We need to recover what it means to be Baptist! particularlymodern.wordpress…

If we’re one step removed from it then does that make Westminsterian Presbyterians bland evangelicals?

“Christ is all in all."—Colossians 3:11. “Now, as the only distinction which marks the Christian from other men, and the only essential distinction in the new world of grace, is Christ, we are led to see beneath this fact a great underlying doctrine. In the realm of grace, things are what they seem. Christ is apparently all, because he is actually all. The fact of a man's possessing Christ is all in all in the church, because in very deed Christ is all in all. All that is real in the Christian, all that is holy, heavenly, pure, abiding, and saving, is of the Lord Jesus. This great granite fact lies at the basis of the whole Christian system, Christ is really and truly all in all in his church, and in each individual member of it.” —Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, August 20th, 1871, by C. H. SPURGEON

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Colossians 3:12-14

“The Power and Authority which he asserts to himself is, all Power in Heaven and Earth; Power to institute and appoint Laws and Ordinances, how and after what manner God ought in Gospel-Times to be worshipped; Power to give Repentance and Remission of Sins; Power to congregate, to teach, and govern his Church as the supreme Lord, Head, and Ruler thereof; yea, and Power to give Eternal Life to whomsoever he pleaseth. A Power that is given to him alone, whose Laws and Appointments none have any Power to dispense with, nor change or alter.” —Benjamin Keach, Gold Refin’d

Been working on some things in 1. for a while now, starting to dabble in 2., but will have to experiment with everything mentioned in the comments

The claim that no Protestant believed the state could produce saving faith by coercion is beside the point. Protestant establishments historically coerced religious conformity through fines, imprisonment, exclusion from public office, and compulsory observance. The Baptist objection has never depended upon the absurd notion that the magistrate could regenerate a soul. It concerns whether Christ has authorized the magistrate to exercise civil jurisdiction over religious conscience and worship. Denying the possibility of coerced regeneration does not absolve an establishment of coercing religious profession. That’s exactly the distinction the Baptist argument exposes.

What genre would you most like to hear theologically rich music?

Halloween has become the modern equivalent of the difference between eating meat which was sacrificed to idols and participating in idol worship. One of them is perfectly fine.

In a church that primarily does expository, lectio continua preaching, how often would you expect your pastor to “stand against feminism and egalitarianism”? Asking for everyone asking.

“Online life also trains cynicism toward institutions. A young man can spend years consuming stories of pastoral failure, denominational corruption, celebrity scandal, theological compromise, and online outrage. Some of that criticism is deserved. Churches have failed, and pastors have sinned. Churches have sometimes protected themselves when they should have protected sheep. But there is a kind of constant exposure to failure that does not produce wisdom. It produces contempt. A young man may become very skilled at diagnosing every problem in the church while never giving himself to the patient work of building anything.”

What’s sad is that many will read this as a legitimate excuse to leave the church. It isn’t. Conventional traits of masculinity are not the biblical standard of manhood, much less qualifications for pastoral ministry. Courage, conviction, self-control, sacrificial love, and faithfulness are not measured by physique, hobbies, or personality. A pastor can be physically unimpressive and yet possess extraordinary spiritual fortitude. Conversely, a man can embody every cultural ideal of masculinity and be utterly unqualified to shepherd Christ’s flock. The church needs godly men, not caricatures of masculinity. The OPC post is entirely legitimate in its concern. Trying to minimize or excuse this trend is a perpetuation of the very confusion the post seeks to address.

Anything worth doing is worth doing to the glory of God… Our first instinct is to believe that this trivializes the ordinary, mundane, or seemingly insignificant, but it actually does the opposite. It dignifies them. It reminds us that the worth of our labor is not ultimately measured by its grandeur, recognition, or consequence, but by the One unto whom it is offered. The Christian need not do extraordinary things to live an extraordinary life of faithfulness. Even the most ordinary duties become occasions for worship when undertaken in faith, gratitude, and obedience to God. There is no insignificant faithfulness before an infinitely glorious God.