eucharist, etc

David, Janice, and others.

I won't post again on this topic, I'll let someone else have the last
word(s). I changed the subject line to reflect more accurately what this is
about.

I linked Anabaptism with Arminian views specifically b/c of the Anabaptist
view that the church is those who in a highly visible way freely choose to
become disciples of Christ, at an age when they are mature enough to
understand the magnitude and consequences of their decision. Thus their
view of baptism follows from this.

What they were rejecting at the time was the standard RC view, mirrored in
the churches of the "magisterial" reformation (those reformation churches
that were closely tied to state power, such as the Calvinists, the
Lutherans, and the Anglicans), that princes and kings can impose a specific
creed on their subjects (this led to the Enlightenment view that
church/state separation is needed); and the view that infants should be
baptized since they were already actual members of Christ's body on earth, a
membership confirmed later by their own participation as adults in religious
worship. Baptists of reformed leanings (I have heard several outstanding
preachers from this group, which I greatly respect) do indeed as far as I
know take an Anabaptist view of the Eucharist without taking free will
theology. They likewise take adult baptism, obviously, and deny the
validity of state churches.

I simply wanted to do to things in my earlier posts. (1) point out to
Janice the inadquacy of trying to define orthodoxy *simply* from the views
of the majority of Christians in all ages--as important as that really truly
is for defining orthodoxy. (2) show Janice that views I was guessing that
she held herself, might not fit the particular definition. Believer baptism
and a low view of the Eucharist are NOT majority views in Christendom,
either historically or now. Unless perhaps we define Christianity in a
particularly narrow way that denies the most Christians are or have been
Christians.

As I say, I'm not going further with this.

ted
Received on Tue Mar 7 17:10:38 2006