The Whitworthian

Issue date: 11/20/07 Last Updated: 11/24/07

Media Credit: Thomas Robinson Trinity Baptist Church pastor Charles Baxter speaks during the Christian denominations panel Nov. 14 in the Seeley G. Mudd Chapel.

Discussion centered on divisions among denominations Nov. 14 at the Church Denominations Panel. The representatives from four denominations, Baptist pastor Charles Baxter, Episcopalian professor of biology Finn Pond, non-denominational pastor Rob Fairbanks and Presbyterian professor of theology Keith Beebe, answered questions from over 100 students.

Baptism

Baxter, who preaches at Trinity Baptist Church, reiterated several times the doctrine of Baptists: Belief comes first and baptism follows, and infant baptism is not biblical. He said baptism is "showing publicly a commitment to Jesus Christ."

Fairbanks, who preaches at New Community Church, was in agreement with Baxter, saying baptism should be a conscious decision.

Beebe said otherwise. He said in the Presbyterian church when an infant is to be baptized, the parents confess for the child, with a pledge to raise the child in the faith until he or she is old enough to confess.

Beebe said the Presbyterian understanding of baptism is that it's a sacrament (God's initiative), not an ordinance (our response). It doesn't require our belief because it is focusing on what God does, rather than what we do, he said.

Evolution

Baxter and Pond were in disagreement about the reconciliation of faith and science. Pond said he did not see any conflict with science and faith at all.

"My vocation is the study of God's creation," Pond said.

Pond said the Anglican church has a strong emphasis on education and does not have a problem with the evolution perspective.

Baxter disagreed. He said if the Bible doesn't match with man's thought, we change it rather than "let man catch up."

Baxter spoke very strongly against evolution, saying science is giving new evidence that supports creation over evolution and saying evolution "does not work."

Pond responded to Baxter's claim that evolution conflicts with the Bible by saying, "We disagree about that."

History

Baxter said the Baptist denomination came out of a free-church movement that emphasized the book of Acts.

He also went over a list of "distinctives" that differentiates the Baptist Church from other denominations. The distinctives stated points of Baptist doctrine, such as the belief that Jesus Christ is the head of the church, the practices of baptism and communion and the freedom to worship according to personal preference.

The Episcopalian Church (also known as the Anglican Church) came out of England in the 16th century during the English reformation, Pond said.

He said it had distinctively English roots and was influenced by early Celtic Christians, giving it the characteristic of emphasizing the importance of the world itself, "the goodness of creation and humanity."

Practice

Pond said the church comes together in the practice of worship, which is "corporate, incarnational, liturgical, sacramental, and an on-going practice of the church."

Pond also said the church is open-minded and may not agree on all points of doctrine. It has diverse doctrines and theological beliefs that make the church better informed, he said.

Fairbanks said the non-denominational vein started in the '60s when "a bunch of hippies got saved," but the whole movement has a longer history than his particular experience.

He talked about his own past, saying he does not fit very well in any denomination. He said he believes the church should be a missionary to the city and a missionary training center.

"Everything we do is faced outward," Fairbanks said, not inward. "The problem, I think, is that the church thinks we are the center."

Fairbanks said New Community is trying to move away from an event-type evangelism and more toward helping the poor and building community.

Beebe, who teaches Core 150, went into great detail about the Presbyterian Church, occasionally quizzing the audience, who were, in fact, predominantly Core 150 students.

He went over the "three C's" distinctives of the Presbyterian Church: confessional, constitutional and connectional. He also talked about the three books the Presbyterian Church uses: the Bible, The Book of Confessions and the Book of Order.

"What is the chief end of man?" he asked the audience at one point. The answer was "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

Contact Sam Gregory at sam.gregory@whitworthian.com.

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