What I Miss On Being Reformed

Now that I am convinced of the New Covenant basis of believer’s baptism-and that the real seed of Abraham is Jesus Christ and that we are ingrafted to him through faith in Jesus Christ- I am feeling some loneliness in arriving here.

There is no welcome banner-no large crowds cheering you on. Believer’s baptism position is as regular as ‘pan de sal’ for baptist or evangelical groups. They do not know how important it is to based this doctrine on the biblical and historical covenants-instead of the theological construct of -Covenant of Works and Covenant of Grace.

Usually baptist groups have no over-arching or comprehensive worldview-except the one they borrowed from Reformed Christians. There is no Kuyper,Bavinck, Rushdoony, North, Van Ruler, Dooyeeweerd or Calvin amongst them. Maybe the Anabaptist dram is really a personal one-not corporate. But the biblical view is really big-as big as our Lord Jesus Christ. It might be the persecution they received from the state -through the centuries-that made them wary and hostile to such ig concepts.

There is no common confession that will easily unite them in large numbers-each baptist churches is a fiefdom oft heir pastors. The Reformed Baptist at least have their 1689 Lndon Baptist Confession of Faith (LBCF)-but this is also similar to the Westminster’s. I better be under  ‘Three Forms of Unity’ than the rigid presbyterianism of the Westminster’s Standards.

There is no denomination that is led by regular pastors and elders. Uusally the baptist churches-which is congregational and rarely associational-if they became big-will be dominated by their celebrity pastors. It is more awesome to see a denomination being run by a batallion of pastors that cannot be thwarted since it is multi-headed.

There is also no existing and time-tested procedures, jurisdictions and church-legal understanding on the how to organize a church, shepherd a church, do the disciple and such. Every local church seems have to start from scratch. Though new independent church maybe able to frame their own with refernce to their unique situation- they might be get hostage by unscrupulous pastors or ministers or even strong-headed members in framing such bylaws.

With all these negatives- I will still stick with my new-found convictions and maybe help baptist churches find their biblical bearings on these areas of concerns.