Three reasons I still belong to a Southern Baptist church

Longtime readers have seen my theology shift over the last year, to the point where I can no longer consider myself a Baptist anymore. Baptists were originally heavily influenced by two very different groups: the Calvinists and the Anabaptists. The mixture of the two created Baptist theology.

Personally, I've always leaned very hard to the Anabaptist side. I've always had a problem with eternal security, or, to use a more common phrase that I've come to loathe, "once saved always saved". Since that's at the heart of the Baptist faith, giving that up meant giving up being a Baptist, and that was a huge part of my identity.

In the end, though, it was easy, probably because we haven't left our old Baptist congregation. That just raises more questions; my wife in particular has asked why I continue to attend a church with which I don't agree. That's a good question, and deserves a good answer. Here are three attempts.

Eternal security is the only thing I've found so far about which I disagree with the Southern Baptist Convention. The Baptist Faith & Message, though not required for individual churches, tells what the Convention itself believes. Revised in the year 2000, it has one article that's specifically about eternal security, and 17 that aren't. Also, I don't recall a single sermon or lesson on the subject.

The closest Anabaptist congregation I've heard of is still very far away. Years ago I heard of some Mennonites who lived in southwest Chilton County. That's about 70 miles as the crow flies, and probably 100 by car. So we can either drive for three hours to maybe find a congregation that used to be there, or we can drive five minutes to where we know we'll find people we know and love.

We have quite possibly the best pastor in the entire world. I make a point of not mentioning names here, so you'll just have to trust me. Besides, he'd just get the big head anyway.

Hopefully it's a little clearer now.