Can I be an American Baptist without believing in OSAS?

[GodLovesCats]

I read enough about Free Will Baptists to decide I can't be one of them, but the belief that once saved you can never stop being a Christian, has been disproven too many times to count. The FWB are correct about that. So I am stuck between Free Will and American Baptist.

The ABC says it supports members having a variety of theological beliefs, but not before defining a Baptist belief as OSAS (meaning you can't lose your salvation). So can I be an American Baptist?

 

[tall73]

The ABC says it supports members having a variety of theological beliefs, but not before defining a Baptist belief as OSAS (meaning you can't lose your salvation). So can I be an American Baptist?

Do you mean the American Baptist Association, or the American Baptist Churches USA?

And can you quote the statement you are referencing.

 

[BobRyan]

I read enough about Free Will Baptists to decide I can't be one of them,

I don't know much about Free Will Baptists -- what did you find??

 

[d taylor]

Why not actually ask a pastor from this denomination.

 

[GodLovesCats]

Why not actually ask a pastor from this denomination.

Because all the Baptist churches here are either Southern for Fundamental.

 

[GodLovesCats]

Do you mean the American Baptist Association, or the American Baptist Churches USA?

And can you quote the statement you are referencing.

American Baptist Churches USA

 

[SkyWriting]

I read enough about Free Will Baptists to decide I can't be one of them, but the belief that once saved you can never stop being a Christian, has been disproven too many times to count. The FWB are correct about that. So I am stuck between Free Will and American Baptist.

The ABC says it supports members having a variety of theological beliefs, but not before defining a Baptist belief as OSAS (meaning you can't lose your salvation). So can I be an American Baptist?

Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Acts 16:31
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Romans 10:9-10
Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

John 5:24
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

[tall73]

American Baptist Churches USA

And which document were you referring to about OSAS?

 

[GodLovesCats]

I don't know much about Free Will Baptists -- what did you find??

They practice a foot-washing sacrament.

 

[tall73]

The ABC says it supports members having a variety of theological beliefs, but not before defining a Baptist belief as OSAS

Where does it say this?

 

[GodLovesCats]

And which document were you referring to about OSAS?

The Bible - ABCUSA

Foremost among beliefs firmly held by American Baptists is the acknowledgment that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and our Lord, and that through belief in Him we are assured of eternal fellowship with a loving God.

My issue is after God gives us this gift, we can choose to walk away from it - and many people have done that, converting form Christianity to other religions. The eternal fellowship is dependent on our choice not to change our minds about believing who Jesus is and the nature of God.

 

[GodLovesCats]

Where does it say this?

Same link

Cherishing our own God-given gift of freedom has motivated us to support religious freedom for all to seek God’s will. Although this has allowed for distinctive opinions within our congregations both on aspects of our faith and their application within society, most of us would admit that dialog is a healthy means of spiritual growth. As it encourages its members to seek continually the mind of Christ in all matters, American Baptist Churches USA respects the variety of theological understandings that its members, and other Christians, have embraced.

 

[Tigger45]

They practice a foot-washing sacrament.

Just to be helpful but Free Will Baptist practice ordinances and not sacraments which might hold a smaller significance to you in practice and adherents to a particular churches practices.

Sacrament vs ordinance
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiMuIbqrPv1AhXPJUQIHfDqCuUQFnoECAgQAQ&url=https://www.gotquestions.org/ordinances-sacraments.html&usg=AOvVaw1o-X1B347CmgmQqSuR6ffp

Also keep in mind the practice of foot washing was practiced by early Church congregations and is still practiced by many western liturgical churches such as Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Anglicans during their Maunday Thursday liturgy.

 

[d taylor]

Because all the Baptist churches here are either Southern for Fundamental.

So if there is no church to go to in your area, what is the concern if you can be one.

You could always email a church and ask.

 

[tall73]

Foremost among beliefs firmly held by American Baptists is the acknowledgment that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and our Lord, and that through belief in Him we are assured of eternal fellowship with a loving God.

That doesn't indicate once saved always saved. It indicates if we have belief we are assured of eternal fellowship. That statement is intentionally nebulous, in my view.

The Northern Baptists Convention was part of what eventually came to be the American Baptist Churches USA

Our History - ABCUSA

As the acknowledgment that American Baptist life and mission transcends any set geographical area, the Northern Baptist Convention was renamed the American Baptist Convention in 1950. In 1972, in the midst of reorganization that in part reemphasized the congregation-centered mission of the denomination, its name was changed again to American Baptist Churches USA.

But along the way the National Baptist convention merged with a large number of the Free Baptists in 1911, which represented a significant portion of Freewill Baptists at the time.

National Association of Free Will Baptists | American religious organization

Currently American Baptist Churches USA seem to embrace a variety of views, politically, and theologically. On a practical level congregational churches tend to lean one way or the other on a church by church basis.


On the other hand, the American Baptist Association (different group), has a specific belief about eternal security: https://www.abaptist.org/beliefs

We believe that all who trust Jesus Christ for salvation are eternally secure in Him and shall not perish.

 

[tall73]

This is one perspective (from a free will source) on the merger between the Free Baptists and the Northern Baptist Convention, which suggests that the Northern Baptist Convention, while having Calvinist roots, started to change some views over time. And by the time of the merger the larger issue that separated some of the other free will Baptists from the Northern Baptist Convention was the tolerance for more liberal theology in the Northern Baptist Convention.

When Free Will Baptists Went Liberal (Part I) - Helwys Society Forum

 

[tall73]

So if there is no church to go to in your area, what is the concern if you can be one.

You could always email a church and ask.

Which would make sense because in a congregational setting you wouldn't know what views were prominent unless you asked.

 

[GodLovesCats]

So if there is no church to go to in your area, what is the concern if you can be one?

You could always email a church and ask.

As long as many churches put their services online to keep people safe geography will not be a problem. I realized nondenominational does not really mean that because all churches have a Statement of Faith, but never really felt I fit neatly in box, either. Now that I see the ABC welcomes a variety of theological beliefs, I think I can fit in with one of their churches that has online services.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

So I am stuck between Free Will and American Baptist.

You are not stuck with anything. Just go non-denominational. All the cool kids are doing it.

 

[lismore]

I read enough about Free Will Baptists to decide I can't be one of them, but the belief that once saved you can never stop being a Christian, has been disproven too many times to count.

Hello ChristianForCats. Perhaps it is a difference in terminology. 'OSAS' and 'you can never stop being a Christian' are IMHO rather empty terms.

Jesus said that unless a person was born again they could not see or enter the Kingdom of God (John chapter 3).

'Being a Christian' was not an expression Jesus used, you would have to define what you mean by it. I have not encountered a Baptist Church which used that term.

As @SkyWriting has posted Ephesians 2:8-9 It is by grace we are saved not by works. Anyone who says you're saved by grace but lost by works (or the lack of them) is in my opinion preaching a different gospel. A works based salvation does not itself work.

It's because someone is saved that they produce works, having an attitude of gratitude to the Lord who forgave and saved them. Sometimes a believer can have less fellowship with God, less peace in their heart because of sin, but this does not equate loss of salvation, the believer has crossed from death to life (John 5:24).

Instead of 'OSAS' think 'the Lord our security' (Proverbs 3:26)
Instead of 'Being a Christian' think being born again. If anyone is in Christ they are a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come!

God Bless