The Baptist Religion Allen 1

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The Baptist ReligionLogan Allen

The University of Kentucky

Abstract

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The Baptist religion has been in the mix of branches of religion since the seventeenth century.

They have their own set of beliefs, as does every other religion. They are a denomination of the

Christian religion. They believe in the word of God and they believe the sacred text known as the

Bible. They have their own holiday traditions, prayers, and worship ceremonies. While having

similar beliefs as other Christian religions, the Baptists also have things that set them apart and

make them one religion.

Baptist Religion

When someone says Baptist religion what do you think? Maybe a Christian religion or

maybe John the Baptist? The Baptist religion, in fact, was not named after John the Baptist. They

were given their name from their opponents in other religions and it has stuck with them to this

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day (McBeth, 1979). It is commonly know that Baptist is one denomination of the Christian

religion. That is very true, however, there is much more to the Baptist religion than what some

think. They do have a Christian based religion and Christian based beliefs but that is not only

what the Baptists believe. The Baptists have their own history, beliefs, and practices that are part

of their religion outside just the Christian beliefs.

The Baptist religion is controversial when it comes to a certain date when Baptist was

considered a denomination. It is generally accepted that the religion started in the early 17th

century (McBeth, 1979). The Baptist movement was caused by separation of the Church of

England. John Smyth helped form the Baptist congregation. First there were only five Baptist

churches in different parts of England around 1926. However, this was growing rapidly. By

1644, there was said to have been forty-seven Baptist churches and by 1660 there were over

20,000 Baptists in England. Roger Williams first arrived to America in 1631 and with him he

brought the Baptist practices (Weber, 1907). By 1938 the first Baptist church in America had

been established by Williams with the help of Ezekiel Holliman (Buschart, 2008). By 1907 the

Baptist religion had grown to a large number of approximately 5,736,263 Baptists in the world

(Weber, 1907). As the Baptist religion continued to grow, it too broke into two smaller groups,

both having the same major beliefs and practices, but they each have minor differences.

Today, there are two types of Baptists General Baptists and Particular Baptists. General

Baptists were the original Baptist, like John Smyth (Buschart, 2008). General Baptists believe

that Jesus died for every single person who believes in him. Particular Baptists came to existence

a generation after General Baptists, mainly led by John Carver. Particular Baptists believe Jesus

died for a certain selection of people, the people who met standards of the church, and followed

the set rules (McBeth, 1979). This difference is the only thing that separates the Baptist religion

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into two different types. Some people may not even realize there are the two groups because

there are not separate churches for the two groups. They all gather in a Baptist church it is just a

small personal belief. Their other beliefs are the same.

Many different religion see God in many different ways. Baptists believe God is the

greatest of the great, that nothing or no one can be greater than God. Baptists believe in the

concept of God being three people in one (Draper, 2000). Another Baptist, Kayla Campbell sees

God as an omnipresent. She sees him as the Almighty, the three beings in one. The three beings

she recognizes in God are the Holy Father, Son of God, and Holy Spirit. She believes God is the

only thing that can stop someone from being sent to hell. She also thinks you must believe

wholeheartedly in God and trust him (personal communication, October 4, 2014). Jessica

VanWinkle, daughter of a Baptist preacher said, “God is my creator, the person I seek for refuge

and strength. I vision him as all powerful and knowing. My peace!” (personal communication,

October 5, 2014). Baptists believe it impossible to define God because he is so great and

powerful. They believe people are taught incorrectly about God when shown images in bible

school or as a child. They think the images causes people to attach God to the images instead of

the great spiritual being they believe he is. When people are asked to describe God they usually

describe a picture they have seen at some point in their life and they neglect the bigger things

such as his spiritual being and him being the Almighty (Mullins, 1912). The Baptist also believe

God is the only person that can invite you into heaven and keep you from going to hell.

Baptists want to live their life the way the Bible tells them to and the way God wants

them to. They believe if they are a follower of God they will go to heaven when their time in our

world comes to an end. What is heaven exactly? Baptists see heaven as a place but not

necessarily a place with a specific location or a specific detailed look. People imagine heaven in

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many different ways but a common ground is that it is a place that God resides in and a place of

afterlife. Heaven is a place with no pain or hurt (Mullins, 1912). So if someone does not follow

the word of God or believe in him, what happens to them after life on Earth? Baptists believe

these people will be sent to hell. Hell is endless punishment. Hell is where people go when they

abuse human freedom (Buschart, 2008). Baptist believe their guide to life lies in the Bible. If

they follow the Bible they will get into heaven.

The Bible is the Baptists’ sacred text. Baptists are sometimes referred to as “people of the

book” (Bushart, 2008). For a Baptist, the Bible is God’s truth (Draper, 2000). The Bible is their

guide to living and tells them what they have to do to be accepted into living and also to live

their life the way God expects people to. Buschart show’s an example of that when stating the

bible verse, "All scripture is God-breathed [that is, inspired] and is useful for teaching, rebuking,

correcting, and training in righteousness” (Bushart, 2008). Not only is the Bible itself important

but also how people personally interpret the word of God. In today’s Baptist world many focus

on the New Testament (McBeth, 1979). Interpreting the messages in a Bible is more of a

personal preference rather than a strict guideline, some take the literal meaning of the readings

and some find a much deeper meaning. VanWinkle said she looks for a deeper message but often

has a hard time finding one. She likes to seek help from the preacher or bible study teachers to

understand a deeper meaning (personal communication, October 5, 2014). Beyond the power of

scripture there is power of prayer.

Some religions have prayers they are required to say daily, however, Baptists may pray

however and whenever they feel the need to. Baptist believe in the miracles of God and the

power of God. Praying to God is their way to talk to him and connect with him on a more

personal level than just Sunday service. Kayla stated that she likes to pray when she feels like

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she needs to talk to God and she also likes to pray before meals to thank God for the blessings

she had received that day (personal communication, October 4, 2014). Besides using prayer

when they feel the need to, Baptists use prayer during church service too.

Service, a time of gathering in the Lord’s House. There are thousands of Baptist churches

all over the world. Baptists believe that each of their local churches are empowered solely by the

members of that church. They feel as if no one outside that church can have a say of what goes

on during service, each church is their own independent congregation (Draper, 2000). There are

services on Sundays, the Lord’s day, and bible studies and smaller services on Wednesdays. For

a Baptist service there is no strict dress code, but one should dress respectfully. Some churches

may ask for certain things not to be worn during service for example, some churches ask that

people not wear shorts to church (personal communication, Oct. 5, 2014). This is something that

varies throughout Baptist churches all over the world. Like in any religion there are people who

take service very seriously and attend more than once a week, and there are the more casual

people that attend the usual Sunday morning service. VanWinkle, for example, is a more serious

member of the church. She attends service on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday

evening (personal communication, October 5, 2014). Campbell on the other hand is more of a

casual church member. She attends service once a week, on Sunday mornings (personal

communication, October 4, 2014). Service typically begins with a Bible study, or Sunday school,

an hour before actual service start. After Bible study the actual Sunday service begins, first the

church prays together. The prayers are lead by the preacher. After the praying, the church sings

hymns and greets those sitting around them (Buschart, 2008). Next the preacher preaches his

sermon, usually a preacher trying to send a life lesson or a good message. Finally, service ends

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with an alter call (personal communication, Oct. 5, 2014). On certain Sundays, members of the

church will receive communion during the alter call.

Baptists, of course, do receive communion like many other Christian denominations, but

they only receive communion if there is a fifth Sunday of the

month or every first Sunday of each month. It is the choice of the

current preacher (Buschart, 2008). In communion, the bread given

to the members of the church symbolizes the body of Jesus Christ,

the body he sacrificed for all the people of the world (Mullins,

1912). The wine symbolizes the blood shed, the suffering, and the

death of Jesus Christ (Buschart, 2008). You can see in the picture, retreived from

betweenthetimes.com, the wine and crackers used for communion. Sometimes during service

there may be a ceremony for welcoming and recognizing a new member of the church.

Baptism is the welcoming of a new member into the church. When the New Testament

became a big part of the Baptist religion they changed their beliefs to believing in immersion,

which is fully body submersion in the water (Buschart, 2008). For Baptist, baptism is a cleansing

of all sins, and a union with Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection. Baptism may only be done

once for an individual (Mullins, 1912). As a Baptist, one gets baptized when they decide they

want to invite God into their hearts. When the time of baptism comes, the preacher invites the

person up to the front of the church and the church welcomes the new member. After that the

person is baptized in the water and the ceremony finishes with the preacher saying a blessing for

the person. Baptists also believe that once someone is baptized and saved they are always saved

(personal communication, Oct. 5, 2014). Campbell shared her baptism experience with me

saying “I was baptized when I was 8 years old. The ceremony started with prayer, then the

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preacher and I stood in the water together. The preacher said special prayers as he dunked me

underwater to cleanse me of my sins” (personal communication, Oct. 4, 2014). Once baptized,

one is officially a member of the Baptist church. Besides baptism there is one other instance of a

special service: holidays.

Baptists celebrate holidays just like other religions. They celebrate all holidays, including

Halloween. They do not, however, take part in any ghost activity or ghost related things during

halloween because they do not believe in that. They believe once someone dies they are with

God (personal communication, Oct. 5, 2014). On Christmas Eve, Baptists all over the world

gather with their families at their local church.

This is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Another

special holiday tradition is a special Easter

service celebrating Jesus Christ's resurrection

(personal communication, Oct. 4, 2014). On the

left you can see a picture of a Christmas Eve

service retrieved from

http://www.petalumabaptist.org/. Those are the only Baptist holiday traditions, yet many Baptist

family have their own traditions based around these holidays and beliefs, but they do not apply to

the whole church. Baptists have their own way of expressing their relationship with God.

While Baptists are part of a much larger religion, the Christian religion, they have much

deeper meaning than what is surfaced. The number of Baptists in the world has been growing

since the seventeenth century and will not stop anytime soon. They will continue their practices

and reaching out to God. Being a smaller denomination of a larger religion does not take away

from their own history, beliefs, and practices.

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References

Buschart, D. (2008). Religion Library: Baptist. Retrieved from http://www.patheos.com/Library/Baptist/Origins.html

Draper, J. T. (2000, Oct.). What is a Baptist. Retrieved from http://www.baptist2baptist.net/b2barticle.asp?ID=226

McBeth, L. (1979). Baptist Beginnings. Retrieved from http://www.baptisthistory.org/baptistbeginnings.htm

Mullins, E. Y. (1912). Baptist Beliefs. New York City: Baptist World Publishing Company.

Weber, N. (1907). Baptists. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved October 10, 2014 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02278a.htm

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