Baptist -> Eastern Orthodox

Albion said:

I have the feeling that when people begin to sense that there's something missing in whatever church or denomination they belong to, they often can find another that represents a little needed correction. HOWEVER, some people (perhaps they are the more thoughtful or the more involved?) are not quite satisfied to have small adjustments. They often wind up moving to the opposite end of the spectrum because they have arrived at the conclusion that the basics or fundamentals of their original church were in error. Seeing it that way forces them to go to the mirror opposite or--we might say--make a complete change.

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Exactly. What I found missing was sacrament, which also led to liturgy, so that ruled out any other evangelical type of denomination.

Mary

I have read this thread with enjoyment. Thank you to all who have contributed to it!

MKJ said:

I also think there has been in more evangelical circles generally an increased interest in actually looking back further than the Reformation, and they are finding that the early church didn't look like they had been taught.

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Yeah, once you encounter real history, and not propaganda, the "Trail of Blood" doctrine becomes harder to reconcile. And that's pretty much the reason for being Baptist- not a disagreement about doctrine but about the whole structure of the Church itself and its traditions.

Sure, Church history is full of lots of bad stuff but the trail of blood tries to connect stuff in a sloppy manner, linking all sorts of heretical or disparate groups together into the remnant. And when we really look at the "bad stuff" in context, it ceases to be quite so bad, sometimes even arguably good.

Also - it may be that people who come from other liturgical traditions are less likely to find their own groups really wanting in connection to the history of the Church.

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In my experience, Baptists that want easy answers to tough questions evangelicals sometimes get asked, and an authority to turn to , go to Orthodox or Rome. Baptists that are put off by the conservatism and lack of historiocity join Episcopalians or Lutherans (Greg Garret's The Other Jesus comes to mind). And there are a fair number of Baptists that simply become irreligious or atheist.

FireDragon76 said:

Sure, Church history is full of lots of bad stuff but the trail of blood tries to connect stuff in a sloppy manner, linking all sorts of heretical or disparate groups together into the remnant.

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That's an excellent point that's often overlooked! To the extent that there's any "trail" there, it's not a trail of Baptists.

Even if we took the argument seriously and paid no mind to the fact that these groups are separated by many years, and so are not in the least to be considered a single movement...they aren't Baptists, even if modern Landmarker Baptists claim them as their version of "Apostolic Succession."

FireDragon76 said:

Sure, Church history is full of lots of bad stuff but the trail of blood tries to connect stuff in a sloppy manner, linking all sorts of heretical or disparate groups together into the remnant.

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That's an excellent point that's often overlooked! To the extent that there's any "trail" there, it's not a trail of Baptists.

Even if we took the argument seriously and paid no mind to the fact that these groups are separated by many years--and therefore are hardly a single movement--they aren't Baptists, even if modern Landmarker Baptists claim them as their own.

But as far as I know, Landmark Baptists are quite a small group. I had never heard of them when I was Baptist.

Mary

Mary of Bethany said:

But as far as I know, Landmark Baptists are quite a small group. I had never heard of them when I was Baptist.

Mary

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Mostly, it's the American Baptist Assn., but you are correct. However, the "trail of tears" theory was mentioned here, and they ("Landmarkers") are the ones who are associated with that argument AFAIK.

RevRandy used to be Baptist.

WisdomTree said:

RevRandy used to be Baptist.

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Yes, he was.