So what is the origin on the Baptist church?

QUOTE from  a Guiedposts reader from West Virginia: "Get rich quick...count your blessings."


I LEARNED today the origin of the Baptist church. After writing yesterday about the origin of the Mennonites and Amish my curious mind led me to this question, "What is the origin of the Baptist church?

There is some disagreement among Baptist scholars/historians as to the actual origin of the Baptist church. The modern Baptist faith originated from within the English Separatist movement. The Separatists were English people who separated from the Church of England in the 1500s. Some became known as Puritans because they wanterd to purify the Chuurch of England more than the Separatists.

Historians trace the earliest Baptist church back to 1609 in Amsterdam, with John Smyth as its pastor. Smyth was reared in England in the Church of England, he became "Puritan, English Separatist, and then a Baptist Separatist," and ended his days working with the Mennonites. As I wrote yesterday the Mennonites descended from the Anabaptists. The modern Baptist denomination is an outgrowth of Smyth's movement. Baptists rejected the name Anabaptist when they were called that by opponesnts in derision. As late as the 18th century, many Baptists referred to themselves as "the Christians commonly - though falsely - called Anabaptists. The relations between Baptists and Anabaptists were early strained. In 1624, the then five existing Baptist churches of London issued a condemnation of the Anabaptists.

In 1639, Roger Williams formed the first Baptist congregation in Providence, Rhode Island.

HUMOR for today is from the comic strip - HAGAR the HORRIBLE.

Hagar and wife Helga are visiting with a couple of ladies.

One of the ladies asks Hagar: "What do you do for a living Mr. Hagar the Horrible?"
 Hagar answers: "I'm a commuter."
The lady then asks: "Where do you commute?"
This time wife Helga answers: "From his house to the tavern."