The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum SBC to leave or not to leave?

Tom, we've been around this topic before, remember? IF any church refuses a person who gives a credible profession of faith and desires to join a church is refused because that person has not done x or xx or xxx, etc. and thus is barred from the Lord's Table, then that church is guilty of holding to faith + works= justification. Believers are called by Christ Jesus to come to partake of the Lord's Supper. Unbelievers and those who are under discipline and unrepentant are barred from the Table. Those who have examined themselves and desire to come CANNOT be barred from the table. To tell someone they are not worthy/qualified to partake of the Lord's Supper is equivalent to have determined one is not a believer. The formulate is iron clad and it is not rocket science. It is permissible to perhaps not allow membership in a local assembly theoretically, but not bar them from the Lord's Table. I have been in several churches, both Presbyterian and Baptist where this issue was a non-issue. Some Baptists did not want to join the Presbyterian Church because of the doctrine of paedobaptism (whether they actually understood the reasoning or not is another matter), but they definitely gave a credible profession of faith. Those individuals were allowed to go to the Lord's Table and were openly welcomed to do so. Conversely, I have attended Baptist churches that allowed paedobaptists to partake of the Lord's Table for like reasons. The MODE OF BAPTISM wasn't even discussed because it would have been a requirement to determine one's state of salvation. In all of the cases without exception, if one made a credible profession of faith and was not under discipline (of good repute) then the Lord's Table was open to ALL who professed to belong to Christ. This is classically known as a "Close Table" vs. "Open Table" and "Closed Table". I'm assuming you know the differences, right?