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Joe k said:

Denny I agree, but am infant believer does not know how to say shibboleth correctly, and may be denied "membership" becasue of this. The Church should be more concerned with teaching the members rather than making them say yea as a strict subscriptionist to a creed or confession when they have no clue. This has been abused and does not have the scriptural support. Look at everyone Christ encountered in the 3 years of His ministry. This is what we have to go by.

Joe, I can't say that I've encountered a biblical church that requires full and strict subscription to a Reformed confession (e.g., WCF, Belgic, etc.). Granted, I may not have come across enough churches. But in the PCA, an affirmative response is required of members to the following five questions for admission to the Lord's Supper:

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1. Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy?

2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?

3. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?

4. Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of your ability?

5. Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the Church, and promise to study its purity and peace?

The session will normally examine the individual seeking membership to see if they have a valid and credible profession of faith--it is not a theological examination to determine whether they hold to historic Reformed theology or whether they accept every aspect of the Confession or whether they have even read the whole Bible, but simply to see whether, insofar as men may judge, they have genuinely been exposed to the Gospel truth and have received it with joyful hearts. This is it, sir, and tell me, which of these do you think is not already a duty incumbent upon the believer?

Kyle

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified.