A Recovering Baptist in South Carolina

  One thing that you will learn about me if you hang out with me very long is that I love NASCAR and racing.  Growing up I was a Jeff Gordon fan.  When he retired he was replaced in the #24 car by Chase Elliott and so I claimed him as my new favorite driver.   The first weekend in February NASCAR had the clash at the LA Coliseum where they created a ¼ mile track.  One of the challenges of a short track like the one they made in the LA Coliseum is that there is a lot of bumping and banging.  Bumping and banging leads to hurt feelings and race car drivers have very long memories.  Specifically Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace got their feelings hurt at the Clash in LA.  This becomes a challenge that the race this weekend is the Daytona 500 which is at a 2.5 mile track where the cars run inches apart at nearly 200 Miles together.  Hurt feelings and the Daytona 500 don’t mix.   Qualifying for the Daytona 500 was on Wednesday evening an...

In Part 1 I mentioned that I listened to an audio book about the history of Baptist in America.  That book was “Baptist in America by Thomas Kidd and Barry Hankins.  In the last chapter they come to the conclusion that in order to be a Baptist one must just call themselves Baptist.  Baptist over the years have run the gauntlet and have held to almost every theological position.  They are both reformed and dispensational.  They are Calvinist and Armenian.  They are both pro and anti missionary.  Baptists were racial integrated and became one of the most segregated denominations.  They are both Charismatic and Cessations , Old and Young earth Creationist.  If anyone can be a Baptist, then why do I identify as Baptist when there are so many people who identify as Baptist who I disagree with?  The reason I am Baptist is due primarily to the core beliefs of believer’s baptism and their Congregational church government.  The church I cur...

One of the podcasts that I listen to and one that has meant a lot to me is the Recovering Fundamentalist Podcast.  Brian, Nate, and JC are always focused on the Gospel and one of the things that they do on their podcast is they ask their guests to explain the Gospel.  Everyone has a different perspective on the Gospel based on how Holy Spirit has worked in their life.  So this is my perspective on the Gospel. This last Sunday pastor Adam preached on I Corinthians 11:17-34, which is the passage on the Lord's Supper.  One of the purposes of observing the Lord’s Supper is for us as Christians is to remember what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross and rising from the tomb.  This is the Gospel.  The Good News that the debt of my sins is paid.  For me the Gospel starts with understanding the God to whom I had a sin debt.  The passage that best shows is Isaiah 6:1-5. “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and li...

Most years I watch the Super Bowl and have to go to work the next day, and I usually work the day before and sometimes the day of the Super Bowl.  This year I have a long weekend off, Saturday through Monday.  So this year we are going all out and doing some different things for the Super Bowl.  I wanted to go up-scale and hearty with steak and potatoes with creamed corn.   For appetizers we fried some fresh mozzarella cheese balls.  They were coated in seasoned flour, egg wash, and then panko and fried in peanut oil.  These cook very quickly and only need like 30 seconds to cook.  Our friends who we invited over brought some amazing grass fed steaks from the Swamp Rabbit Café.  These were absolutely amazing cooked medium rare! We roasted some potato wedges in the oven that were coated in olive oil, garlic powder, and dry basil.  The beer cheese creamed corn made by cooking a bottle of Extra IPA and reducing it by half.  Then a bloc...

  Over the last five years I have analyzed and re analyzed my beliefs and have compared them to what the Bible says.  For a couple years I shunned the Baptist name although I knew that many of my beliefs were still held by Baptists .  Last year I read, or rather listened, to a book on the history of Baptists in America.  After listening to this book I came to the conclusion that I am still Baptist theologically even though I reject many of the practices and applications that Baptists have held to and practiced for the last couple generations.   First let me go over the Baptist distinctives and what defines the modern Baptist.  As Baptists so often do they either alliterate or do acrostics.  This time they have done an acrostic.   B iblical authority A utonomy of the local church P riesthood of all believers  T wo Ordinances (believer's baptism and the Lord's Supper) I ndividual soul liberty S aved and baptized church membership ...