Faith and Practice
The theology of the group is "election by grace", as stated in the scripture: "By Grace are ye saved through faith." While all Old Regulars preach "election by grace", a difference of opinion exists among them concerning election and predestination. Today, depending on which group you hear preach, their doctrine ranges from absolute predestination to man being a free moral agent. The majority of Old Regular Baptists hold to a doctrine that is between these extremes, with absolutism the smallest minority. Some churches and associations would be in doctrinal sympathy with the Old Line Primitive Baptist; others would be closer to the United Baptist. Churches form local associations by which they fellowship with one another. This fellowship is formally maintained by the election of correspondents to attend the meetings of the other associations. Preachers are God-called (not trained by man), unpaid, and preach improvisational (often chanted) sermons. Baptism (in running water), the Lord's supper and feet washing are held to be ordinances. Shouting is a frequent occurrence at an Old Regular meeting, particularly among the female membership. Conversion experiences may be a lengthy process, beginning with an awakening to sin, through a period of conviction and travail of the soul, to repentance and belief.
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Famous quotes containing the words faith and, faith and/or practice:
“An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“A noble person confers no such gift as his whole confidence: none so exalts the giver and the receiver; it produces the truest gratitude. Perhaps it is only essential to friendship that some vital trust should have been reposed by the one in the other. I feel addressed and probed even to the remotest parts of my being when one nobly shows, even in trivial things, an implicit faith in me.... A threat or a curse may be forgotten, but this mild trust translates me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The astonishment of life, is, the absence of any appearance of reconciliation between the theory and the practice of life.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)