Posted on 08/26/2021 6:52:56 PM PDT by Marchmain
Pro-abortion groups in Texas are trying to raise up activists in an unlikely venue: churches.
Support for the killing of unborn babies in abortions never has been strong, and prominent pro-abortion groups have expressed concerns about apathy among their supporters. Meanwhile, the pro-life movement remains strong and active, with new pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes opening across the country and a record number of pro-life laws passing in the states, student pro-life groups in hundreds of high schools and colleges and sidewalk counselors offering prayers and support outside abortion facilities everywhere.
To thwart these life-saving efforts, the Texas Freedom Network is recruiting churches to join the pro-abortion movement, the Religion News Service reports.
And it is doing so by trying to drum up fears about the new Texas heartbeat law, which goes into effect Sept. 1. The law prohibits abortions once an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable, about six weeks of pregnancy, and has the potential to save tens of thousands of babies’ lives every year.
So far, the new Reproductive Freedom Congregations project has 25 churches signed up — mostly Unitarian along with a few Presbyterian churches and one Baptist congregation, the University Baptist Church in Austin, according to the report.
To participate, the churches must go through a training program that teaches pastors how to advocate for “reproductive health care,” including abortion on demand, and speak about it in their sermons, the report continued
(Excerpt) Read more at lifenews.com ...
Baptists are a Congregationalist denomination with no real theological distinctives other than full body immersion in baptism and a strong missionary focus. There are very, very left wing northern congregations and there are are very right wing IFB Baptist congregations. The vast majority are evangelicals who believe in the inerrancy of scripture. That itself will get you there
Shame! Especially the Baptist church.
These are abortion activists tossing a fit over Texas’ local anti-abortion progress.
Under Pope Communist, the Catholics are not far behind.
No, make that the ‘official Catholic Church’.
As for the congregation, now comes the real test...the Pope or logic and the truth.
No real theological distinctives? Have you studied this out, or is this just your casual unresearched opinion?
Nope, I’ve studied it out quite well. Being a Baptist I was curious as to the roots back to the early anabaptists. I stand by the statement.
Unitarians don’t even bother to hide the fact that they’re atheists who enjoy gathering on the odd Sunday morning. Atheists and Reform Jews.
Prayer addressed “To whom it may concern!” !
When I was much younger we went to the Unitarian meetings to pick up divorced cougars.
Is there a strong correlation with being pro-sodomite?
Huh? They want to disobey God’s Commandment “Thou shalt mot kill.”??
Catholics have always stood against abortion and will continue to do so.
Where are you getting your mistaken information?
OK, so they only have one baptist church signed up from Hell’s suburb (Austin). These people are such liars.
Probably Baptist churches in the CBF (Cooperative Baptist Fellowship) - left wing denomination. Just read their blog.
University Baptist Church in Austin:
Rev. Natalie Webb / Senior Pastor / 512-478-8559, ext. 208
Rev. Natalie Webb began her call as UBC’s eleventh Senior Pastor in March 2021.
Wiki: “In 1995, the church was again expelled from the Austin Baptist Association for ordaining a gay man as deacon. The church stood by its position, and in 1997, for this and other reasons, the church voted to disaffiliate itself with the Southern Baptist Convention. In recent years the church has become known for its welcoming stance toward homosexuals and has joined several like-minded church organizations.”
YOU ARE NOT. I REPEAT. NOT! A CHRISTIAN IF YOU SUPPORT MURDERING THE INNOCENT
Well, then, as a regenerated servant of Jesus Christ as my Lord and Proprietor, I have been a constituent of, and placed myself under the teaching of Baptist assemblies for a total of 35 years; and have been a constituent of non-denominational assemblies formed up as those known to be "Plymouth" brethren, or Darbyites, as well as previously having been a Methodist preacher's kid, a member of the Methodist Church from confirmation until not long after I was saved by faith alone in Christ alone in 1971 at the age of 34.
In that time, and under that exposure, I have found that some forms of theological structuring have chosen to use an acronym to describe a particular manifestation of a religious system. Perhaps you are aware that Calvinists like to sum up their approach with the acronym T-U-L-I-P. which I will not go into right now, but it is very familiar to most Presbyterians, for instance.
In a like fashion, anyone who is reasonably familiar with the Baptist manifestation will recognize that independent autonomous assemblies of professing Christians who baptize by immersion; partake of the Lord's Supper regularly; are led by congregationally-appointed pastors and deacons; regularly use only the Holy Scriptures as the single unarguable standard for preaching doctrine, personal conduct, and church discipline; and allot each person alone the responsibility of accounting for the state of his/her soul before God; are also are quite familiar with the acronym which sums up their distinctives of operation, which--without too much mystery--is B-A-P-T-I-S-T-S.
Now why is it that you don't seem to want others to know that theological basis for all Baptist manifestations?
Since you don't wish to flaunt that, let me do the honors. Here's how that acronym sets forth the distinctives of a Baptist assembly:
* * * * * * * * * *I would say that without question, this is a very well-defined set of distinctives firmly grounded on commonly agreed-on theological principles, wouldn't you?
• Biblical Authority – the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice• Autonomy of the Local Church – Each local church is an independent body accountable to Jesus Christ as its head.
• Priesthood of the Believer – Every believer, as a priest, has direct access to God through prayer and worship without the aid of a mediator.
• Two Ordinances – The New Testament provides for only two ordinances of the local church: believer’s baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They are ordinances (ceremonies ordained or ordered by God) and not sacraments (means of obtaining grace from God).
• Individual Soul Liberty – Each individual has the liberty to believe according to the dictates of his own soul. No one should be forced to consent to any belief against this own will.
• Saved, Baptized Church Membership – Local church membership should be restricted to those who have a personal testimony of faith in Jesus Christ and who have obediently followed the Lord in believer’s baptism administered by immersion of the whole person's corpus in clean water in the Name and authority of the Trinity.
• Two Offices in the Church – The two biblically established offices of the local church are that of pastor and deacon.
• Separation of Church and State – No church should be given authority over the state and the state should not have the authority to control the churches.
* * * * * * * * *
So why is it that you pretend to others that the Baptists, that you say don't have much theological grounding, are organized exactly the same way that all the early pre-"Catholic" "churches" (none of whom were organized denominationally) met, until the powermongers decided that they would be able to exert much greater force on larger populations by associating in catholicity under a supra-church single entity and thus set themselves up to be the religious organ of a geopolitical state.
As you ought to know, to be counted as New-Testament-defined localized spiritual assemblies answering to Christ alone, Ana-baptists (="rebaptizers") have from the beginning always been independent, autonomous, rejecting any kind of union or integration with a temporal hegemony, firmly insisting on separation of the Christ-headed church away from any human-governed state organization, and are hence NOT practitioners of temporal catholicity.
Shouldn't your surrounding earthling neighbors be aware of the true Baptistic mindset? The attitude you would be exhibiting as a New-Testament-type believer?
(And furthermore, the other Bible-based independent assemblies whose polity is that of a plurality of elders ruling by concurring prayerful agreement, are not a lot different than your typical "Baptist." None of them are "Protestants," at all.)
yes, and I covered most all of these in my post and acknowledged that most Baptist churches were evangelical and believed in the inerrancy of scripture. But not all Baptist churches subscribe to this, not by a long shot. There are many far left Baptist assemblies which believe little of that. The National Baptist Convention is an excellent example. The SBC is even moving in that direction. All of these would claim to be just as Baptist as any other congregation.
Then, as you suggest, some assemblies are gravitating toward immersionism alone as their sole remaining function, shedding some or all of the other distinctives enumerated. but sailing under a flag of being “christian” (in name only). Merely acting out the two ordinances with profession but without autonomy of assembly or legitimate individual regeneration is eternally condemning, not a Baptist goal at all, eh?
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