Greetings!

[Kojent]

Grace and peace, beloved of God.

I have been a bit of a lurker here on BibFam off and on for about a year while my lovely wife and I navigate the prospect of polygyny with prayer and patience, following a providential answer to prayer late last year after reading through the Holy Scriptures from cover to cover.

By the grace of God we have been married for fifteen years and the LORD has blessed us with five young children.

Unlike perhaps many folks here, we are Particular Baptists. Strictly speaking, we don’t truly consider ourselves to be Protestants, as we don’t believe we came out of the Roman Catholic Church and therefore hesitate to take for ourselves the title “Reformed.”

My wife has made an account here as well but has hesitated to join the Ladies Meeting quite yet, as she and I are not quite on opposite sides of the polygyny issue, but we aren’t presently on the same side of the issue yet either. For those so inclined to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ, please consider remembering our family in prayer as we seek to honor our Master, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in all that we think, say, write and do.

May those brothers and sisters in Christ reading this find every blessing in Him.

 

[julieb]

Welcome! Thank you for sharing some of your story. I hope you will find some good things here.
I do encourage your wife to join some of us ladies for the Tuesday night video chat even if she still has lots of questions/concerns. She doesn't even have to use her camera if she's doesn't want to.

 

[steve]

Welcome, there is plenty of information buried in this site for y’all to study and discuss.
You are on the path of truth.

 

[bigonlife1981]

Hello and welcome! I strongly encourage your wife to jump on with the ladies as they are a wealth of knowledge and wisdom to help you guys navigate this time.

 

[Kojent]

Welcome! Thank you for sharing some of your story. I hope you will find some good things here.
I do encourage your wife to join some of us ladies for the Tuesday night video chat even if she still has lots of questions/concerns. She doesn't even have to use her camera if she's doesn't want to.

Thank you for the warm welcome Sister, I’ve just let her know!

 

[frederick]

Hi and welcome to Biblical Families. Thank you for the intro, and I pray you and your wife will grow together in the truth of God's Word. Understanding marriage as God sets it out in His Word takes a bit of (un)doing because we've been so deeply influenced by the unbiblical culture around us all. However, as many here can testify, slow and steady wins the race; take your time, get well grounded in the truth, and trust Him to providentially work His purposes through you. Shalom

 

[Mojo]

Shalom and welcome.

 

[TNOvercomer]

Grace and peace, beloved of God.

I have been a bit of a lurker here on BibFam off and on for about a year while my lovely wife and I navigate the prospect of polygyny with prayer and patience, following a providential answer to prayer late last year after reading through the Holy Scriptures from cover to cover.

By the grace of God we have been married for fifteen years and the LORD has blessed us with five young children.

Unlike perhaps many folks here, we are Particular Baptists. Strictly speaking, we don’t truly consider ourselves to be Protestants, as we don’t believe we came out of the Roman Catholic Church and therefore hesitate to take for ourselves the title “Reformed.”

My wife has made an account here as well but has hesitated to join the Ladies Meeting quite yet, as she and I are not quite on opposite sides of the polygyny issue, but we aren’t presently on the same side of the issue yet either. For those so inclined to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ, please consider remembering our family in prayer as we seek to honor our Master, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in all that we think, say, write and do.

May those brothers and sisters in Christ reading this find every blessing in Him.

Thank you for sharing and yes, praying for you and your wife. We understand that.

 

[Mojo]

Unlike perhaps many folks here, we are Particular Baptists. Strictly speaking, we don’t truly consider ourselves to be Protestants, as we don’t believe we came out of the Roman Catholic Church and therefore hesitate to take for ourselves the title “Reformed.”

You’ll find many types here.

 

[The Revolting Man]

we don’t truly consider ourselves to be Protestants, as we don’t believe we came out of the Roman Catholic

Okay, I’m going to need to have this one explained to me.

 

[Mojo]

Okay, I’m going to need to have this one explained to me.

I’ll let @Kojent explain his side but I’ll explain how I’ve heard it explained as I grew up.

Various Baptist and other nonaligned groups believe that they’re church/movement was always outside the institutional/state church structure, preserving itself since the apostolic age as an independent movement never aligned with the Roman or Eastern church.

The Moravians, Hussites and others like them weren’t Catholic or Lutheran. Various aspects of the eastern church has their own nonaligned factions, but I’m not as familiar with their stories.

 

[Kojent]

Okay, I’m going to need to have this one explained to me.

Howdy, and happy to explain, but it would be difficult to improve upon Mr. Spurgeon’s succinct assessment.

"We believe that the Baptists are the original Christians. We did not commence our existence at the Reformation, we were Reformers before Luther and Calvin were born; we never came out of the Church of Rome, for we were never in it, but we have an unbroken line of succession up to the apostles themselves. We have always existed from the very days of Christ, and our principles, though sometimes veiled and forgotten, like a river which may travel underground for a little season, have always had honest and holy adherents. Persecuted alike by Romanists and Protestants of almost every sect, yet there has never existed a Government holding Baptist principles which has persecuted others; nor, I believe, has any body of Baptists ever held it to be right to put the consciences of others under the control of man. We have ever been ready to suffer, as our martyrologies will prove; but we are not willing to accept any help from the State, or to prostitute the purity of the Bride of Christ by any alliance with earthly Governments." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

 

[Kojent]

P.S. While for some advocates of Baptist Successionism is undoubtedly a matter of pride, as it is said that pride is the first thing to enter into a man and the last thing to leave, for others it is a matter of necessity. If, in fact:

1. The Lord Jesus Christ committed to building His Church and not permitting the gates of Hell to prevail against it, and

2. Not all Israel is Israel, and

3. It pleased the Holy One to providentially preserve a faithful remnant of people who worship Him in spirit and in truth, and

4. We have a promised from our Master that all those who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, then

It follows that we might wonder where this persecuted, faithful remnant have been from the time of the Apostles until now.

Baptist Successionism is one of many ways folks attempt to take God at His Word as they understand it, though our eyes be dim, and can not see afar off.

Hopefully this helps!

 

[Mojo]

nor, I believe, has any body of Baptists ever held it to be right to put the consciences of others under the control of man.

but we are not willing to accept any help from the State, or to prostitute the purity of the Bride of Christ by any alliance with earthly Governments." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

And these sentiment by Virginia Baptists like George Mason and others is what contributed to Jefferson including the Bill of Rights in the Constitution and promoting, in his writings, the concept of separation of church and state.

Baptists, Anabaptists, Brethren and other historically nonaligned groups have always been wary of the State. The state has invariably made them martyrs.

 

[MeganC]

Baptists, Anabaptists, Brethren and other historically nonaligned groups have always been wary of the State. The state has invariably made them martyrs.

Up until not so many years ago there was a town in Switzerland (Zurich) where they used to celebrate drowning Baptists in a river.

Troubling the Water in Switzerland

On Jan.

publicwitness.wordandway.org

 

[Kojent]

Up until not so many years ago there was a town in Switzerland (Zurich) where they used to celebrate drowning Baptists in a river.

Troubling the Water in Switzerland

On Jan.

publicwitness.wordandway.org

Yes, Sister, it is true. It is also the case that the cages they hung the polygynous Anabaptists of Münster in are still there today.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtefactPorn/comments/1oeg0nq/iron_cages_used_to_display_the_bodies_of_three

It is a grievous thing that those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and are mystically joined together as different members of the Body of Christ should engage in such bloody business, as though the Body were wracked with an auto-immune disorder.

When reflecting upon these sad facts, it is of some small comfort to me that those who encounter loss as good soldiers of Jesus Christ shall receive an hundredfold in His perfect timing, and that the Lord on the Last Day will account that which was done to the least of these His brethren as though it were done to our very Master Himself.