“though they come from several generations of Baptists”
Baptists need to decide to be baptists. It isn’t genetic.
“”Orthodoxy is not transactional. It’s not ‘I say a prayer, and now I have a card that gets me out of Hell and gets me into Heaven.’”
Been a baptist for decades. Never heard a preacher say pray once and you are saved forever. I HAVE heard pastors say that if you GENUINELY convert, then God will keep you safe to the end. But that is vastly different. All agree a faith that doesn’t change you is not a saving faith. But yes, it STARTS with a prayer, and it is GOD who sustains those who truly believe.
“He wants to heal you from all that is wrong with you so you can be who He created you to be.”
“For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” - Romans 8
We are to be “conformed to the image of his Son”, not made better versions of our natural man!
“The Dunns came to believe...that the faith traditions they grew up in [Baptist] were largely Gnostic, that the spiritual realm didn’t really ever intersect with reality.”
Give me a break! In 4 decades of moving frequently and being in a ton of baptist churches, the idea that baptists don’t believe your faith needs to affect how you really live is just nonsense!