J Andrew Deane
Inactive User
I am coming to understand that different churches require different levels of subscription to a church's doctrinal standards for church membership.
I come from a background of joining the OPC as a postmillenial theonomist arminian who eventually "saw the light" regarding God's sovereignty.
The point is that I was allowed to join on the basis of a credible profession of faith (that was, admittedly, quite inconsistent).
Now I have some friends who go to churches and they are different in that one must adhere to the church's doctrinal standards.
As I understand now, Dutch Reformed denominations such as the CRC would not allow one to join without holding to paedobaptism, and the inverse is true in many Baptist congregations.
As I understand it, the basis for such strict subscription is church unity.
Conversely, the basis for a standard of a credible profession is that one's basis for admission into the visible church is if one can infer one's membership in the invisible church.
My question for you all is, where do you stand? Do you think full adherence to church doctrine or "just" a credible profession is the sine qua non of church membership?
Take Care,
I come from a background of joining the OPC as a postmillenial theonomist arminian who eventually "saw the light" regarding God's sovereignty.
The point is that I was allowed to join on the basis of a credible profession of faith (that was, admittedly, quite inconsistent).
Now I have some friends who go to churches and they are different in that one must adhere to the church's doctrinal standards.
As I understand now, Dutch Reformed denominations such as the CRC would not allow one to join without holding to paedobaptism, and the inverse is true in many Baptist congregations.
As I understand it, the basis for such strict subscription is church unity.
Conversely, the basis for a standard of a credible profession is that one's basis for admission into the visible church is if one can infer one's membership in the invisible church.
My question for you all is, where do you stand? Do you think full adherence to church doctrine or "just" a credible profession is the sine qua non of church membership?
Take Care,