[Forest Keeper]

I have heard that the Calvinsits & al have grossly distorted Blessed Augustine's theology, but I never thought they would somehow connect it to donatism!

Now look folks, it's not fair that you are piling your insults based only on the previous insult. :) First, we had kosta50 accuse me of some "tractor beam" idea in #447 that implies we are just robots. I answered that in #456 and said that we are free to sin.

Then, in response to #447, annalex said in #462:

The notion that only the "saved" are admitted to the church is pure donatism.

Where is this coming from? Is this from when I said that a person must be saved to become a member of a Baptist church? That isn't donatism. Not only do we welcome the unsaved into our pews and Sunday schools every Sunday, we hold several special events every year for the specific purpose of drawing in the unchurched to expose them to the Gospel message. We SEEK the seekers.

Finally, kosta50 builds on the previous insult in #469, which I have now refuted in this post. We can play fair, right?

[Cronos]

Not only do we welcome the unsaved into our pews and Sunday schools every Sunday, we hold several special events every year for the specific purpose of drawing in the unchurched to expose them to the Gospel message. We SEEK the seekers.

This does NOT square with what you said earlier that "Our witnessing converts no one and saves no one." If the person is already damned, why do you play with him? If your witnessing does not help, why SEEK the seekers? Let God help them, as per the philosophy you outlined.

[annalex]

Is this from when I said that a person must be saved to become a member of a Baptist church? That isn't donatism. Not only do we welcome the unsaved into our pews and Sunday schools every Sunday, we hold several special events every year for the specific purpose of drawing in the unchurched to expose them to the Gospel message.

Yup. Restricting church membership to an elect group is donatism, regardless of the outreach to the nonmembers. Specifically, restricting the sacrament of baptism to those whose faith is showing fruit is definitional donatism, in the case of baptists compounded by elimination of priesthood.

Donatists were more than just an opposition movement. They also had a distinctive worship style, emphasizing ‘mystical union of the righteous inspired by the Holy Spirit and instructed by the Bible.1 Anabaptists and other radical church traditions have looked to Donatists as historical predecessors because of their opposition to the union of state and church, their emphasis on discipleship and, in some cases, their commitment to nonviolence and social justice. Like those in the Radical Reformation in the 16th century, the Donatists saw the Catholics as impure and corrupted.

[...]

Augustine campaigned against this heterodox belief throughout his tenure as bishop of Hippo, and through his efforts the Church gained the upper hand. His view, which was also the majority view within the Church, was that it was the office of priest, not the personal character of the incumbent, that gave validity to the celebration of the sacraments.

Wikipedia: Donatism

Also see Catholic Encyclopedia: Donatists