In the essay, Caner shows how Baptists in the south, both preceding and following the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention, were hardly as strongly Calvinistic--not to mention virtually singularly Calvinistic as many Founders-type Calvinists insist today...
Just take one look at the Sandy Creek Association's principles of faith:
Principles of Faith of the Sandy Creek Association (1816)
I. We believe that there is only one true and living God; the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, equal in essence, power and glory; and yet there are not three Gods but one God.
II. That Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the word of God, and only rule of faith and practice.
III. That Adam fell from his original state of purity, and that his sin is imputed to his posterity; that human nature is corrupt, and that man, of his own free will and ability, is impotent to regain the state in which he was primarily placed.
IV. We believe in election from eternity, effectual calling by the Holy Spirit of God, and justification in his sight only by the imputation of Christ's righteousness. And we believe that they who are thus elected, effectually called, and justified, will persevere through grace to the end, that none of them be lost.
V. We believe that there will be a resurrection from the dead, and a general or universal judgment, and that the happiness of the righteous and punishment of the wicked will be eternal.
VI. The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful persons, who have obtained fellowship with each other, and have given themselves up to the Lord and one another; having agreed to keep up a godly discipline, according to the rules of the Gospel.
VII. That Jesus Christ is the great head of the church, and that the government thereof is with the body.
VIII. That baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of the Lord, and to be continued by his church until his second coming.
IX. That true believers are the only fit subjects of baptism;, and that immersion is the only mode.
X. That the church has no right to admit any but regular baptized church members to communion at the Lord's table.
That's a solid Calvinistic confession if ever one was written.
revival meetings and altar calls have been in our bloodstream for two hundred and fifty years
That may be, but that doesn't make them any more Biblical, nor historic. You know, maybe you should just acknowledge that the Sandy Creek folks were Calvinistic as late as 1816 and that you're outside of the historic Baptist lineage.
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