NovumTestamentum

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Your communion theory

Hi. I noticed while doing recent changes patrol that you have been adding a theory by Jack Schaap about communion to a number of different articles. Please see WP:NPOV#Undue_weight. Basically, a theory that is held by a small minority should not be treasted the same as a theory that has a large following. There are eleventy billion novel religious theories out there and Wikipedia is not in the business of giving all of them a mouthpiece. BigDT 13:39, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

NOT my beliefs on Holy Communion

I believe in the Real Presence, but not like that!NovumTestamentum 16:24, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Uh huh. So exactly why is it that you think that this view represents mainstream independent Baptist thought? WP:NPOV#Undue weight says that a small minority view should not get undue mention in an article. Can you find ANY OTHER independent Baptists who agree with it? If one nutjob guy supports this viewpoint, it should not get any more weight than any other bit of nutty theology out there that is soley the work of one man's imagination. If you scour the histories of any article on Christian theology, you will find plenty of occasions that someone has attempted to use Wikipedia to push their novel theology. But that's not what Wikipedia is. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a soapbox for novel theories. If you are trying to answer the question, "what is the Eucharist", is the answer, "well, some guy in one church thinks it means sex"? If you are trying to answer the question, "What are Independent Baptist churches", is the answer, "well, there are a kazillion independent Baptist churches in this country and in the world, but the minister of one of them thinks that the Eucharist is sex"? --BigDT 16:51, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

FYI, I have added a note on this issue to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Christianity to attempt to build a consensus rather than having a revert war on the subject. BigDT 17:09, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

That sounds good. I wasn't trying to tell you what to believe, sorry that it came across that way. I thought that Jack Schaap was sort of an Independent Baptist Pope ;-) I think that his saying that Holy Communion is sex with God is abhorrent heresy, and wanted to alert people of this before they get enmeshed too deeply with a heretic. I have no desire to have a revert war, and would like if this horrible doctrine goes the way of the dodo. Just wanted to warn those who may be looking of a doctrine that is coming from Hammond.

It's all good. I think the thing to keep in mind is that Wikipedia is not a soapbox. Everything should be from a neutral point of view, not an effort to warn people. There are a LOT of strange religious viewpoints out there and Wikipedia's purpose isn't really to give them either a sounding board for their ideas nor to refute them. I don't see any problem with mentioning the idea in Jack Schaap's article itself (although it should be expanded so that it doesn't look like that's the only thing he believes), but it really isn't a mainstream view among fundamental Baptists or even one that I had ever heard of. I did find, incidentally, while googling, this forum posting [1] that has people who are ostensibly Schapp supporters addressing the issue. They are convinced that it's a fabrication (ie, atypical of Baptist beliefs and of what they view to be Schapp's theology) until someone posts the actual quote from the book. What can I say, controversy sells and I guess Schapp has found a way to sell books. But it's errant and to my knowledge, nobody else teaches it so it doesn't really belong anywhere but his article. BigDT 19:29, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Jack Allan Schaap

An editor has nominated Jack Allan Schaap, an article on which you have worked or that you created, for deletion. We appreciate your contributions, but the nominator doesn't believe that the article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion and has explained why in his/her nomination (see also "What Wikipedia is not"). Your opinions on whether the article meets inclusion criteria and what should be done with the article are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Jack Allan Schaap and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~). You may also edit the article during the discussion to improve it but should not remove the articles for deletion template from the top of the article; such removal will not end the deletion debate. Thank you. Please note: This is an automatic notification by a bot. I have nothing to do with this article or the deletion nomination, and can't do anything about it. Jayden54Bot 19:05, 27 March 2007 (UTC)