things i love about being a baptist
Before I begin a tirade of things I hate about being a Baptist, there are still some things I very much love about it. Here is an incomplete list which I will add to over time.
1. It was Calvinistic Baptists who pushed the hyper-Calvinist world out of its comfort zone and gave us the passion for world missions that exists in modern Christianity. William Carey in particular played a huge role in his persevering service in India, earning him the title, "The Father of Modern Missions." I've always loved the epitaph he chose for his tombstone:
A wretched, poor, and helpless worm, on Thy kind arms I fall
2. We've got Charles Spurgeon. Need I say more?
3. Regardless of my questions about church/state separation, Baptists stood up against some pretty harsh persecution from other Christians (whom, I must add, had fled England for that very reason). One can hardly blame Isaac Backus, John Leland, and the many Baptists of the 1700s for wanting freedom of religion across the board.
4. John Bunyan was a Baptist. I read The Pilgrim's Progress when I was just a lad, and it always stuck with me. I'm reading it to my wife now on our days off. We're at the beginning of Part 2, "Christiana's Journey."
These things about being a Baptist still remain, but I reckon they will remain dear to me whether or not I remain a Baptist in the future.
1. It was Calvinistic Baptists who pushed the hyper-Calvinist world out of its comfort zone and gave us the passion for world missions that exists in modern Christianity. William Carey in particular played a huge role in his persevering service in India, earning him the title, "The Father of Modern Missions." I've always loved the epitaph he chose for his tombstone:
A wretched, poor, and helpless worm, on Thy kind arms I fall
2. We've got Charles Spurgeon. Need I say more?
3. Regardless of my questions about church/state separation, Baptists stood up against some pretty harsh persecution from other Christians (whom, I must add, had fled England for that very reason). One can hardly blame Isaac Backus, John Leland, and the many Baptists of the 1700s for wanting freedom of religion across the board.
4. John Bunyan was a Baptist. I read The Pilgrim's Progress when I was just a lad, and it always stuck with me. I'm reading it to my wife now on our days off. We're at the beginning of Part 2, "Christiana's Journey."
These things about being a Baptist still remain, but I reckon they will remain dear to me whether or not I remain a Baptist in the future.
posted by Travis Prinzi @ 4:28 PM
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