Skip to main content

Baptists … I thought I’d check

You see, I could not understand how someone can claim to be a Christian whilst not living their life as a Christian. That simply did not make sense to me until I discovered they were Baptists.

It would seem, from my limited research, that each church is separate from another, there is no central body controlling what they do. Further, each member of the congregation is free to decide for themselves their personal interpretation of the bible. Now, I read that from several different sources so I presume it to be true.

As I take that, yes, they have to be baptised, full immersion is the way they do it. They have to acknowledge Jesus as the one true saviour and that’s about it. They are meant to prey, sing hymns etc but, other than that, have the freedom to cal themselves Christians without having any understanding of what that means.

In effect, as long as a member of the congregation can claim they don’t know certain bits of the bible, they can ignore them and still call themselves Christians. If they choose to interpret the bible in such a way that there is no forgiveness, not love of strangers and no charity then, that seems to be OK, it is their own understanding of it and they can still call themselves Christians.

More so, they can just ignore everything when not in church and be just about as anti Christian as possible and, still call themselves Christians because they got baptised.

So, to relate this to a recent event by someone saying they are a Christian … If they steal something belonging to someone else and they get caught out for their wrong doing they do not apologise. What they do is steal more as revenge for the victim having found them out. From another Christian … if they tell enough lies and enough people choose to believe them then, they have done nothing wrong because a believed lie is, apparently, as good as the truth. Better yet, even if the ones acting on the lies knowing they are lies don’t change, that is OK because, they choose to believe the lies to be the truth so they are, therefore, not living a lie … yes, I know, it makes no sense.

It does make sense in this respect though … freedom to choose is all well and good if people can set their own barriers and know the difference between right and wrong. If they do not then they do need someone to show them but, if the organisation they belong to in their Baptist church does not have leadership, does not show guidance, then those congregation members shall just continue to perpetuate their own troubled existence.

You see, the reason I got baptised and became a priest in 1987 was because I truly believe in the essence of the bible, in the fundamental teachings in it which do clearly define right from wrong and, if read properly, will leave such a deep imprint that just never goes away of the way to treat other people. That others should be treated with respect and generosity. That we take responsibility for our own actions. That we do not put ourselves foremost. I believe that we should have as our motive the betterment of others at all times. That it is good to always try and see good in other people and help them to value themselves.

Yes, I am agnostic but, I am also a Christian in many respects and, that is not a contradiction to me. I need to try and understand others who claim to be Christian but, who do not seem to deserve the title and, this is why I examined the make up of the Baptist church.

To me, if we are our own church and see ourselves as such then this is OK, we don’t need leadership. If we don’t really know who we are and where we fit in, we do need leadership. I just see potential for the Baptist church to have a pastor and deacon who need leadership but, they won’t get it and, if they don’t get it then they cannot give guidance to those who most need it in their congregation.

With the situation of the Baptists I know, those I consider to not be true Christians, I am happy for God to make the decisions on whether they are right or wrong. I have experienced some assistance from somewhere else before in my life when I needed it, I know and accept it exists. I hope, very much so, that one day those people may wake up and see the error of their ways and just why it is, they are not yet anywhere close to being true Christians because, quite simply, if they had to explain themselves to Jesus, he would shake his head and be ashamed that these people claimed to act in his name.

Lies are perhaps the start of pure evil

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Budget Day

So, we have the ‘Let’s buy a whole host of gullible voters day’ with George Osborne. No doubt we’ll be told how employment is rising, how the deficit is falling, how we’re all so much better off now than we were (compared to what?). We’ll be told that there are still tough times ahead but that only a Conservative government can steer us through them. It will be pointed out how inflation remains low, how not raising duty on fuel has helped everyone as is seen by the current lower prices at the pumps (it’s going up again George). In short, I should listen to this budget later and decide to vote Conservative in May but, I won’t. Labour certainly did nothing to avoid the mess the country got in but they didn’t cause it. They made the mistake of trying to be too conservative, allowing high finance the freedom to cause a catastrophic cock up for which they took zero responsibility. They made the mistake of allowing Gordon Brown to take the job of Prime Minister, one for which he is totally...
2 comments
Read more

Not a good day

Today is a very emotional one for me. I have no idea why that would be the case but apparently it is. For a day that had nothing pre-arranged this one has turned out quite busy. First, I agreed to take Matt for breakfast though I wasn't really hungry. He was being quite argumentative in the morning about some thing or other, I don't recall what exactly but some matter of politics where he was going to argue the toss whilst knowing little or nothing about it. But, even so, I was quite upbeat as Jermaine had gone to school on time ... no, scrub that, i was upbeat until I yet again had to tell Zoey to get her arse out of her room, downstairs, do her chores and get to school, that is when this day started to go downward. I spent way too much money on a new doorbell, true, we needed one but not one that cost nearly £50! This too has not helped. I went to see a garage that can fit parking sensors to my car, all well and good but they needed me to supply paint to match the circles up ...
Read more

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

I am currently working through modules on Self Esteem. I can honestly say, it’s tough reading! So much does relate to me it hurts to read it. Already I am wishing for answers that I need. It’s like, I know and understand what I am reading and acknowledge it as a fair representation of my current state but, where is the hug? The reassurance that it’s all going to be OK? The issue, for me, of doing this sort of thing is that it highlights possibly the greatest issue I have, I am alone. Someone special to hug up to, to talk to when I need it, well, I don’t have anyone. Perhaps that is a good thing because, right now, I’d probably question all their motives, what is their ‘real’ agenda? Even knowing where those feelings come from, where they started and so on is not yet helping me to overcome them. I’ve become somewhat insecure and full of self doubt, all negative stuff. Frustratingly, I can damn well see it too, it’s like there are two of me, am sure someone would say that’s because I a...
Post a Comment
Read more