猎奇重口视频

PLAINVIEW, TX — Dr. Karen Bullock explored Baptist beginnings, heritage, and challenges Wednesday, as the historian spoke to students attending the William Pinson Lecture Series at 猎奇重口视频 Baptist University’s Laney Student Activities Center.

The annual lecture series rotates among nine institutions affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and is designed to bring awareness of Baptist heritage and distinctiveness. Dr. Bullock served as Distinguished Professor of Christian Heritage and director of the Ph.D. program at B.H. Carrol Theological Seminary from 2007 until her retirement in 2023.

Using Psalm 48:13-14 as her backdrop, Dr. Bullock entitled her address This Old House at 415: Letters from the Family. She put 415 years of Baptist history into the context of a house or home.

“Baptists were not always a sprawling, flourishing family. In our early days, we were immigrants,” she said as she spoke of the “time of great upheaval” and “much suffering” that led to the beginning of the Baptist faith.

“They were bound by law to accept their monarch’s changing doctrines about God, salvation, baptism, and ultimate authority,” Dr. Bullock said. “They had no choices. They were arrested, fined, and even put to death for questioning. Religious freedom? There was none. Baptist emerged in this volatile, chaotic time, knowing both the hope and the cost of following Christ. … They founded the first Baptist church, based upon Believer’s Baptism, in 1609 and wrote letters — our family letters — to explain their actions.”

“Baptist could not worship together except in attic-garret-rooms,” she said, adding that “the family left records, letters, to tell us what happened. … These relatives in our family story knew that in order to find life they had to lose it; that the call of Christ to follow Him meant obedience, even though faithfulness guaranteed neither safety nor mortal life itself.”

Then, the historian described the “Baptist house” as a hexagon as she identified six clusters of beliefs — authority of Scripture alone, believer’s baptism, the priesthood of all believers, the separation of church and state, local church autonomy, and support for missions, evangelism, and social Christianity.

“The Authority of Scripture identifier stands in contradistinction to creeds, dogmas, culture, reason, traditions, or science,” she said. “This tenet includes the trinitarian Godhead, the person and work of Christ — virgin-born, sinless life, death, burial, and resurrection, and bodily second coming — and salvation by grace through faith alone.”

Dr. Bullock said the second cluster, Believer’s Baptism, derives from the authority of Scripture and has two aspects —meaning and mode.

“Baptism takes place following repentance and confession of faith in Jesus Christ. It is a sign of obedience to Christ; it symbolizes Christ’s Lordship over our lives. It is a true identifier, as opposed to infant baptism…,” she said. “Baptism is a picture of salvation —death burial and resurrection.”

Addressing the third cluster, the Priesthood of All Believers, Dr. Bullock said this doctrine “does not support human self-sufficiency, independence from Scripture, or moral ability apart from Christ.” She added that it does mean “that no human priest is needed to intercede for us in matters of personal faith or for forgiveness of sin.”

Dr. Bullock focused on the “God-given right of all creatures to respond to their Creator without coercion” as she turned to the fourth identifier — Separation of Church and State.

“To persecute another for religious belief cuts across the biblical teaching that true faith is personal and voluntary,” she said.

Speaking to Local Church Autonomy, the fifth cluster, Dr. Bullock said, “This belief derives from the Scriptural teaching that the Holy Spirit resides in each believer’s life, giving spiritual gifts for the church, empowering, transforming, revealing truth to believers individually and corporately, and desiring the unity of the church.”

The historian said “salvation has both individual and corporate dimensions” as she addressed the sixth identifier of Missions, Evangelism, and Social Christianity.

“We cannot support evangelism while ignoring hurting people. Neither can physical, emotional, educational, medical, or human needs be addressed holistically without the Gospel message,” she said. “Three essential elements are at work in this cluster: evangelism, church planting and discipleship, and social justice ministries.”

Dr. Bullock then moved to concerns as she noted, “Standing on the curb across from the Baptist home, one can mark the changes the years have brought; not all of them positive.” She said as time has evolved “specialized groups of Baptists have emphasized one or more of our clusters of beliefs. They have added rooms, erected sheds, cleared tent spaces in the back lawns, added upper stories, pushed walls out to the sides, and from some perspectives, caused this old house to be all but unrecognizable.”

She also said not all spaces in the Baptist house are characterized as wholesome.

“Some have been, and still are shady, unethical, even immoral, and can hardly be said to align with Christian biblical values today or the six clusters for which Baptist have historically stood,” she said. “Ugly graffiti has been sprayed on our house’s walls — letters we wish were not there.”

Addressing challenges, Dr. Bullock said, “During the demolition phase, walls come down and foundations are laid bare. The negligence of the occupants, over time, is exposed. The stability of the foundation is assessed. The debris may then be cleared away, and the renovation may take place.”

This demolition has taken place and is continuing, she said.

“What the process has revealed is that … the six cluster-sided-foundation and bones of this old house at 415 Baptist Way are still solid,” she said. “This large, worldwide family that lives here still agrees on and adheres to the six clusters upon which it has stood for more than four centuries….  Diversity? Yes, indeed. Historically focused on the gospel? Yes. Growing and taking steps forward? Yes. Perfect? No. We still fall short of God’s glory and purposes.”

“Could we allow God to do some serious and thorough spring cleaning? Could we, as a family, bow in humility, and be willing for His reconstruction, renovation, and reformation?” she asked. “It would not require burning down, giving up, or abandoning the Baptist house, or what we believe historically to be right — this six-sided foundation.”

Concluding, Dr. Bullock said, “May we determine afresh to demolish self-centeredness, pride, and power schemes. … May we expose once again the beautiful beams of this old house to support in even greater measure true discipleship, missions, justice, and untainted gospel witness. May we dust the chandeliers so that the light from within our house may shine to the world.”

Letters from this old house beckon us from its very foundations,” the historian said as she quoted Psalm 127:1 — “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”