I finally figured it out

A while back I said I couldn't be a Baptist anymore. I just can't believe in what's usually referred to as "once saved, always saved", a phrase I genuinely hate. Most of the people who say they do believe in it seem to be clinging desperately to it,  even though there's little in the New Testament to support it. At least as I read it.

But that's a purely negative statement. It tells what I don't believe, but not what I do believe. "Not- Baptist" isn't good enough. To narrow it down further wasn't very hard. I started with the assumption that the New Testament is meant to be taken seriously. With that in mind, here are a few things that I've learned from it: pacifism, total devotion to Christ, believers' baptism, and the power of prayer. There was only one group that both claimed to believe those things and consistently acted like it: the Mennonites.

Not that everything will change immediately. My family and I are members of a small Southern Baptist church, and that isn't likely to change anytime soon. Neither is the fact that I'm paralyzed from the eyeballs down. The biggest change has been internal. I no longer think of myself as a Baptist, but as a Mennonite.

Besides, I have a beard and I like hats. Where else am I going to go?