Growing up as a conservative, separatist Baptist
Tuesday, November 29, 2005 at 3:36PM This post is as pretty good a description of how I grew up:
I grew up as a conservative, separatist Baptist. (Yes, I survived.) We didn't fellowship with any other church in town. Actually, there was only one other church that we acknowledged that existed (and we really didn't care for them very much). We didn't even play basketball with other churches. We didn't 'smoke, chew, or run with girls who do'. So I feel that I kind of understand the separatist mindset. It goes a little something like this:
If we can't agree on everything; then we agree on nothing.
My brother Kevin and I were talking in England about the church where we grew up, and we agreed that there was a lot of good in that church. It featured great teaching, and people were incredibly good to our family. But this post reflects how we saw other churches around us, for the most part.
Reader Comments (7)
> If we can't agree on everything; then we agree on nothing. That's a really sharp insight. I agree with it entirely. ;-)
I am happy to hear you say that there was a lot of good in that church. Maybe I grew up in a different church though. I acknowledged, even socialized with the youth of other churchs in the area, sometimes even in conjunction with our youth group activities lead by John S. We played hockey in a loop against some of the other local churchs too. The church to which you refer did make a fair bit of hay in emphasizing it's distinctives but not necessarily in an antaganistic manner (I feel. I always appreciated this about CBC and still do.
In a sense, there was a period I was there long after you left. And my memory could be fooling me, but I don't remember hearing many good things about other churches. I do remember a sense of distrust at neighboring churches, even ones in our own denomination. It would be interesting to go back and visit one day.
I've found that legalistic churches abuse people spiritually speaking and it can be kinda subtle, but longlasting. The Pastors or whoevers in charge will have a lot to answer for.
Trish: I agree. Actually, all teachers carry a great responsibility by what they teach. My pastor growing up was and is a great man with feet of clay, kind of like all of us I guess.
You're right, but from my experience it's been the hardest thing to forgive, because a place of authority especially being a Pastor is a place of trust.
I don't agree with your definition of separatist, especially as used here, as in Separatist Baptist. The term goes back to the Separatist denominations during the American Revolutionary period to describe those congregations who wanted to separate from the world into a God-oriented existence. Think Shakers, Amish, Mennonites and many strains of primitive Baptists. In its present form, it describes a person who doesn't believe in mixing politics (the world) and religion (the spiritual). Instead of not liking guitars and string instruments, Separatists want to separate from the popular culture where holier-than-thou Christians feel perfectly comfortable hating certain groups. For example, though they may detest the act of abortion, they, unlike the current crop of Fallwellian Baptists, would not take action in a secular sense to outlaw it. Instead of worldly activism, separatists are only concerned with the salvation and and issues of the heart as corrective measures. Many separatists would welcome guitars. Its not necessarily about music. Its about rejecting the modern world with its emphasis on political activitism, instead of concentrating on heaven. Perhaps this seems like a slight distinction to you, but I wanted to point out what I see as a substantial difference.