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To: FJ290
...I don't care how many times Baptists want to say they aren't Protestants, historically you came out of the Reformation just like your other Protestant counterparts.

Actually, the Church of England separated from Rome. Many in England wanted to embrace the fuller doctrines of their continental Reformation brethren. In general, these were the Puritans. Among this group were some who came to be called the Separatists who were similar but not the same as the already established Presbyterians and other Puritans. From the Separatists came the Congregationalists, the fourth of the great Reformation churches, distinguished by its strong belief in local control of churches. The Baptists came from them due mostly to their belief in the baptism of believers only, just as depicted in the New Testament.
In 1609, John Smyth led a group of separatists to the Netherlands to start the General Baptist church with an Arminian theology. In 1616, Henry Jacob led a group of Puritans in England with a Calvinist theology to form a congregational church that would eventually become the Particular Baptists in 1638 under John Spilsbury. Both groups had members who sailed to America as pilgrims to avoid religious persecution in England and Europe and who started Baptist churches in the early colonies. The Particular and General Baptists would disagree over Arminianism and Calvinism until the formation of the Baptist Union of Great Britain in the 1800s under Andrew Fuller and William Carey for the purpose of missions. American Baptists soon followed suit.
This is the Separatist view of Baptist history. Most informed Baptists believe this. The competing Landmark and Anabaptist views of Baptist history is not credible outside certain circles.

So you can call us Protestants. But it's not entirely accurate or a clear distinction. And the earliest Baptists were Arminian, not Calvinist/Augustinian.
136 posted on 08/02/2006 5:47:48 PM PDT by George W. Bush
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To: George W. Bush
So you can call us Protestants. But it's not entirely accurate or a clear distinction. And the earliest Baptists were Arminian, not Calvinist/Augustinian.

According to this Baptist website, it's pretty accurate to call Baptists Protestants:

Baptist Contributions to Protestantism

Baptist Beginnings

137 posted on 08/02/2006 6:01:47 PM PDT by FJ290
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