Christadelphains was started by man with humanist philosophy. They deny many Scriptural Doctrines. The Watchtower AKA Jehovah's Witnesses publishes one of their books.
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Christadelphians do not believe that anyone is saved now, nor do they believe that anyone can have any sense of assurance regarding salvation in this life. This is connected to their belief in the Bible alone which stresses any ability to change as being linked to scriptural knowledge and personal effort. It therefore has some similarities to Pelagianism. They do not believe that God draws people to him of the Holy Spirit. They do not therefore believe in “salvation by grace,” but believe that there is a process based around knowledge and work that leads to salvation.
The process of salvation put forward is the following:
1. Gaining Correct Knowledge.
The correct set of savings beliefs are considered to be those which are summarised in the historical statements of faith, the most widely used being the Birmingham Amended Statement of Faith. It is for this reason that it is sometimes referred to by Christadelphians as “the basis of fellowship.” The body of Christ (or Christians) are considered to be those who have the gospel, which is seen to be consistent with the statements of faith. One phrase often used by early Christadelphians was “the truth as it is in Jesus” because other churches having “false doctrine” were not seen to have that truth.
Gaining the correct knowledge therefore is the focus of the Christadelphain process of conversion rather than a belief that conversion is the work of God. On the one hand they promote the need for an individual search, whilst doing everything they can to influence that person into accepting their full positions and will not accept anyone who comes to any differing conclusions.
Achieving full conviction is considered necessary and this can be an extended process for those looking at becoming a Christadelphian because of the mental challenge of that process.
The Christadelphian belief in a process based upon independence of thought is a natural consequence of an absolute position of the Bible alone without any need for God’s Spirit and needs some thought therefore about the limits of independence of thought and how far that truly is possible.
2. Baptism Through Full Immersion.
Baptism is believed to be what enables one to become a Christian and is often emphasised above the concept of repentance. This is because intellect through correct Biblical knowledge gained through Bible reading is promoted as the way to conviction and a knowledge of God. Emotion and experience are seen to be subjective, rather than playing much of a meaningful role in true conversion.
Baptism is considered ineffective unless the person baptised (no matter how repentant of sin) has a correct understanding of “the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.” This belief can be shown from the fact that Christians who join from other denominations are usually required to be rebaptised if they have already been baptised. It is not, however, usually required from those who join from other Christadelphian divisions even if the issues were historically (or are considered) salvation matters.
There is a process involved in this which is called, “preparation for baptism” which is to ensure the candidate is true to the Christadelphian positions. These issues are called by Christadelphians “the first principles” and usually have more to do with accepting doctrinal positions than a preparation for living the Christian life. When a person is considered “ready” (they believe these propositions) and has “requested baptism” they are usually “examined.” This is a formal process usually conducted by “examining brethren” who have been appointed by the congregation for the task and will involve asking the candidate a series of questions about what they believe that revolves around the doctrines considered essential and those they believe should be rejected. If the candidate “passes” then “arrangements for baptism” are made. In practice few fail because no one is “put forward for baptism” without being considered “ready.”
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Christadelphians do not believe that anyone is saved now, nor do they believe that anyone can have any sense of assurance regarding salvation in this life. This is connected to their belief in the Bible alone which stresses any ability to change as being linked to scriptural knowledge and personal effort. It therefore has some similarities to Pelagianism. They do not believe that God draws people to him of the Holy Spirit. They do not therefore believe in “salvation by grace,” but believe that there is a process based around knowledge and work that leads to salvation.
The process of salvation put forward is the following:
1. Gaining Correct Knowledge.
The correct set of savings beliefs are considered to be those which are summarised in the historical statements of faith, the most widely used being the Birmingham Amended Statement of Faith. It is for this reason that it is sometimes referred to by Christadelphians as “the basis of fellowship.” The body of Christ (or Christians) are considered to be those who have the gospel, which is seen to be consistent with the statements of faith. One phrase often used by early Christadelphians was “the truth as it is in Jesus” because other churches having “false doctrine” were not seen to have that truth.
Gaining the correct knowledge therefore is the focus of the Christadelphain process of conversion rather than a belief that conversion is the work of God. On the one hand they promote the need for an individual search, whilst doing everything they can to influence that person into accepting their full positions and will not accept anyone who comes to any differing conclusions.
Achieving full conviction is considered necessary and this can be an extended process for those looking at becoming a Christadelphian because of the mental challenge of that process.
The Christadelphian belief in a process based upon independence of thought is a natural consequence of an absolute position of the Bible alone without any need for God’s Spirit and needs some thought therefore about the limits of independence of thought and how far that truly is possible.
2. Baptism Through Full Immersion.
Baptism is believed to be what enables one to become a Christian and is often emphasised above the concept of repentance. This is because intellect through correct Biblical knowledge gained through Bible reading is promoted as the way to conviction and a knowledge of God. Emotion and experience are seen to be subjective, rather than playing much of a meaningful role in true conversion.
Baptism is considered ineffective unless the person baptised (no matter how repentant of sin) has a correct understanding of “the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.” This belief can be shown from the fact that Christians who join from other denominations are usually required to be rebaptised if they have already been baptised. It is not, however, usually required from those who join from other Christadelphian divisions even if the issues were historically (or are considered) salvation matters.
There is a process involved in this which is called, “preparation for baptism” which is to ensure the candidate is true to the Christadelphian positions. These issues are called by Christadelphians “the first principles” and usually have more to do with accepting doctrinal positions than a preparation for living the Christian life. When a person is considered “ready” (they believe these propositions) and has “requested baptism” they are usually “examined.” This is a formal process usually conducted by “examining brethren” who have been appointed by the congregation for the task and will involve asking the candidate a series of questions about what they believe that revolves around the doctrines considered essential and those they believe should be rejected. If the candidate “passes” then “arrangements for baptism” are made. In practice few fail because no one is “put forward for baptism” without being considered “ready.”
