Thank you for clarifying baptist doctrine - it was wider than I supposed. My impression, having been around and worshipped with baptists in the UK, is that tongue-speaking and prophecy (for example) no longer operated in the church today. I have heard of baptists who believe in tongues but they have usually referred to themselves as 'bapitcostals'. Likewise those baptists who believe in th 7th day sabbath normally distinguish themselves from 'baptists' by calling themselves 'seventh day baptists'. I definitely agree that speaking in tongues is NOT a sign of having the Holy Spirit.

You are quite welcomed. However, you are still missing the point. There is only one Baptist faith with different ways of expressing that Baptist faith among the various Baptist sects. For instance, the Seventh-day Baptists do not distinguish themselves from Baptists as you say, because they are Baptists. They only express their faith differently when it comes to the seventh-day sabbath, but they are still evangelical Baptists. (Please see www.seventhdaybaptist.org). As I said in my last message to you, all Baptists agree on eight major doctrines found in our acronym. (Please see www.angelfire.com/la/jlush/baptist.html). This is all that qualifies one to be a Baptist, regardless of how different the other tenets of that particular Baptist sect may be. If you have ever studied Baptist history you will know that this is nothing new. This is actually how the Baptist movement evolved in the first place. As the old saying goes, history repeats itself. A whole lot of different sects with different beliefs coming together from all over the world with eight things in common (the Baptist acronym). Therefore, Baptists still are united in their eight essential doctrines. Bapticostal is not another separate faith, but just another movement or expression of faith among the Baptist movement. (Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bapticostal_movement). A great number of Baptist organizations (including the Southern Baptists and Seventh-day Baptists) from all over the world belong to the Baptist World Alliance. Whenever the BWA meets, Baptists of every persuasion are represented. Due to the Baptist doctrine of religious freedom, no Baptist is mandated to belong to this organization. It is strictly voluntary, and many other Baptist groups choose not to take a part in this, but have formed some of their own world fellowships. (Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Baptist, www.allaboutbaptist.org/, and www.fullgospelbaptist.org/. These websites should help clear you up on the mysterious people called Baptists. God bless you.

Lev/Christopher said:

Thank you for clarifying baptist doctrine - it was wider than I supposed. My impression, having been around and worshipped with baptists in the UK, is that tongue-speaking and prophecy (for example) no longer operated in the church today. I have heard of baptists who believe in tongues but they have usually referred to themselves as 'bapitcostals'. Likewise those baptists who believe in th 7th day sabbath normally distinguish themselves from 'baptists' by calling themselves 'seventh day baptists'. I definitely agree that speaking in tongues is NOT a sign of having the Holy Spirit.

Thank you for that further clarification. Some of the links were very helpful.