Do you have close friends at your church?

Ed Vasicek

I think we all should have close Christian friends, but not necessarily at our church (although it is nice, ideally, IMO),yet we should have people in our church with whom we are friendly and familiar, friends but not necessarily close ones. There are pros and cons to this, of course. And, by friend, we are not counting immediate families (okay, cousins and more distantly related people can count).

So let’s talk about what is and then you are free to comment on that or upon what you believe should be.

Poll Results

Discussion

Graves, Landmarkism and the Kingdom of God (Part 4)

TylerR

Landmarkism and “Apostolic Succession”: a Common Misconception

It is a common charge to say that Landmarkers believe in a chain-link, almost apostolic-like succession of local churches. What saith Graves?

Landmark Baptists very generally believe that for the Word of the Living God to stand, and for the veracity of Jesus Christ to vindicate itself, the kingdom which He set up “in the days of John the Baptist,” has had an unbroken continuity until now.1

This makes good sense, from Graves’ point of view. However, he takes great pains to emphasize he is not speaking of an apostolic succession of churches.2 So, what on earth does he mean?

Discussion

Graves, Landmarkism and the Kingdom of God (Part 3)

TylerR

(Part 3 considers more of the implications of Graves’ doctrine of the church. Read the series so far.)

Implication #3 – All Non-Baptist Ministers are False Ministers

Graves wrote, “If Baptist preachers are scriptural ministers, Pedobaptists certainly are not, and vice versa, since two things unlike each other cannot be like the same thing—scriptural.”1 One should not be surprised that Graves made this leap. After all, if local Baptist churches are the only “true churches” which accurately represent Christ’s Kingdom, then it naturally follows that only the Baptist ministers of these “true churches” are legitimate ministers of the gospel. Graves wrote:

Nothing could be more inconsistent than to admit those preachers into our pulpit who hold and teach doctrines, on account of which we would exclude both from our pulpits and our churches, any minister of our own denomination.2

This is a startling proclamation by itself, but Graves was even more explicit elsewhere:

Discussion