Doctrine
Doctrinally, the church describes itself as fundamentalist, evangelical, and separatist. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are recognised as sacraments of the Free Presbyterian Church. Members are allowed to determine the proper mode (dipping, pouring, sprinkling) and subjects (adult believers) that they prefer, but the church does not sanction Baptismal Regeneration. The Lord's Supper is observed monthly, unless a local congregation prefers a more frequent observance. Alongside the Free Presbyterian Articles of Faith, the Westminster Standards are considered doctrinal standards subordinate to the Bible. On account of their additional adherence to the Articles of Faith, and because of their baptismal views, some regard the church as only nominally Presbyterian, nearer to the Baptist Church, and more nearly allied to modern Fundamentalist Christianity than to the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition.
For many outside the church, political and religious opposition to the Roman Catholic Church, considered by the Free Presbyterians to be a Protestant Reformation principle, represents the single most distinctive characteristic of this denomination, not least because this is a distinctive characteristic of Ian Paisley's own theological outlook.
Read more about this topic: Free Presbyterian Church Of Ulster
Famous quotes containing the word doctrine:
“The doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven, which was the main teaching of Jesus, is certainly one of the most revolutionary doctrines that ever stirred and changed human thought.”
—H.G. (Herbert George)
“We can safely abandon the doctrine of the eighties, namely that the rich were not working because they had too little money, the poor because they had much.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“If the Soviet Union can give up the Brezhnev Doctrine for the Sinatra Doctrine, the United States can give up the James Monroe Doctrine for the Marilyn Monroe Doctrine: Let’s all go to bed wearing the perfume we like best.”
—Carlos Fuentes (b. 1928)