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WMCOF is all well and good, but it does not explain how Hodge and Warfield were able to provide an emerging sub-group in the evangelical movement with the idea of inerrancy.

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Don’t all heretics, and home grown theologians have some basis and grounding in good theology that they borrow and pervert from the prior good theologians? I mean, many claim to clearly see things in the Bible as if they themselves clearly would have seen and understood it though it was discovered and taught in much earlier times. For example: Don’t we all owe to early Church theologians the clear doctrines of the trinity? We stand on the shoulders of giants, and even the heretics often have one of their feet still planted on a giants shoulder.


[This message has been edited by Notafraid (edited 2/3/2005 10:21a).]

I think this whole thread goes to reinforce my support of non-denominational churches. Although I attended Central Baptist when I was at A&M, and my wife and I are members of a Baptist church now, I never claim to be "Baptist." I'm a Christian first. I just happen to attend a Baptist Church.

DCC99, yes, right attitude. I oftentimes resent denom. labels, also.

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I think this whole thread goes to reinforce my support of non-denominational churches.

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Like it or not, non-denominational churches are a denomination unto themselves. I would guess a church where there isn't some disagreement is a church whose members will believe pretty much anything.

One problem I see in this thread is that fundamentalism means something different now than it did 100 years ago. The original fundamentalists were responding to modernist liberalism in the Church. Today's fundamentalists seem to have an inordinate focus on either Christianization of society, or its other extreme - withdrawal from society. The original funadamentalists were pluralists, engaging culture and the Church with a Christian world view. Today's fundamentalists either ignore culture or attempt to dominate. I am a fundamentalist, but only by the older definition.

I also attend a Bible Church...

And I also agree with notafraid, that many people who attend Bible churches are not there because of local autonomy, but because of a perceived INDIVIDUAL autonomy. We are a haven for those who do not wish to submit to ANY authority - home schoolers, people who never join the church, people who leave if you can their pet ministry program, people who leave if the pastor leaves, people who leave if we change the style of music, people who leave if we build a new building........

I know someone who left a Baptist church because of the evils of drums. I didn’t find that one in my bible, nor did I find anything about the virtue of pipe organ music. Oh, well.

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Like it or not, non-denominational churches are a denomination unto themselves. I would guess a church where there isn't some disagreement is a church whose members will believe pretty much anything.

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no, not really. They aren't affiliated with a nation-wide or state-wide organization that speaks for them or assigns them a particular set of doctrines they must adhere to. Non-denominationalism doesn't mean that there is no disagreement within the church or that they "believe pretty much anything." (that would be unitarianism)
Where in scripture does it say anything about denominations???

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Non-denominationalism doesn't mean that there is no disagreement within the church or that they "believe pretty much anything

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I didn't say it did. However I've found that people can be quite dogmatic about attending a 'non-denominational' church.

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They aren't affiliated with a nation-wide or state-wide organization that speaks for them or assigns them a particular set of doctrines they must adhere to.

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So you admit that the beliefs of a non-denominational churches are a crap shoot. I appreciate seeing a certain name on a sign and being able to accurately gauge what that church believes through its affiliation. I also like that my church pools it financial resources with others to provide expanded philanthropic and mission services.

That is not to say that there is anything wrong with a non-denominational church, but there is something wrong with saying that a non-denominational church is closer to God because that church doesn't have any political infighting due to its non-denominational status.

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Where in scripture does it say anything about denominations???

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Who was supporting the concept of denominations with scripture to need this type of rebuttal? Where did this come from?

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So you admit that the beliefs of a non-denominational churches are a crap shoot.

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kind of...I know there are churches that may focus on a couple of vague scriptures and base their whole belief system on those (i.e. snake handling, etc.) I think that when choosing ANY church you must really look into it to see if it follows Biblical teachings. Even denominational churches vary from each other.

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I also like that my church pools it financial resources with others to provide expanded philanthropic and mission services.

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Non-denominational churches also do missions work.

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there is something wrong with saying that a non-denominational church is closer to God

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You're right. There is something wrong with saying that. I never did (although that is something that I used to believe).

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Who was supporting the concept of denominations with scripture to need this type of rebuttal? Where did this come from?

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This was just a general question I have. I don't know much history about how various denominations were formed.