I Am A Baptist, I Must Be Responsible

I am a Baptist.

I do not belong to any religious denomination.

I have no historical ties to any protestant system of doctrine

I am a Baptist

The historical make-ip of my forefathers is varied. It traces all the way back to John the Baptist, outside of Protestantism and outside of Catholicism. My predecessors have been prosecuted, maligned, mistreated and in many cases exterminated.

I am a Baptist

Though history clearly demonstrates the existence of Baptist believers through the centuries to the first century, their opponents have succeeded in destroying most of the historical documentation and other materials those Baptist believers produced. We are forced to extrapolate what we know about those Baptist believers from the accounts of those who hated them, persecuted them and would have eradicated the world of them.

I am a Baptist

I hold no illusion that the forebears of my faith were perfect men. I do not ask that of them. I hold that their greatest testimony was their conviction to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience as led by their study of the Word of God. 

I am a Baptist

My convictions require that I hold myself responsible to study the Word of God for myself. As a Baptist I am accountable not to a denomination, not to a Bible College, not to a famous preacher or spiritual leader. I am accountable to Jesus Christ, to the particular local church body to which I have been attached and to the doctrines my personal studies have led me to hold.

I am a Baptist.
Therefore I must be responsible for my own convictions.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields