What Confession do you hold to?
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Puritanhead
Puritan Board Professor
Well, you can tell a Presbyterian authored this poll, and not a Baptist.
Davidius
Puritan Board Post-Graduate
I was under the impression that the only confessions which would give someone eligibility to be a PB member were the WCF, LBCF, and Three Forms.
larryjf
Puritan Board Senior
It's been a couple of years since i joined, i must have forgotten about the membership eligibility. Thanks for pointing that out.
P.S. the World Reformed Fellowship is constructing a new statement of faith for the modern era. Keep your eyes open for it!
Ivan
Pastor
I hold to the LBCF, but I'd think that the Philadephia Confession would work. As I recall, it is very similar to the LBCF.
bookslover
Puritan Board Doctor
...sez the gray-haired Baptist.
Richard - don't make me get my cane and give you another beat down.
There is only one WCF. The others are CFs of the particular denominations that decided to change it!Also need to specify WHICH WCF
bookslover
Puritan Board Doctor
I can't imagine you as a "blue-haired lady", LadyFlynt. I figure you're waaaay too young for that stuff.
I do remember there being actual blue-haired elderly ladies when I was a wee lad back in the late '50s and early '60s. I guess that trend has died away.
Blueridge Believer
Puritan Board Professor
The Heidelberg and the Canons of Dort are subsumed under the Three forms of Unity (the Belgic Confession being the third).
It has been pointed out that the list is deficient. I would have preferred a multiple selection option because I confess both the WCF and the 3 Forms of Unity.
If one looks at the forum rules, it is easy to determine the Confessions that require no waiver. Here is the appropriate section:
I enjoy being an Admin of this board but one of the less enjoyable aspects is actually approving membership. In many ways it has been very revealing to me the spectrum of people that call themselves Reformed.
I can't really blame some people because I used to be pretty ignorant about what the term means but I benefitted from being in an orthodox body that constrained and restrained my thinking. I, nevertheless, had a very basic concept that being reformed meant understanding and embracing TULIP and little else.
Most people are familiar with the term "Calvinist cage stage". That is, there is a well known stage where people become convinced of TULIP and become somewhat obnoxious - asking people: "Are you semi-Pelagian or Calvinist?" and folks who can only talk about election and reprobation.
I actually think it's more of a "Reformed means TULIP" stage that some people that call themselves Reformed either grow out of or they remain stilted within that development. To become Reformed, I have grown to understand, is to submit yourself to a Church and to confess with the Christians of the ages a common confession that contends for truth and the unity of the faith.
People that stand apart from Confessions and proclaim themselves the infallible arbiter of the Scriptures true interpretation are not Reformed even if they've read Calvin's Insitutes and like what it has to say for the most part. To be Reformed is to be a Christian with a Reformed Confession and to submit to the authority of a Church.
Some people apply and they're just all over the map: "Hi, I like TULIP and I'm exploring paedocommunion and don't believe there are any Biblical grounds for divorce...." I recently got an application from a Southern Baptist pastoral intern who stated he subscribed to WCF. When I asked him how a Baptist pastor subscribed to the WCF, his response was: "Whatever Dude, what's the deal with your restrictions, I just wanted to post and have some fun...."
I'll be honest with you that I'm not terribly convinced that something great will come out of the Founder's movement unless they agree to and find a decent Confession that they can unite around. It's not enough to read a few Spurgeon snippets, like the election dealie, and then "...have everyone do what seems right in their own TULIP eyes...."
Confessions don't replace Scripture but they provide a place for a common confession of what the Scriptures teach so you can guard yourself against all the quackery that passes for "Calvinism" these days.
In the end, nobody ever admits to being a heretic. They're just interpreting the Bible and what it says, right?
bookslover
Puritan Board Doctor
Yes, Ma'am. Born November 5, 1952, the day after Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected to his first term as president. Harry S. Truman (the last sane Democrat) was a lame-duck president as of the day I was born.
I'll hit double-nickels this year...
Rich, you're describing the me of seven years ago. When I first embraced Calvinism that was all I could talk about. Every conversation found some way of brining election, predestination and TULIP into the discussion. Thank God I have moved from that (with still a long way to go).
bookslover
Puritan Board Doctor
I do not have blue hair!
....but Richard does...
Ha! Not even close, William. My hair is........................plaid.
Me Died Blue
Puritan Board Post-Graduate
to Rich's post.
My brother will turn 55 this Juneteenth, and he's in the middle of the pack among the siblings; so everyone is feeling old.
To the extent that they reveal their exceptions to us so we can evaluate whether or not we want to allow them to post.
Some of those boundaries have been spelled out in the forum rules but usually when it's a tough call I'll start a Moderator thread and we'll discuss it.
InChains620
Puritan Board Freshman
Myself and my church hold to the 1689 LBC.
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