KingdomCraft: Why I'm not Baptist (or Reformed Baptist)

Music:
The first song is the music for Psalm 42 of the Genevan Psalter by Claude Goudimel. The lyrics to that can be found here:

The rest of the music is written by me.

[caleb]

Baptist churches with a piano and hymns can be very beautiful. I agree it’s not a high church but I do believe simplicity can also be beautiful.

[melvinlemay]

"You're Baptists with a smoke machine."
As a non denominational Christian I busted a gut when you said that.

[jackdullboy]

One thing that's important to note is that for a lot of churches, them being low church isn't really out of choice, but rather because of a lack of fundings. Especially in developing countries like in Asia for example. There's a lot of poor people where I come from, so we can't always have nice things. We thank to Lord for providing us with what we have even in times of persecution.
Good video, God bless you.

[bobstovall]

I am a Baptist and I find your videos most helpful in understanding my fellow Christians. As to the matter of Authority, clearly The Bible is The Authority. The Church; The Bride of Christ, is, clearly, important. But much of what, today and for the 20 centuries since its founding by Christ it has become to too many Christians what The Law had become to Jews before the arrival of Jesus Christ.

When He, said, as recorded in Matthew 5:17, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them." He was, implicitly, making TWO points: The Tradition and Institutions are important and must be recognized and maintained and the HE IS and will ALWAYS BE, the ultimate authority. Since He, Himself, did not leave any written record, then we have to rely upon the record created by those who knew him personally and their close associates and maintained by those who heard and responded to His call to serve and maintain those records, institutions and traditions.

He also made a number of other points along his path from that Manger in Bethlehem to The Cross at Calvary: "For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them. ” and "The same Lord is Lord of all, and gives richly to all who call on Him, for, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” There's not a single mention of Sacraments here. There is, of course, the Last Supper which is the origin of what Christians, today, call 'Communion'. Baptists, obviously, recognize the importance of this ceremony and strive to observe and preserve it.

I fully support what you are doing with this important work and I hope that criticisms by those who have objections do not deter you from your mission. I actually believe that you are leading people to The Lord and growing The Church; adding to The Body of Christ. I'm looking forward to watching all of your videos and looking forward to those you produce in the future. May God richly bless you in this endeavor.

[jakinboaz]

Good video. As a Baptist, I hope we can take these criticisms to heart and mitigate the effects of those secondary matters you mentioned, such as beauty and classical philosophy.

[brockburgi]

As a Baptist myself, one of the things you don’t point out that I love about my denomination is the huge emphasis on the Great Commission. There is a reason why many church plants today are Baptist, and not mainline Protestant. As someone who has lived in Utah my whole life, if it weren’t for Baptist’s very strong emphasis on the great commission, the Church here would basically be non existent. I will admit tho I’m pretty ignorant with the mainline churches history on the Great Commission, so that’s something I’ll have look into sometime. I do appreciate the mainline’s high view of communion/sacraments and the church building, so that’s defiantly something that’s convicted me and has left me open to not being Baptist. Appreciate the video! :)

[charlesmoore]

The thief on the cross didn't take communion or water baptism yet:
Luke 23:43
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."

Yes the sacraments are essential to being obedient and they should not be neglected, but in regards to salvation it is through Christ alone.

[kevinw]

I’m a Baptist and I agree that we tend to put too much emphasis on celebrity pastors. It does seem like it’s less of an issue in traditions that are more confessional.

[catheryncovington]

The reason baptists (speaking as a Baptist myself) may not have more traditional or “beautiful” church buildings is because we believe that we are the church. That’s why fellowship is a big deal on Sundays because that is us being the church. We believe that the church building itself is just a building, it’s what we do with or in it that matters.

[americanhumaninterferencet]

As a Baptist I actually agree with you on the general "born-again experience" thing. I think a lot of more old school Baptist teachers can over emphasize it to an extereme. For me, growing up I never had a specific time that I remember having a born again experience, it caused me a lot of anxiety when some more old style or fundamental Baptist would talk about how you should have a specific time and day you remember. Since then though, I have gotten a lot of guidance from older members of my church that it is not a reason to question your Salvation as long as you have a relationship with Christ and continued scantification is evident in your life.

[rainy]

Hey I’m a Baptist and I really like your videos! I agree with many of your points and I appreciate how respectful you were when “criticizing” us. I once went to a more traditional baptist church and to be one hundred percent honest it was the best church I’ve ever been to. Personally I don’t really follow the significance of a “one time born again” experience because I haven’t had one myself. Often when I go to church I have to evaluate what the pastor says and kind of apply my own perspective to it, because sometimes they really just state their opinions and specific interpretations of passages in the Bible.

[samtoman]

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬ ‭
Not through the church fathers, through Christ and His Word

[Neal_Marshall]

Theologically I personally disagree to your points, but everything else is true and we probably should fix some of these issues. But, regardless, I enjoy your videos and your takes on God and Christianity and gives me a better mindset on it than it being closed off. Thank you, and God bless. Keep making these videos!

[maximgruner]

I’m Baptist and I’ve been watching your videos for some time and you’ve actually convinced me to embrace a more traditional reformed view of theology. The only thing I’m not sold on is infant baptism. If you or someone could explain how that is biblical I’d really appreciate it.

[BasedSpider-man]

Hey so I’m a baptist and the reason why I think we don’t really focus to much on the sacraments is because I feel like you can fall in to a trap that “you have to be baptize” that can make you think that the baptism is the way to be saved because it should be a commitment in your heart

[karlymartin]

as a baptist, honestly I agree with most of this video. Honestly I have recently considered looking into other more traditional denominations. But I also agree that growing up baptist has encouraged me to focus on making sure I consistently read the bible every day and pray often and earnestly. I’m not sure how I feel about infant baptism because i still believe it should be a choice, but at the same time I “chose” at 8 years old so idk I might as well have just been baptized as a baby lol. Also i definitely agree about doubting my salvation, from 10-13 I severely doubted if I “meant it” when I got baptized. and then 14-16 I doubted if God even existed. and now at 17 after doing a full 180 I can confidently say that my faith is stronger than ever and now I really want to join a church with more community so I have someone to talk to when I have doubts and don’t fall into unbelief again.

[controversyatitsfinest]

Yeah, as a Baptist I will say, the reason we don't keep much church tradition, is because since we are human and sinful, so is our tradition within the church, and often times in other denominations tradition might interfere with Biblical theology. I also believe the Bible is not the only authority, but, ofc, it is the highest authority as you said. I don't even typically agree with a lot of Baptist theology. I believe the best way to have the best theology is to first do your own study of the Bible regarding that, and once you do see how it compares to other studies

[hooligans]

Thanks for the video.

You put your views forward in a way that really respects other denominations but doesn't honeycoat the differences that exist. If could I put a word of caution on one thing, though, I would be careful not to use my own standard of beauty as the universal standard for beauty.

There is beauty in using a variety of instruments to praise the Lord, as the Psalms constantly repeat. Of course, there is also beauty that many may find in sticking to what has been sung by the church for hundreds of years. I grew up in a very conservative environment and I was the pianist for my church for some amount of months and years (forced by my parents). This caused a lot of stress as I was still pursuing lots of classes (again, forced by my parents) in school. Therefore, my association of conservative traditionalist worship was less of a set-apart beautiful thing to me and rather just a reminder of the next time I had to play for the congregation. That was my own experience which explains my preference to non-traditional styles of worship. I now attend a church that uses varieties of instruments and genres of music to praise God, and I find so much more beauty in that. But of course, other people who lived other lives will have other ways of interpreting various instruments and genres of music. For example, my mother associates drums with "rock concerts" and so her heart is troubled when worshipping with drums included as to her it is a symbol of worldliness. To me, it's an insturment, one of the many that we can use to uplift God's name in unified rhythm. This is a working example of how one's own definition of beauty is shaped by personal experience and cultural views that shift over time.

TL;DR I think acoustic guitars are beautiful and so are drums and etc. because they all make music that I enjoy, but it is understandable that other people may associate various instruments with various stigmas due to their environment growing up and therefore stick to only a small selection of worship music.

We should be kind to one another in being aware of these things. Many good folks I know that have a heart of gold but would classify the electric guitar as inherently demonic or evil. Even if I know there is nothing inherently evil about the electric guitar itself, what would be evil is delibaretly causing conflict by being ignorant of these people's recognition of the electric guitar as an icon of ungodliness. Anyway, hope that all made some sense. I have a bit of trouble being concise so I apologize for the lengthy read. I'ma go eat a sandwich now bye

[MrYutbe]

Ive been making aure to get a good 20 min of your videos on my way to work. Keeps my mind focused on theology and apologetics throughout the day.

[gigahorse]

Your church is gorgeous! The stained glass is beautiful. Pure art!

Wouldn’t it be cool if someone built the tabernacle, following instructions in the Old Testament? 😳