“You are talking about SBC, most Baptist do not belong to the SBC. The majority of Baptist are independent and stand alone in their convictions.”
Exactly. One of the main “properties” of true Baptists is independence and free will. The SBC is way more liberal than any of the independent churches I’ve belonged to or attended.
“One of the main “properties” of true Baptists is independence and free will.”
Indeed independence is an historic BaptIst trait, but not free will. Now there was a strain of free will among Baptists, but they were the minority. Historically speaking, Baptists overwhelmingly believed in the Doctrines of Grace until the early 20th century. Some Baptists continued to hold to sovereign grace throughout the 20th century, but they were scattered and they were a tiny minority. But over the past 25 years, God has been working and many Baptists have redisovered the doctrines of their forefathers.
Short of salvation, coming to understand and accept sovereign grace was the best thing God has ever done for me. My pastor for 30 years was Adrian Rogers and I graduated from an SBC university, so I was a typical conservative Southern Baptist. I’m thankful for my heritage. I had a front row seat to the “Battle for the Bible” so I learned early to stand on the Scriptures. It was that bedrock belief in the inerrancy and authority of the Bible that led me to where I am now. Today I’m much closer to historic Baptists like the founders of the SBC and Charles Spurgeon than Adrian Rogers or Charles Stanley. Most in my local congregation, including my pastor, have the same testimony. Most all of us were free will Baptists who found grace.
In case you are interested, here is a good overview of the development of Baptists in America.
TULIPS in the Baptist Garden
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=5220283348
If you are interested in a primer on TULIP from a Baptist perspective, I can make a number of recommendations. It was in the 90’s when I began to encounter “Calvinism” on a regular basis and I was really concerned about it, so much so that I fought against it. Frankly, it made me mad. In my zeal to defend free will I began to study harder, mostly so I could win a friendly debate with a Christian friend. I gathered a lot of resources and realized my friend had made a few good points. I had some creeping doubts, but for a time I believed I just hadn’t studied enough yet. Although there were numerous stepping stones along the way, one seminal day I was listening to a sermon as I drove down the road and the minister read from the sixth chapter of John. When he read verse 44 it hit me like a ton of bricks. He was reading from the KJV. The words “no man can” stopped me cold. I pulled over and rewound and listened again. I repeated that several more times. Soon I was praying for God to teach me the truth, promising I would simply believe His Word even if it contradicted everything I had believed all of my life. He taught me, it indeed contradicted everything I had been taught and believed, but it isn’t an overstatement to say coming to understand and accept God’s sovereignty changed my life.