Obsession with Baptists

[Struggler]

Throughout my life in the C of C, people constantly dissed "the Baptists." Anything bad that wasn't C of C, or Catholic, must be "Baptist."
For years, our more strident C of C's would rip James Dobson's family videos, saying "he's a Baptist." He's actually a Nazarene.
Chuck Swindoll was derided for being Baptist, although he is ordained in the Evangelical Free Church.
Billy Graham, ordained by the SBC, but has a Presbyterian background and is mostly non-denominational in his preachings and writings. Yet, all we heard was that he's "converting people to the Baptist church." One C of C rag claims that a C of C minister actually got onto Graham's jet and confronted him with the Acts 2:38 verse, and that Graham said, "Get out of here, you Church of Christ man!" Another version of the story had Graham calling the man a "Campbellite." I very, very seriously doubt this confrontation ever happened.
They constantly talked of this great rivalry between the two churches, although there are helluva lot more Baptists of every stripe than there are C of C'ers. I doubt the Baptists obsess over the C of C like that. None of my Baptist friends are like that, and in fact, most don't know that much about the C of C.
I have found this obsession weird.

[Ivy]

Obsession with Baptists

So true, Struggler!! In retrospect, it's hilarious.......

But also sad....they built barriers against people they should have befriended,
and caused a great deal of harm over a minor doctrinal difference.

And then there were the poor Catholics....the ultimate cofc scapegoats.

[Cootie Brown]

Well, when you believe and teach that you are the only true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the entire world you tend to become a little arrogant, or in the case of the c of c obnoxiously arrogant.

[KLP]

I listen to a good bit of Catholic talk radio...and while nice, when it gets down to it they are not budging on doctrine. And any time a person calls in and suggests they are a good Catholic and attend mass regularly and take the sacrament...if they ask but I also like to attend a community church or Baptist and I take communion there also with my friends...kablammo...that is the sin of sins.

And even on this sometimes people are so convinced that the CofC is wrong and are ready to prove it and insist that other accept their doctrine on whatever...they can be just as adamant as CofC. So I am saying there is strict party/denomination/ type thinking and behavior and it can even be observed on topics non-religion such as politics or even atheism. But none of that behavior is specific to or peculiar to a given set of doctrines such as a particular brand of CofC.

But yes...in general, people are more "obsessed" with those they deem to be a bit more "liberal" (or lessor) than they are with those they deem to be more "conservative" (or higher). This is Pharisee like behavior to be more focused on those who you think are worse than your holy self.

[agricola]

I found this site (the original ex board) during the trial of Mary Winkler (coc woman who murdered her preacher husband in Tennessee) purely because a news reporter invited a 'Baptist minister' in her program, and when she asked about the coc (which most journalists didn't know much about), he called the coc a cult.

That energized me! It is NOT! I said to the television.

Bear in mind that, at the time, I had been out of the coc for at least twenty years if not longer. It amazes me how I was still affected by being raised in the coc.

So although there are many more Baptists than there are church of christers, the rivalry is indeed alive and well - after all, in the South particularly, Baptists and CoC's are competing for the same demographic.

[Opie]

In my study and experience, the CoC has much, much more in common with the Baptist Church than they have differences. It seems to me that the CoC ought to be able to unite with the Baptist Church on the many things that they have in common, but the CoC would rather focus on the differences that exist and drive wedges of division between the two groups.

Most of those in the CoC are ignorant of the fact that Alexander Campbell was associated with the Baptist Church for several years, and that he was baptized by a Baptist preacher. My favorite Alexander Campbell quote is from 1866 when he was on his deathbed: "I have always regretted that we and the Baptists parted, it ought not to have been so."

[Struggler]

The "rivalry" may be alive and well in smaller towns, but not so much elsewhere. Our family lived in suburbs of two large cities and another city that was about 100,000 in population and most of the others in those areas knew little to nothing about the C of C. I have close friends who have studied religion, some of whom have never heard of the C of C. In areas where the C of C has a significant presence, yeah, there's some "competition," but elsewhere, not so much.

I agree that Baptists and C of C'ers agree on MUCH more than they disagree. Ditto for several other denominations. But they gotta be obsessed with the little details of disagreement, just like government lawyers.

[teresa]

Interesting info about the CoC obsession with Baptists. I asked Petros if that was his experience, and he nodded agreement.

The SBC pastor I knew in our local area ruined a baptismal ceremony ranting against "baptism for the forgiveness of sins" for ten minutes, rather than focusing on baptism as a concrete metaphor of surrender to God and rebirth. The SBC preacher never said what the purpose of the baptism was, just what the purpose was not, and I felt bad for the person being baptized. Not much to look back on, kind of like a wedding where the minister goes off on a rant, rather than focusing on the couple in front of him.

[MusicMan826]

I grew up in a small town that was mostly baptist. There were several large baptist churches and it seemed like most of my friends from school went to one of those churches. Because it was so popular I guess it was easier to pick them out to bash regularly during sermons. It's funny how the coc always went out of their way to bash the baptists, meanwhile the baptists were doing their own things and likely never gave the coc a second thought.

[B.H.]

There is a lady at work that is trying to get me to convert to Catholicism. It ain't gonna happen, but don't let anyone fool you the Catholics don' think their church is the one true church.