Nice Try CT, But the Protestant Church’s Doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration is NOT a “Moving” Moment
We continue to address this article in CT which states that church is a family metaphorically. According to the article, if we act like a family at church, it will feel more like family but it’s only a metaphor. And if we make it feel like family, rather than an “event,” more people will come into the sheep fold. As I mentioned in the last article, the idea of “event” replaces the idea that church is an institution that doles out more and more salvation via temple sacraments….which it is. For those reading the article without church spectacles, the author actually concedes that church is a place where we go to receive “sacraments.” However, most Churchians don’t stop to ask themselves what the use of these words actually mean and interpret what they hear and read through assumptions.
Consequently, we read the following in the article: “One of the most moving moments of those years was when the boy’s mother was baptized. Standing waist-high in water, she explained a little of her traumatic childhood, her years living rough, and something of the struggles of trying to hold her own family together. Her face shone and her voice clearly articulated her love for the God who had found her and welcomed her home.”
But of course, baptism is just a public confession that one has dedicated their life to Christ. That’s what we heard all of our Churchian lives. NOT. Baptismal regeneration is an official doctrine of the Protestant church. Most Protestants will vehemently deny this, but baptismal regeneration is foundational to Protestant orthodoxy. In no uncertain terms, the big three of the Protestant Reformation, Augustine, Luther, and Calvin, were no-holds-barred advocates for baptismal regeneration. While the who’s who of evangelical scholarship deny this reality, watch closely how the church functions in regard to this reality. It is denied intellectually, but confirmed in church functionality.
Then we have this: “Well, we don’t believe everything John Calvin believed.” Yes, they will actually look you straight in the eye and say this without blinking when what is being discussed is the gospel itself, and you are supposed to be stupid enough to take that as a valid answer. At any rate, the steroidal cognitive dissonance that we are talking about is illustrated by the following video:
Church is a lie, and the other day I pondered how it also strips us of hope for others. You notice in the article that the mom had “come home to God” because she was standing in a church baptismal. I believe one can come home to God, by the way, the literal home of God, individually, without the church which is all a lie to begin with.
We have this hope: that those who have passed before us whose lives were not all that great, called out to God in a private moment before their passing. What they believe in those moments save them, not the church lie.
paul
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
So, for those of you keeping score, the church is a family is a metaphor, but the church is the bride of Christ is literal. Any questions?
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How about church as a “destination”. That’s all the rage now. Destination vacations. Destination weddings, etc. in the seeker world, in their staff planning meetings, they called church an “experience” and members were referred to as “guests”. An experience for our guests….
BTW, that article is really describing what some of us know as “Love bombing”. It’s insidious.
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“For those reading the article without church spectacles, the author actually concedes that church is a place where we go to receive “sacraments.” However, most Churchians don’t stop to ask themselves what the use of these words actually mean and interpret what they hear and read through assumptions.”
I have a bit stunned at how many Baptists have brazenly gone this route. It’s not how I grew up at all. I understand tradition but not ritual so much. But it’s still best to know WHY and trace the origin. People love the sacramental system I guess it provides a “check the box” comfort and ease.
I have chuckle because in Verduins book, TheReformers and their Stepchildren, he uses literal descriptions to separate the state church from the anti state church stepchildren using the sacraments as an indicator. He called the stepchildren, sacramentschwarmer, because they rejected sacramental salvation.
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