Views of the First Baptist Church of Troy, Michigan

on the Following Issues:

Fundamentalism: First Baptist Church of Troy is a Fundamental church. We believe Fundamentalism is the ardent defense of the faith once delivered to the saints. Fundamentalism historically stands for the truth of an inerrant Bible, plain (sometimes called literal) interpretation of the Scriptures, salvation by the perfect life and sacrificial death of Christ, salvation by grace through faith alone, and the premillennial return of Christ (list not exhaustive). Fundamentalism also stands against all forms of modernism, liberalism, new evangelicalism, and ecumenism.

New Evangelicalism: New Evangelicalism is the movement that grew out of Fundamentalism in the 1950s. It attempts to reach modernists and liberals by participating with them religiously. In more recent times it is marked by a denial of Christian ethics (which they mistakenly call legalism) and a libertine philosophy of Christian liberty. First Baptist Church of Troy, Michigan, stands strongly against the philosophy and practices of New Evangelicalism. FBC Troy also practices separation from New Evangelical ministers and ministries.

Ecumenical Movement: The ecumenical movement is a modern attempt to unite all the denominations (or even religions) of the world. It is motivated by a let’s-just-all-get-along philosophy. It emphasizes unity at the expense of truth and makes doctrine (the truths of the Christian faith) irrelevant and insignificant. It is a denial of the doctrine of separation as taught throughout the Bible (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5:9-11; 2 Corinthians 6:14-28; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 John 9-10).

Charismatic Movement: The charismatic movement emphasizes experience at the expense of truth. Within the charismatic movement one’s beliefs are of little importance, but one’s experience is paramount. The charismatic movement also mistakenly teaches that the miraculous sign gifts of the New Testament era are for today. However, because of their lack of emphasis on truth they often ignore clear statements of Scripture about the nature and practice of sign-gifts (Acts 2:1-12; 1 Corinthians 14:26-29).

Translation Controversy: The First Baptist Church of Troy affirms that God inspired the very words of the Bible (66 canonical books) in the original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Because this is true we believe that any translation of the Bible that accurately reflects the originals has derivative authority. Therefore, we can hold up a good translation of the Bible and state that it is the word of God. This does not mean however that we embrace all translations of the Bible into English. We reject all translations that reflect theological liberalism (RSV, NRSV, NEB, etc.). We reject paraphrases because they give little regard to the original words in which the Bible was inspired (Living Bible). We reject gender-neutral translations that are more concerned about being politically correct than about the truth of God (NLT, NRSV, CEV, etc.). We believe the KJV is an excellent translation of the Bible. Because of many changes to the English language in the last 400 years, for sake of understanding, we use the NASB for most of our preaching and teaching. However, we are also comfortable with modern translations like the NKJV.

Hyper-Calvinism: The First Baptist Church of Troy stands against the false teaching of Hyper-Calvinism. Hyper-Calvinism seeks to misuse the biblical teaching about election to absolve humanity of any responsibility. We believe that God is completely in control of salvation, but we do not believe this means that humans do not have responsibility. We believe humanity has the responsibility to turn from sin in repentance, to turn to Christ in faith, to obey the commands of Scripture (including the command to take the gospel throughout the world Matthew 28:19-21). We believe that it is devilish to twist one truth of the Scriptures in order to make an excuse to disobey clear commands of the Scripture. God has chosen not just to save individuals, but to use human means to do so.

Contemporary Christian Music: The modern use of objectionable music in worship and evangelism disobeys the commands of Christ to worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). The First Baptist Church of Troy condemns the use of music that honors relativity and ugliness (this includes forms of music such as rock, pop, jazz, rap, alternative, hip-hop, etc.) These kinds of music honor the sensual and debased rather than the higher virtues of beauty, symmetry, truth, and honor. We believe that our worship of God should reflect God’s character (both in lyrics and musical genre) rather than the debased elements of the culture, no matter how popular those elements may be.

Separation: We believe the Bible clearly teaches that believers should separate from apostates (1 Corinthians 5:9-11; 2 John 9-10) and from disobedient, unrepentant Christian brethren (Matthew 18:15-20; 2 Thessalonians 3:6). In practice this means that the First Baptist Church of Troy practices church discipline when necessary. We also practice ecclesiastical separation from Liberals, New Evangelicals, and all forms of apostasy.Second, we believe that believers individually should live lives separate from worldliness and uncleanness (2 Corinthians 6:14ff.). We believe strongly that a believer’s life should reflect godliness. We therefore reject worldliness in its myriad of cultural forms. These forms usually include evil entertainments (most Hollywood movies, rock music, most television programs, pornography, etc.), evil speech (profanity, gossip, and vulgar jokes), immodesty and gender blurring clothing, and sensuality (modern sexual license).

Affiliations: The First Baptist Church of Troy is a member of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Association of Michigan. The IFBA is a fellowship of Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches. The First Baptist Church of Troy is an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church that is very careful about our ecclesiastical associations.