When speaking with other Christians, and when the term orthodox biblical Christianity is what we hold to, what is meant by biblical Christianity?.. They will claim that they hold to the bible and are biblical, what is the best way to make this clear to them?

Rather than taking several years to exegete myriad passages of Scripture to establish the core doctrines of Christianity, which we call and insist is what is known as "Calvinism", aka: The Reformed Faith. I simply point out that ALL of the Protestant Confessions and Catechisms which were produced by the major denominations during and after the Reformation were in indisputable agreement on them. Some, e.g., The Canons of Dordt rejected all forms of Arminianism and by default, semi-Pelagianism, etc. and provided the biblical truth in their refutations.

Saying you believe in the Bible; its inspiration, infallibility, inerrancy and supreme authority isn't enough. The question is, "What does that God-breathed book teach?"

Pilgrim
Great answer!

Tom

I am wondering , being a Reformed Bapttist, if there is any real difference between holding to the 1689 Confession instead of the others? And do you see any difference between the Confessions and holding to the Essentials of the Faith as Baptists do?

The only real differences I see between the London Baptist Confession (1689) and the WCF, Savoy, etc., is the matter of baptism and church polity, although the Savoy Declaration (1658) is similar in church polity. However, in regard to the "essentials", they are ALL in agreement and antithetical to all non-Reformed confessions and non-confessional denominations which are semi-Pelagian, Arminian or Liberal.

Do we have a section on the 1689 Baptist Confessions here then?

We don't have a readable copy of the LBCF on The Highway, but there are lots of places that do. A simple Google search will give you a great number of places where you can find it.

Now, depending upon what operating system you are using, The Highway does have a free downloadable program that includes most all of the Reformed Confessions which you can read about here: Refcon3.

Thanks! Are you aware of any type of commentary available on the 1689 Confession?

Yes! You can begin here: Google is Your Friend.

Thank you, as coming out of first Charasmatic circles, to Dispy, now to Reformed, been quite a journey!

The 1689 Confession would allow for historical premill viewpoints, correct?

A couple weeks ago, while doing a Google search, I came across this page: The Staunch Calvinist. It is a very long page, and one of very many pages on the site, which does seem to be a commentary on the 1689 Baptist Confession.

Thanks, as this Confession has quite a bit on meat packed in it!