some questions

well.. answering for my church from a Trail of Blood/Missionary Landmark Baptist heritage..

Our statement of faith: (which is the same across many churches out of the Trail of Blood tradition)

According to the Scriptures...



1. We believe that love one for another as Jesus loves the believer manifests our discipleship, proves our love for God and symbolizes our authority as New Testament churches. Love is therefore the great commandment of the LORD Jesus Christ upon which all others are dependent (Matt. 22:35-40; John 13:34, 35; John 15:12; 1 John 4:7-21; 1 John 5:1-3; Rev. 2:4, 5).

2. We believe in the infallible, verbal inspiration of the whole Bible and that the Bible is the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice (Psalm 119:160; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17).

3. We believe in the personal triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in divine perfection (Matt. 28:19).

4. We believe in the Genesis account of Creation (Gen. 1; 2).

5. We believe that Satan is a fallen angel, the archenemy of God and man, the unholy god of this world, and that his destiny is the eternal lake of fire (Isa. 14:12-15; Ezek. 28:11-19; Matt. 25:41; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:10-17; Rev. 20:10).

6. We believe in the virgin birth and sinless humanity of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:18-20; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22).

7. We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ (John 10:30; John 1:1, 14; 2 Cor. 5:19).

8. We believe the Holy Spirit is the divine Administrator for Jesus Christ in His churches (Luke 24:49; John 14:16, 17; Acts 1:4, 5, 8; Acts 2:1-4).

9. We believe that miraculous spiritual manifestation gifts were done away when the Bible was completed. Faith, Hope and Love are the vital abiding Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor. chapters 12-14).

10. We believe that Man was created in the image of God and lived in innocency until he fell by voluntary transgression from his sinless state, the result being that all mankind are sinners (Gen. 1:26; Gen. 3:6-24; Rom. 5:12, 19).

11. We believe that the suffering and death of Jesus Christ was substitutionary for all mankind and is efficacious only to those who believe (Isa. 53:6; Heb. 2:9; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 John 2:2).

12. We believe in the bodily resurrection and ascension of Christ and the bodily resurrection of His saints (Matt. 28:1-7; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Cor. 15:42-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18).

So Jesus is God.. and while He was on earth was God in human skin.

He died on the cross to bridge the gap between man and God.. being the substituionary sacrifice for man so that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life.. He rose again from the dead to demonstrate His power over life and death, to show He is God.

Aesjn said:

Hi everyone, I have some questions... I actually considered myself an Anabaptist for a while, but there are some things I don't know.
I know the answers to my question will depend on which particular group you're answering for, so please just say whichever that is.

I. Does your group believe the bible is inerrant?

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Some Anabaptists do. Most Quakers do not. Biblical inerrancy is not a criterion for being considered Anabaptist or Quaker.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "your group." The membership of this CF forum is very diverse across the spectrum of Anabaptist, Quaker, Brethren and Free Church Protestants. If you want to know what our individual faith traditions hold, or what we individually hold, we can each answer for ourselves.

I come from a Mennonite Brethren background, and am now a member of a Friends church. I am not an inerrantist, but I do love, revere and study the Bible.

II. Does it believe in sola scriptura?

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Again, you will find some variation on this. In the sense of holding Tradition as equal with scripture, I think you will not find Anabaptists, Quakers or other Free Church Protestants who hold that view. However, the activity of the Holy Spirit within the believer, and especially within the local congregation is given great importance. In some Anabaptist and Quaker groups, you will find the "inner light" or the counsel of brothers and sisters in light of scripture to be held in very high regard. Anabaptists tend to be Bible people who interpret scripture together in community. Some Quakers hold the "inner light" of the Holy Spirit on par with or even possibly above the Bible.

Personally, a Bible-in-community hermeneutic would be the view you will see me coming from.

III. What is the "meaning" of Christs life and death?

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You mean you think there is only one?

Number 3 is something I am most curious about... A lot of denominations make quite a bit out of Christ's death, they make it sound like God needed or craved blood, and overall, really, the way most people talk about it sounds beastly.

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I personally find the Anselmian view of satisfaction/penal substitutionary atonement not very attractive, either. But it is just a theory. It is one way of looking at the Atonement, which made sense to people living within the framework of Medieval feudalism. There are older views and newer views.

Again, although some Anabaptists would say the Anselmian view is the only correct one, you will find a much wider range than that. For Mennonites, being a disciple of Christ is central, and the theories are of secondary or tertiary importance.

nzguy said:

So Jesus is God.. and while He was on earth was God in human skin.

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Does this mean your church believes the Incarnation was only temporary, and Jesus is no longer human?

I realize Menno Simons and some of the early Anabaptists had unorthodox views of the Incarnation, specifically the origin of Jesus' human flesh and the two natures of Christ. For the OP's benefit I would say there is certainly a historical basis for unorthodox beliefs on the doctrine of the Incarnation, but I would also say that a lot of us are fully Chalcedonian in our beliefs on that subject.

He died on the cross to bridge the gap between man and God.. being the substituionary sacrifice for man so that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life.. He rose again from the dead to demonstrate His power over life and death, to show He is God.

Click to expand...

Again, this theory of the atonement is quite common among Anabaptists, but certainly isn't the only one. Many Anabaptists and Quakers emphasize praxis more than doctrine. You are likely to see Anabaptists and Quakers use the Sermon on the Mount as their hermeneutical lens, rather than Romans, which would be the hermeneutical lens of most Western Christians.

Aesjn said:

Hi everyone, I have some questions... I actually considered myself an Anabaptist for a while, but there are some things I don't know.

Click to expand...

Aesjn said:

I know the answers to my question will depend on which particular group you're answering for, so please just say whichever that is.

I. Does your group believe the bible is inerrant?
II. Does it believe in sola scriptura?
III. What is the "meaning" of Christs life and death?

Number 3 is something I am most curious about... A lot of denominations make quite a bit out of Christ's death, they make it sound like God needed or craved blood, and overall, really, the way most people talk about it sounds beastly.

Click to expand...

I. The overall theological concept of "inerrancy" is a Protestant idea. Most Mennonites have pretty thoroughly assimilated Evangelical Protestantism and would agree with the common formula of "verbal and plenary inspiration, inerrant in the originals". The early Anabaptists and even Old Orders would not necessarily use the term "inerrant" or get caught up in what that means, rather, they would accept the bible as absolutely authoritative in a way that makes the issue of inerrancy irreverent.

II. Again, a Protestant concept. The Anabaptists as a whole accept the scriptures as authoritative and will not accept other revelations or traditions as authoritative. But they approach scripture in a somewhat hierarchical way, with the New Testament, especially the words of Jesus, being relevant for today, and they diligently try to apply New Testament principles to every aspect of their lives. Sometimes the understandings and applications become traditions in and of themselves, for better or for worse.

III. That's a great question. Jesus lived in part to reveal God's will in the clearest terms to man. He came to teach and to give us an example. At the same time he came to die for our sins. The complexities of the atonement were not poured over by the Anabaptists; their hymns were not filled with our splashing around in fountains of Christ’s blood. Though again, in recent years Mennonites have brought into their circles the whole theology of atonement and speculation about its mechanics.

Anabaptists related to Jesus' life as followers in His footsteps more than anything else.

I guess I mean that Jesus has always been God and is God now.. so He may look human if we met Him.. He did when the disciples met Him and when He met others in the Old Testament, but is God.

Dunno if that answers your question...



but ya the statement of faith for my church has it:

We believe in the virgin birth and sinless humanity of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:18-20; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22).

We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ (John 10:30; John 1:1, 14; 2 Cor. 5:19).

We believe that the suffering and death of Jesus Christ was substitutionary for all mankind and is efficacious only to those who believe (Isa. 53:6; Heb. 2:9; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 John 2:2).

We believe in the bodily resurrection and ascension of Christ and the bodily resurrection of His saints (Matt. 28:1-7; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Cor. 15:42-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18).

We believe in the premillennial, personal, bodily return of Christ as the crowning event of the Gentile age. This event will include the resurrection of the righteous to eternal heaven, and the Millennium will be followed by the resurrection of the unrighteous unto eternal punishment in the lake of fire and that the righteous shall enter into the heaven age (John 14:1-6; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Thess. 2:8; Rev. 19; Rev. 20:4-6; Rev. 20:11-15; Rev. 21:8).

so there you go