So the father is Chairman of the Board of T.Rex Arms, the Church is not a Cult, they claim this at Christ the King Church of Middle Tennessee.
"We hold to the 1689 London Baptist confession. To view our statement of faith follow the link below."
I am ignorant of Baptist ideology, but do know many 3rd generation Mayflower Families chose it over the First Congressional Church.
There are multiple Baptist ideologies, as some churches are adopting more modern views of the world. I would guess that is probably common in most denominations, as I was watching a video yesterday as to what has happened to the United Methodist Church regarding homosexuality etc... and I would be willing to bet that some churches (hopefully) walked away from them.
I think that trying to find two completely aligned views among churches is probably more difficult than finding two identical snowflakes... which only further adds to the hypocrisy that a lot of churches have become a symbol of. A quick search of stuff like the Pentacostals will see separation over apostolic beliefs (people who babble in "tongues"), and the charismatic movement started from them too.
Basically, the 1689 confession laid the groundwork for what all of the 'sub-denominations' of the Baptist faith used to be. Then, over time you had small divisions over stuff like predestination/Calvinism etc... etc... I guess the closest group of Baptists still holding onto the 1689 confession might be the "reformed Baptists" - of which I would say that as an independent - I am most closely aligned with. However, I don't hold onto a lot of the cult-like beliefs that the Botkin family apparently does.
No dancing. No drinking. At least, that’s what you tell people. Lots of “bless your heart” and “he needs Jesus.”
Little known fact… Footloose was a documentary.
Why do the liquor stores in the south open at noon on Sunday?
Because that’s when the Baptist church lets out.
What’s the difference between a Baptist and a Catholic?
A Catholic will say ‘hi’ to you at the liquor store.
Got a laugh out of that. In many cases, you aren't wrong.
Never understood the "no drinking or dancing" crowd. Literally there are many examples of that in the Bible. I've had the "Bertha better than yous" make stupid comments along this line before too. My response question is always: What was Jesus' first miracle? John 2:1-12. Drunkenness is a different story.
*****
About the Botkins. I don't know where this will end up, and all we are probably ever going to get are partial truths. It sucks that their personal lives got opened up over the internet for all of us to witness, and it sucks more that they will probably never be able to make amends with each other fully.
I have two brothers that hate each other, even though they grew up in the same house together. It is bad... Like 40 year olds fist fighting and mudhole stomping in the front yard bad (although my oldest brother had it coming). Crap like this not only affects the current generation of family, but possibly future generations as well. The one that it hurts most is our dad, but since dad was something of an asshole himself to all of us he kind of sowed that seed and now gets to reap the harvest. This might be the case with the old grandmaster Botkin too.
