oh boy...i'm probably stepping into a minefield here...so if i sound ignorant it is not meant to be mean etc.
i *think* that back in the day CF had a presby forum...i also think that for whatever reason it was closed. i'll have to dig through CF's dusty attic and see if i can glean any information which may take a while. my first guess is that it had something to do with some serious bloodletting between the pca folks and the pcusa folks. that is my initial gut reaction.
to be honest i'm about as far from reformed as one can get so some of the internal baptist / reformed / presby squabbles are a bit of a mystery to me. though those that self-identify as presbyterian (of all stripes) are about the 5th largest christian denomination in the US, it would seem.
with respect to icons / forums...i'm unsure where to go on that if only because i'm very loathe to create a whole bunch of presbyterian forums...in all likelihood there would be a main forum with sub-forums as necessary...sort of like the TCL forum, I guess. but that may be too far down the road at this point.
one of the things that that we look for is the size of CF population that a new forum would serve. i frankly, don't know, how many people on CF are actually presby...as it seems that they choose a variety of icons (mainly reformed these days, it seems).
at any rate...i'm not necessarily opposed at all i'm just trying to figure out how we got here and where to go from here...just all the inputs that go into the gonkinator before it spits out a decision, as it were.
can someone (nicely...without arguing with each other) let me know what the deal is with the baptist / presbyterian discussion that is occuring here? based on my knowledge the presbys have more distinctives that merely being some type of reformed believers, yes?
I hear ya about the icons, etc.
I just started this because I believe that Prebyterians need a forum of our own.
I love posting in Semper Reformanda....but like DD2008 said...we don't have a save zone to post say bout...paedo(infant) baptism now, without a person who claims to be reformed, ie "reformed baptist" countering our point. IMHO there is not a baptist that can claim to be "reformed" at all.
Infant baptism is a trait of being reformed...it goes back to the reformers...remember...the protestant reformation, ala Luther, Calvin, etc...didn't want to rewrite the Catholic church, but to reform it's standards and doctrine.
Reformed Baptist is a misnomer IMHO(and other's opinions too)...Baptists never had anything to reform in the first place.
Presbyterians(and the associated reformed churches as I listed in the first page of this thread, which the majority had the word "presybyterian" in their titles) need our own forum here please.
I understand that Semper Reformanda pleases all Calvinist christians...and that's OK with me...but it's not what the title suggests...the forum is NOT reformed in essence.
If you google Reformed theology(google is by no means expert in this topic) but you will find no baptist doctrine involved in most of the initial links...that's because it's not reformed in the truest sense of the word.
Tonks, I am asking this sincerely without cause for trouble...I was a southern baptist...I am now a conservative Presbyterian in the PCA denomination. I have nothing, absolutely NOTHING against "reformed" baptists or other calvinists...but they are NOT presbyterian nor are they reformed.
Despite what others have stated in this thread...I don't want to "exclude" Baptists...that seems to be the only counterpoint in this entire thread acutally!...but I want for presbyterians...what lutherans, episcopalians, etc have here at CF...our own forum to talk about our own issues/concerns and ideas and fellowship without worrying about offending others because they see themselves as reformed...but they truely are not reformed. It's not my opinion...it's a fact.
Example: Presbyterians are not dispensational we endear covenant theology....
Presbyterians are not Rapture oriented....we don't like it nor care about that subject...it's not in our theology.
Presbyterians baptize infants....in a post earlier...we were wrongly compared to Roman Catholics in this sense....but we do baptise infants...a BIG thing in our denomination....Baptists dont and never will!
We all hold to at least the Apostle's Creed...in Semper Reformanda...we have tried to discuss the merits of this creed, yet it seems that other's have posted against it....in opinion and in protest...cause they are "reformed" baptist...to me that's unfair and not needed.
These are but a few examples of what I'm trying to confer....Presbyterians NEED our own forum.
I would suggest doing exactly what you all did with the Pentecostal/Spirit Filled forum way back when...split it.
Have a forum for all calvinists in faith groups...but have a specific Presbyterian/Reformed Churches(non baptist) Forum under Communities.
I've got more...but ponder this please...I'm not trying to be a trouble maker here Tonks.
Thankyou so much for your post here.