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 Antagonism
between Baptists and Christians dates back to the early days of
“restoration” in the U.S., when Alexander Campbell,
publishing The Christian Baptist, broke sharply with the
Calvinistic doctrines of his former religious ties. Many of the
churches of Christ of those days were “reformed” Baptist
churches; and pioneer preachers like “Raccoon” John Smith
were “reformed” Baptists. One can scarcely expect
objectivity and warm friendly relations to thrive in such a
period.
In
my early preaching days, forty years ago, most religious debates
were with Baptists, with little offered to diminish hard
feelings. It is not surprising that a study of differences is
likely to be short on genuine understanding and long on
prejudices. (Naturally the Baptist are far more prejudice
than we, of course!) I wonder what it would take to make
the truly basic differences (and such differences certainly do
exist) clearly grasped by this generation.
Would
such clarity “convert” the Baptists? Some of them — yes!
There are Baptists who would deny election on the Calvinistic
basis, and who believe in true free agency of man.
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There are Baptists who deny
Total Depravity and its implications. There are those who know
that only an obedient faith can save, and who would be baptized
“for the remission of sins” if they could be freed of
prejudices against “Campbellite Pelagianism.”
But
what would a clear understanding of these matters do to some
members of the church of Christ? Would they become Baptists?
Some of them — yes! In their zeal to deny “human
implementation” and stress the “enabling power” of a
personally indwelling Holy Spirit, or the imputation of Christ’s
perfect life; some have espoused positions that, carried to
their logical conclusion, and freed from prejudices against
those “awful Baptists,” would lead them straight home to
Calvin. (Many have accepted the Baptist Association of
Churches, in principle though not in name.)
I
hope my Baptist friends and my brethren friends (and I once had
some of both) won’t hold this against me.
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