Intro

This is the Boles of Life podcast. I’m Tyler.

And I’m Virginia. As we’ve gone through life, we've learned something important.

Life is MESSY. It gets complicated.

BUT we've also learned that we can create tools to help us jump into the mess of life and make an adventure of it.

Welcome to our messy adventures of faith, family, and food!

Section 1: Series Recap & Bridge to Today (2-3 minutes)

Quick Journey Through Church History

• Apostles' Creed (2nd-4th century)
• Nicene Creed (325/381 AD)
• Chalcedonian Definition (451 AD)
• Athanasian Creed (5th-6th century)
• Augsburg Confession (1530)
• Westminster Confession (1646)

The Massive Jump Forward

• From 1646 England to 1845 America: Two centuries, different continent, entirely new questions about religious freedom and church organization.
• New American context: No state churches, no kings enforcing religion, voluntary associations instead of geographic parishes. Churches had to cooperate without government forcing unity.
• Why Baptists needed their own statement: Westminster was Presbyterian (infant baptism, regional church authority). Baptists had distinctive beliefs about believer's baptism and complete local church autonomy that required different expression.
• Today's focus: How American Baptists created their own confession, revised it multiple times, and why the 2000 version caused massive controversy that still affects churches today.