I Love Being A Southern Baptist
If all you did was read the news and blogs about Southern Baptists over the last few months, you would think that Southern Baptists are terrible people. You would quickly come to the conclusion that Southern Baptists are mean-spirited and out to get people. You would think that Southern Baptists are complainers about anything and everything. This is far from the truth.
The reason bloggers and news agencies are so hard on Southern Baptists is due to the nature of what they are doing. News agencies need news to write about. Thus, they pick apart organizations and find the bad stuff to write about. As for bloggers, it is easy to write about things that bother you. I have to be careful of this as well. It is much easier for me to write a blog about things that bother me, than it is to write about things that make me happy. I believe bloggers go negative because it is easy to do.
So this time, I am going to go completely positive. I want to tell you the three reasons I am happy Southern Baptist.
1. Our Biblical Stances. The Southern Baptist Convention debates and argues about the Bible. The Bible was the reason for our greatest conflict, and the Bible will continue to be our battle cry. Baptists are people of the book. This is going to put us at odds with the world and many organizations that call themselves Christs. I love the fact that we stand for something. This means people may not like us. However, what is popular isn't always right.
2. Our Mission organizations. Southern Baptists are held together by the cooperative program. The cooperative program supports our mission activities throughout the world and North America. As Southern Baptists, we cooperate together to do the greatest amount of good. We give our money to this program, and by working together, we are capable of doing so much more.
3. Our History and Heritage. I love telling people that I am a Southern Baptist Pastor. I live in Northern Ohio, and sometimes when I tell people I am a Southern Baptist Pastor they look at me as if I have a horn. They are surprised that I am able to string together words and thoughts. They often are freaked out by the knowledge. I believe this is a good thing. We need to be different from the world. I want the world to think we are different. We should be different. Saying I am a Southern Baptists has opened many doors for future conversations. Once people realize that you don't hate black people and Jews, they become interested in what you truly believe.
Our history and heritage is great. It is filled with Biblical truth and wonderful men. Certainly we have our black eyes, but if all you can see are the bumps and bruises then you are missing a whole lot.
There are many other reasons I love being a Southern Baptists. I would not be apart of it if I didn't think it was the greatest convention in the world. We do have our ups and downs, but most things do. Overall, I thank God that I am a part of this great Convention. We have a lot more going for us than we have against us.
PS. I will write next Thurday about all that I saw at the Southern Baptist Convention. It should be a lot of fun.
The reason bloggers and news agencies are so hard on Southern Baptists is due to the nature of what they are doing. News agencies need news to write about. Thus, they pick apart organizations and find the bad stuff to write about. As for bloggers, it is easy to write about things that bother you. I have to be careful of this as well. It is much easier for me to write a blog about things that bother me, than it is to write about things that make me happy. I believe bloggers go negative because it is easy to do.
So this time, I am going to go completely positive. I want to tell you the three reasons I am happy Southern Baptist.
1. Our Biblical Stances. The Southern Baptist Convention debates and argues about the Bible. The Bible was the reason for our greatest conflict, and the Bible will continue to be our battle cry. Baptists are people of the book. This is going to put us at odds with the world and many organizations that call themselves Christs. I love the fact that we stand for something. This means people may not like us. However, what is popular isn't always right.
2. Our Mission organizations. Southern Baptists are held together by the cooperative program. The cooperative program supports our mission activities throughout the world and North America. As Southern Baptists, we cooperate together to do the greatest amount of good. We give our money to this program, and by working together, we are capable of doing so much more.
3. Our History and Heritage. I love telling people that I am a Southern Baptist Pastor. I live in Northern Ohio, and sometimes when I tell people I am a Southern Baptist Pastor they look at me as if I have a horn. They are surprised that I am able to string together words and thoughts. They often are freaked out by the knowledge. I believe this is a good thing. We need to be different from the world. I want the world to think we are different. We should be different. Saying I am a Southern Baptists has opened many doors for future conversations. Once people realize that you don't hate black people and Jews, they become interested in what you truly believe.
Our history and heritage is great. It is filled with Biblical truth and wonderful men. Certainly we have our black eyes, but if all you can see are the bumps and bruises then you are missing a whole lot.
There are many other reasons I love being a Southern Baptists. I would not be apart of it if I didn't think it was the greatest convention in the world. We do have our ups and downs, but most things do. Overall, I thank God that I am a part of this great Convention. We have a lot more going for us than we have against us.
PS. I will write next Thurday about all that I saw at the Southern Baptist Convention. It should be a lot of fun.
posted by Foundes Community Church @ 7:40 PM
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