Definition: Baptists-Baptists are Christians who comprise a group of denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism

should be performed only for professing believers (believer's baptism, as opposed to infant baptism), and that it must be done by immersion (as opposed to affusion or sprinkling). Other tenets of Baptist churches include soul competency (liberty), salvation through faith alone, scripture alone as the rule of faith and practice, and the autonomy of the local congregation. Baptists recognize two ministerial offices, pastors and deacons. Baptist churches are widely considered to be Protestant churches, though some Baptists disavow this identity. Diverse from their beginning, those identifying as Baptists today differ widely from one another in what they believe, how they worship, their attitudes toward other Christians, and their understanding of what is important in Christian discipleship.

History: Historians trace the earliest Baptist church back to 1609 in Amsterdam, with English Separatist John Smyth as its pastor. In accordance with his reading of the New Testament, he rejected baptism of infants and instituted baptism only of believing adults. Baptist practice spread to England, where the General Baptists considered Christ's atonement to extend to all people, while the Particular Baptists believed that it extended only to the elect. In 1638, Roger

Williams established the first Baptist congregation in the North American colonies. In the mid-18th century, the First Great Awakening increased Baptist growth in both New England and the South. The Second Great Awakening in the South in the early 19th century increased church membership, as did the preachers' lessening of support for abolition and manumission of slavery, which had been part of the 18th-century teachings. Baptist missionaries have spread their church to every continent. The Baptist World Alliance reports more than 41 million members in more than 150,000 congregations. In 2002, there were over 100 million Baptists and Baptistic group members worldwide and over 33 million in North America.[4] The largest Baptist association is the Southern Baptist Convention, with over 16 million members.

Etymology: The term Baptist comes from the Greek word (baptists, "baptist," also used to describe John the Baptist), which is related to the verb (baptzo, "to baptize, wash, dip, immerse"), and the Latin baptista. The term Baptist as applied to Baptist churches is a modification of the term Anabaptist (which means rebaptizer), and was used into the 19th century as a general epithet for churches which denied the validity of infant baptism, including the Campbellites, Mennonites and Schwarzenau Brethren or German Baptists, who are not identified with modern day Baptists. The English Anabaptists were called Baptists as early as 1569. The name Anabaptist

continued to be applied to English and American Baptists, even after the American Revolution.

Baptist Beliefs and Practices Baptist churches tend to be evangelical in doctrine and Reformed in worship. However, Baptist churches do not have a central governing authority, so a wide range of beliefs can be seen between one Baptist church and another. Some Baptist churches use the following acronym as a summary of the common distinctives of Baptists: Biblical authority Autonomy of the local church Priesthood of the believer Two ordinances (Believer's Baptism and Communion) Individual soul liberty Separation of Church and State Two offices of the church (Pastor and Deacon)

Baptists, like other Christians, are defined by doctrinesome of it common to all orthodox and evangelical groups and a portion of it importantly distinctive. Through the years, different Baptist groups have issued confessions of faith without considering them to be creedsto express their particular doctrinal distinctions in comparison to other Christians as well as in comparison to other

Baptists. Most Baptists are evangelical in doctrine, but Baptist beliefs can vary due to the congregational governance system that gives autonomy to individual local Baptist churches. Historically, Baptists have played a key role in encouraging religious freedom and separation of church and state. Shared doctrines would include beliefs about one God; the virgin birth; miracles; atonement for sins through the death, burial, and bodily resurrection of Jesus; the Trinity; the need for salvation (through belief in Jesus Christ as the son of God, his death and resurrection, and confession of Christ as Lord); grace; the Kingdom of God; last things (Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth, the dead will be raised, and Christ will judge everyone in righteousness); and evangelism and missions. Some historically significant Baptist doctrinal documents include the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1742 Philadelphia Baptist Confession, the 1833 New Hampshire Baptist Confession of Faith, the Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Faith and Message, and written church covenants which some individual Baptist churches adopt as a statement of their faith and beliefs. Most Baptists hold that no church or ecclesiastical organization has inherent authority over a Baptist church. Churches can properly relate to each other under this polity only through voluntary cooperation, never by any sort of coercion. Furthermore, this Baptist polity calls for freedom from governmental control.[43] Exceptions to this local form of local governance include a few churches that submit to the leadership of a body of elders, as well as the Episcopal Baptists that have an Episcopal system.

Baptists generally believe in the literal Second Coming of Christ. Beliefs among Baptists regarding the "end times" include amillennialism, dispensationalism, and historic premillennialism, with views such as postmillennialism and preterism receiving some support. Some additional distinctive Baptist principles held by many Baptists: The supremacy of the canonical Scriptures as a norm of faith and practice.

For something to become a matter of faith and practice, it is not sufficient for it to be merely consistent with and not contrary to scriptural principles. It must be something explicitly ordained through command or example in the Bible. For instance, this is why Baptists do not practice infant baptismthey say the Bible neither commands nor exemplifies infant baptism as a Christian practice, even though nowhere does the Bible forbid it. More than any other Baptist principle, this one when applied to infant baptism is said to separate Baptists from other evangelical Christians.

Baptists believe that faith is a matter between God and the individual

(religious freedom). To them it means the advocacy of absolute liberty of conscience.

Insistence on immersion as the only mode of baptism. Baptists do not

believe that baptism is necessary for salvation. Therefore, they do not consider it to be a sacrament, since it imparts no saving grace.

Most Baptist traditions believe in the "Four Freedoms" articulated by Baptist historian Walter B. Shurden: Soul freedom: the soul is competent before God, and capable of making

decisions in matters of faith without coercion or compulsion by any larger religious or civil body

Church freedom: freedom of the local church from outside interference,

whether government or civilian (subject only to the law where it does not interfere with the religious teachings and practices of the church)

Bible freedom: the individual is free to interpret the Bible for himself or

herself, using the best tools of scholarship and biblical study available to the individual

Religious freedom: the individual is free to choose whether to practice

their religion, another religion, or no religion; Separation of church and state is often called the "civil corollary" of religious freedom

Advantages: a. Believes what is written in the Bible and what is the truth. b. Assurance of entering heaven not hell. c. Youre always on the side of truth d. Believes in one God and cannot be easily influenced by other religions. e. A stronger relationship with God thru Christian related programs.

Disadvantages: a. Dont worship saints thus they dont celebrate one of the famous Filipino tradition which is the fiesta. b. You cant do things that gives you fun like partying, drinking, smoking and etc.