking. Not that thats going to happen! Lol.

There also a nz guy by the name of lloyd geering who was kinda the same, ex ept he was a minister in the presy church and he didnt actually believe in Jesus at all, he was just doing it for the feel good relgious factor. So he wrote all these books on how you couldnt believe in miracles etc. obviously he didnt and never had any in his ministry since he didnt even believe lol.

 

[Goodbook]

I dont know how these people get ordained if they dont even believe.

 

[Albion]

Who is bishop spong? I dont think hes a baptist as baptists dont usually call their clergy bishops.

No, he's an Episcopal bishop from New Jersey, but because he's so well-known for teaching doubt about the literal accuracy of much that's in the Bible, I thought the name might sound familiar to you.

 

[actionsub]

Deleted due to repeat information.

 

[ml5363]

Do southern baptists have women as youth pastors? Thats ok isnt it? Or no women in ministry roles at all?

The church I attended when I was first saved now have a husband wife team as youth minister..they were part of sbc when I was there