is a presbyterian church like a baptist or is a religion all its own?
361929
The Presbyterian Church is a denomination of Christianity, but is not the same as Baptist. I'm not Presbyterian, but in college I was involved with the Presbyterian Campus Ministries. They seem to be more progressive in terms of current events and church practices. Even though I'm Lutheran, I still felt very comfortable participating in all their worship and events. The only way to know for yourself is to go to a service at a Presbyterian church. The main thing is that they are followers of Christ and believers in the Bible.
542410
There are not a lot of differences.  The mainstream CoC generally do not allow musical instruments in church worship.  The other big difference is calvinism.  While there are some exceptions, overall the Baptist denomination is Calvinistic.  The CoC is not Calvinistic.  The CoC believes in free will and that God does not choose who goes to heaven or hell.  Calvinism says that God decides who goes and who does not, therefore Christ did not die for everyone but only for the elect (those He chose to go to heaven).  Calvinism does away with free will.  Calvinism also says a person can never lose their salvation once they have it while the CoC believes one can lose it and turn their back on God.
28924
Hello.  I was raised Southern Baptist in Texas.  I'm not sure which branch of the Baptist church you are attending, but the basic tenants of all Baptist churches are: 1) Jesus Christ is the human incarnation of God; 2) He was crucified and died for the forgiveness of the sins of all humankind; 3) He was resurrected on the third day after His death; 4) He ascended to heaven where he sits with God; 5) His gift to us when he departed was leaving us with the Holy Spirit; 6) Christ will come again at the end of the world; 7) God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are three-in-one - the Trinity. 7) Baptism is a voluntary external demonstration of an internal acceptance of Christ as your personal savior.\n\nAfter those basic facts, churches can vary widely on their interpretation of Biblical events and on their doctrinal beliefs.  The book of Revelations provides great material for debates in the Baptist church.  Baptist churches are also largely evangelical - they believe in sharing the word of God with others and inviting outside people to visit the church and worship with them.  The Baptist church is not generally a place where you will hear a pastor say "our denomination is the only one that has it right."  Baptists generally believe that all denominations of Christianity are worshiping the same God and the same Christ, but that there are ceremonial and some doctrinal differences in the way the worship services are conducted.  I hope this information helps!  Please let me know if you would like to discuss the topic further.  \n\nBy the way, one of the previous respondents mentioned that women were treated as second-class citizens.  I have to say that I wonder what Baptist church this person has visited.  I taught Sunday School at my church from a very young age and was a very respected person (regardless of gender) there.  Women and men held equal positions in the church council, and were given equal voice.  While I'm sure that there are unfortunate areas of the United States where gender discrimination occurs in and out of church, I am proud to say I have not encountered it. Also, I am Mexican-American.  I never encountered racism in my church.  I did encounter racism in my public high school, and even in the work force, but the church was always a haven where everyone was welcome and treated with respect.  I hope and pray that you find a church home that follows the most basic teaching of Christ: "Love one another".  -Amy
21455
It depends on which Baptist you ask.  Especially now.  The largest Baptist denomination in the US is the Southern Baptist Convention.  In the 1960's and earlier it was made up of a variety of Baptist with a variety of viewpoints.  Then in the 1970's two men, Paige Patterson (I think he was the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary at the time) and Paul Pressler (a retired judge) put a plan in motion to give full control of the SBC to the fundamentalist wing.  Most moderates either didn't know what happening until it was too late, or assumed the pendulum would eventually swing back their way.  But that has not happened.  This caused a split in the convention and the effects can still be felt today.  The largest organization to come out of the split is the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and we look at ourselves as being what Baptists used to be.  Former president Jimmy Carter identifies with the CBF.  We now have our own seminaries, missionaries, etc.  I am a student at the Wake Forest Divinity School which is one of the new seminaries.\n\nA result of the split was a change to the Baptist Faith and Message which describes what we as Baptists believe.  The SBC adopted a new version of the BFM in 2000, replacing the 1963 version.\n\nThese documents will give you a good idea about what many baptists belive.  The Mainstream Baptist link below will allow you to read both files side by side. Hopfully, you will get some responses from other Baptists as well.  American Baptist Churches USA is another large group.
881086
Unitarian Universilism. This type of church is so open minded, that you can't even call it a type of religion. Eventhough some under this church belive in God others don't they just support what it stands for, to learn more, go to
965438
Andrew M is perfectly correct on the history.  There is also now a big difference in church services and in church organisation.\n\nAnglican services are very stylised and formal, and proceed according to scripts laid down in the "Book of Common Prayer".  However, services in Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Congregational, and United Reformed churches are all quite different from that and very similar to each other, with less formality, and with mostly extempore prayers.\n\nThe Anglican church has a pyramidal structure of authority with the Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury at the top, and  permanent holders of office at several subsidiary levels.  The other denominations listed above have generally only two levels - ordained ministers, and superiors who are elected from among them for a fixed period and who then return to being ordinary ministers.  This probably counts as a bigger difference than the style of service.
345342
Hey sister,\nAnother Baptist here. \nI believe that the Bible is the Word of God.\nI believe that you must trust in Jesus Christ to be your Savior, repent and turn from sin. \nI believe He is coming soon to take His bride (the church) home to glory.\nHow can it get any better than that?\nGod Bless
426397
She's a Christian.  More specifically, Church of Scotland, which Americans would consider Presbyterian.
278065
They aren't Baptists, they're their own little Christian cult, mostly made up of the children and relatives of a serious nutjob named Fred Phelps. He's been doing this shit for well over a decade. A lot of the people in the church are lawyers, and they support themselves on lawsuits against people who try to ban them from protesting, etc. \n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev._Fred_Phelps\n\nThese guys ride to funerals that Phelps and his morons are protesting and do their best to keep the families from having to deal with the jerks. http://www.patriotguard.org/
519082
Any church that does not adhere to the King James Version of the Bible, does not believe that salvation is free by grace and not by works, who promotes violence in any action, who has traditional rules and regulations and does not rely on the Holy Spirit is not a church.  A building is never a church.  People are the church because they are made up of spirit and truth and God requires our worship to be of spirit and truth - this doesn't require a building at all.  Scripture also teaches that we should not  forsake the assembling of ourselves together which is why we do gather in buildings and give offerings to help keep the utilities on and to keep a pastor, who should be worthy of his hire, even though my father always held down a secular job so that a church would not feel burdended to pay him a salary to compensate for fulfilling the obligations of his family.  Many people claim to be Bible believing when in fact there isn't much about them that has to with God or Jesus and his teachings.  We were caught in a situation like that, but not for long - it didn't take too many messages from the Book of Bill - that's what we called it as the preacher seemed to preach more of his own word than God's to realize this was not the assembly we wanted to be a part of - Baptist on their logo or not!  It is these false religions that give the Christians such a bad name.
496217
You are able to drink and be chrisian. I am Catholic and that is the norm when you go to parties or picnics. Baptists are not so liberal about drinking though.
9395
The perfect religion can be found by a review of certain questions such as:\n\n* On what are its teachings based? (Are they from God or are they from men?)\n\n* Is the religion making known the name of God? (Does your religion teach you that "It is Jehovah your God you must worship..." according to Matthew 4:10?)\n\n* Is the religion demonstrating true faith in Jesus Christ? (Do they obey Jesus' command for his followers to share personally and zealously in the Kingdom preaching work?)\n\n* Is the religion ritualistic, a formality, or is it a way of life? (Are the things being taught an actual part of its followers' lives, or is attending their Sunday service all the effort they put into it?)\n\n* Do its members truly love one another? (Are racial, tribal, or ethnic barriers in existance in your religion? Are there separate churches for blacks and whites who claim to be of the same faith?)\n\n* Is the religion truly separate from the world? (Are the religion's clergy or other members involved in politics or have lives revolved around materialistic or fleshly desires?)\n\n* Are the religion's members active witnesses concerning God's Kingdom? (Jesus Christ, at Matthew 24:14, said that the end of this system would come only after a worldwide preaching campaign has been accomplished. Is your religion engaged in this work?)
873392
baptism is a sacrament of Christianity, along with communion.  Might you mean being Baptist??
523981
Absolutely. Anyone can belong to a fundamental new testament church. God's view is the same of us all - we're all flawed but he loves us more deeply than my words could ever say.
1133388
Its mainly part of history.  Back in the old days I think there was mainly just catholic, and baptist....well, people start to have their own interpretations of the bible,a nd that is why there are so many denominations today.  It would be nice for us to all believe the same, but it is just human nature not to.  Nobody is perfect but Christ.  Our goal is to strive to be like him, but he knows the we are not, which is the reason that he died on the cross for us.  Like I said earlier, just human nature to believe differently.  I don't beleive humans will ever be unanimous on anything because we are not perfect as Christ is.
195352
Anglicans are members of the Church of England which is distinguished by the acceptance of the Thirty Nine Articles with the current Monarch of England being the "Protector of the Faith" Episcopals are the same without the monarch of England. Presbyterians are the Church of Scotland which descends from the reformation teachings of John Knox. Puritans separated from the Anglican church and the Particular Baptists separated from the Puritans who remained in England. Puritans were congregationalists (local church rule) rather than belonging to a national church and the Particular Baptists separated due to the rejection of infant baptism. \n\nthough I would note the wiki article on particular Baptists is poorly written
303502
From what I understand, they are very similar. The Baptist preach once saved, always saved. The Nazarene, I think (don't quote me), believe you can lose your salvation. Go to whichever is going to help you in your spiritual walk. God bless you for taking your son to church.