This has zip to do with Mormonism? There are not statistics in support of what I said? Start with researching the writings of Harold Bloom (Yale) and Rodney Stark (U of Washington. Then, we can talk.

Only Catholics and Mormons claim to have the sole authority of Jesus Christ. Either one of them is correct and the other is wrong. People can figure that out for themselves. But, it’s a fact that evangelical and Baptist America, though their faith is real, do not know what they believe or from whence their authority came…. This is why they are stumbling. Their beliefs are politically motivated and therefore shift. The Old Catholic Church has shifted less.

I respect the Old Catholic Church. Their doctrines are logical. But, the Mormon Church is basically the new Catholic Church. New wine has been poured into new bottles. Mormons say Catholics lost their authority and that Baptists/Evangelicals never had it. I don’t believe authoritative baptism alone will get me into heaven but I do believe it is a requirement and I’m a believing Mormon as well as a scientist.

We – the Church have become seeker friendly and the true gospel unfriendly. We’ve turned into a people concerned with numbers in our churches and that should has no place in our churches.

We have opened our doors to the world, invited the world in and now we’re looking like the world instead of the church. Actually I tend to think some churches are no longer churches of Christ Jesus but are churches of secular worldliness.

I hear people tell me they have stopped attending church because they were tired of not hearing the word preached at their church and they felt they were attending a club, a group of ‘look at me, I went to church today and people will think I’m a good person’ club.

I know there are many Christians still in church and attending church services but we do have to acknowledge that some churches do not uplift Jesus and His teachings…they are more into feel good – tickle my ears teachings. This turns off the true Christians.

One thing I’ve noticed is that some the S.B. preachers are inadvertently playing down the awesome experience of Baptism. The are simply promoting it as a “witnessing tool” to the congregation. While it is that, it is also much more than that. I will never forget my personal spirit-filled experience of Baptism. It made a huge impact on my life.

Most SB preachers need to offer Baptism services more often as well. They are often few and far between.

Another sad factor-I think-has to do with the sheer number of people pulling away from church membership and biblical practices in general today-in all denominations. When the number of people coming to Christ rises, the baptism rate will rise as well. Baptism is a requirement of membership at least in SBC-affiliated churches.

Essentially, we need to stop being stagnant and start rolling!

But it is not as important as what is NOT happening: churches are not being bombed, neighborhoods are not being religously “cleansed,” Baptists aren’t shooting each other (except accidentally, during the second week of deer camp).

Secularists (like me) should perhaps give more thought to why and how Baptists and other religions in America are able to handle schism so peacably, amicably and constructively–especially as compared to how it is done in many other parts of the world.